Laura Courbois

Advisor Inclusive Economic Development

Markets & Partnerships, ATR Thematic Expertise


Field experience
Malawi, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia, Senegal and Cote d'Ivoire

Languages
French (mother tongue); English (mother tongue)

Focus areas

  • Consultancy and strategic advisory;
  • Training, mentoring, and coaching;
  • Program/intervention design and evaluation;
  • Results and impact measurement;
  • Economic analysis and market research;
  • Systems thinking;
  • Knowledge management, exchange and learning facilitation.

 

Reference projects

Advisory

MALI: MSD Advisor, MSD Helpdesk for the Vocational Training for Youth in Mali / Chinfinw ka Baara sira, LuxDev [2026]

DRC:  MSD Advisor,  MSD Helpdesk for the Support Project for Training and Skilled Employment (PAFEQ), UNIDO [2024-2026]

UGANDA:  MSD Advisor, WeWork – Green & Decent Jobs for Youth, HortiMarkets Dynamics Project, Enabel / European Union [2025-2027]

KENYA: MSD Advisor, Sustainable Livelihoods and Ecosystem Restoration in North Kenya, Wyss Academy [2024]

RWANDA: Project Advisor, Rwanda Climate Resilience and Competitiveness Project, SDC [2024-2026]

NORTH MACEDONIA: MSD Advisor, Modernisation of the Private Sector for Sustainability and Decent Jobs, SDC [2023-2027]

SENEGAL: MSD and Learning Advisor, Value Chain Services (VCS) / Dooleel Mbay, USAID Feed the Future [2022-2023]

GLOBAL: MSD Advisor, Advancing Women’s Empowerment (AWE), USAID Feed the Future [2021-2023]

MOZAMBIQUE: MSD Learning Advisor, Feed the Future Agricultural Innovations (FTF Inova), USAID [2021]

MALAWI: Value Chain Technical Consultant, EU-GIZ KULIMA-More Income and Employment for Rural Areas (MIERA) Program and GIZ Malawi Green Innovation Centres (GIAE) [2017-2022]

MALAWI: Project Design Advisor, Relief and Emergency from Impact of COVID-19 towards Economic Recovery and Resilience (RECOVER), Fairtrade Africa [2021]

AFRICA: Advisor, AgDevCo Smallholder Development Unit (SDU), MasterCard Foundation [2020-2021]

MALAWI: Economic Development Advisor, Empowering Producers in Commercial Agriculture (EPIC), International Institute for Environmental and Development (IIED) [2019-2021]

KENYA and ZAMBIA: Technical Advisor, AGRIFI Kenya Challenge Fund and ENTERPRISE Zambia Challenge Fund, European Union [2018–2021]

CÔTE D’IVOIRE: Technical Advisor, TRANSFORM Income Diversification, Fairtrade Foundation and Barry Callebaut [2020]

CÔTE D’IVOIRE: Project Design Advisor, Livelihoods Ecosystem Advancement Program (LEAP), Fairtrade and Mars [2020]

MALAWI: M&E Advisor, Farm Income Diversification Programme (FIDP) Phase II – Agribusiness DIVERSIFY, European Union [2017-2019]

Training

SWITZERLAND, NADEL Center for Development and Cooperation, ETH: Lecturer, Market Systems Development to Reduce Poverty Course [2024]

WEST AFRICA REGION: Co-Trainer, Inclusive Systems Development Training (internal for Swisscontact staff) [2024]

CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN AFRICA REGION: Co-Trainer, Inclusive Systems Development Training (internal for Swisscontact staff) [2024]

UGANDA: Trainer, Inclusive Systems Development Training for EcoProsperity Project Team (internal Swisscontact project team) [2024]

ONLINE: Trainer, Market Development Facility (MDF) Qualitative Research Methods (QRM) Training for MDF project teams across five countries in the Pacific Regional [2023]

Applied Research

MYANMAR: Capitalization Advisor, Vocational Skills Development Programme (VSDP), SDC [2026]

ZAMBIA: MSA Lead, Market System Analysis and Project Design Support, SMART-Mine: advancing skills in technology for responsible mining in Zambia – inception phase, UNIDO / SIDA [2026]

KENYA: MSA Lead,  MSD Helpdesk for the Pathways to Profitable Dairy Farming Project, UNIDO [2025-2026]

GHANA: Research Lead, Feasibility Study for Establishing a Centre of Excellence in Dynamic Agroforestry in Ghana, Swiss Platform for Sustainable Cocoa (SWISSCO) [2025]

ZAMBIA: Research Consultant, Scoping of the Agriculture Sector, SIDA [2024]

KOSOVO: Research Lead, Assessment of Sustainable Agriculture Development, SDC [2024]

MULTI-COUNTRY: Research Lead, Ex-Post Evaluations of MSD Projects, Swisscontact [2024-2027]

EAST AFRICA: Research Lead, Gender Dynamics in Animal Health Services, Supporting Pastoralism and Agriculture in Recurrent and Protracted Crises (SPARC) [2023]

SENEGAL: Research Lead, Ex-Post Evaluation of Naatal Mbay's Integrated Finance Model, USAID [2023]

CÔTE D’IVOIRE: Lead Researcher, Scale2Save Financial Inclusion for Cocoa Producers, MasterCard Foundation [2022]

MULTI-COUNTRY: Lead Researcher, Scale2Save Program, Mastercard Foundation and World Savings and Retail Banking Institute (WSBI) [2021–2022]

MALAWI: Research Lead, Agricultural Finance Scoping Study, FinMark Trust [2021]

MALAWI: Evaluation Team Leader, VSLA Programme among Smallholder Tea Producers, Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP) [2020]

MALAWI: Evaluation Team Leader, Emerging Farmer Mechanisation Hub (EFMH), Philip Morris International (PMI) [2019–2020]

MALAWI: Team Leader, In-Kind Benefits Survey Amongst Tea Estate Workers, Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP) [2019–2020]

MALAWI: Research Lead, Finscope MSME Survey, EU Commission and FinMark Trust [2019]

MALAWI: Research Lead, AgFinance Value Chain Scoping for Tobacco Diversification Study, Opportunity International [2019]

KENYA: Researcher, Market Systems Analysis of Mango and Avocado Value Chains, European Union [2019]

MULTI-COUNTRY: M&E Consultant, JTI Tobacco Grower Support Programme (GSP), Japan Tobacco International (JTI) [2015–2018]