Shelley Martin

Shelley Martin is a sustainable development advisor with a background in women and youth empowerment social entrepreneurship and innovation. Her work has engaged local and global organizations in numerous sectors across 15+ countries, spanning agriculture, land rights, finance, entrepreneurship, clean energy, STEM, infrastructure, manufacturing and garment and consumer goods.

At Abt, Martin serves as a Senior Manager with a focus on community engagement, sustainable livelihoods, and workforce development. She advises the Health Electrification and Telecommunications Alliance (HETA), Power Africa’s flagship initiative for health facility electrification in Africa and supports new business in Abt’s international economic growth and environment portfolios.

Prior to joining Abt, Martin worked as the Associate Director for Private Sector Engagement at the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), Senior Technical Advisor to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-PepsiCo Global Development Alliance for sustainable supply chains, and agribusiness consultant with Value For Women Ltd. She has worked with multinational firms, investors, non-governmental organizations, and government partners on social and environmental sustainability research and practice. Martin spent over seven years working with various development organizations based in East Africa and has also worked on programs in South and Southeast Asia.

Expertise

• Research and analysis
• Strategy development and participatory planning
• Technical assistance, capacity strengthening and training

Key Projects

• Power Africa: Health Electrification and Telecommunications Alliance (HETA)
• USAID: PepsiCo Global Development Alliance: Investing in Women to Strengthen Supply Chains
• Millennium Challenge Corporation: Lesotho Compact II
• British International Investment – ICRW Advisors: Impact Investing Resource Hub

Publications

• World Bank / Value for Women: Stepping Up Women's STEM Careers in Infrastructure: An overview of promising approaches (2020)
• Shell Foundation / ICRW: Practical Strategies to Catalyse Women-led Access-to-Energy Ventures in India (2019)
• International Youth Foundation / ICRW: Investigating Soft Skills Programs: A global review of education and workforce interventions for youth (2019)
• Unilever / ICRW: Opening Up Possibilities for Girls: Supporting young women on the journey to new horizons (2019)