Vanessa Rios

Vanessa Rios has extensive experience in the field of monitoring, evaluation, and learning. Vanessa is currently the Director of Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning at the Vera Institute of Justice since May 2021. Prior to this, they worked as a Learning and Evaluation Officer at the Open Society Foundations from March 2020 to May 2021.

Before joining the Open Society Foundations, Vanessa was a Program Officer for Learning, Monitoring, and Evaluation at the International Women's Health Coalition from April 2017 to February 2020. In this role, they focused on building the organization's capacity for documenting and measuring the impact of its advocacy and grant-making activities, designing assessment projects with local NGOs, and providing technical assistance to partners.

From April 2016 to April 2017, Vanessa worked as an Evaluation Research Associate at the NYC Department of Youth & Community Development. Here, they managed the development of evaluation and monitoring indicators for various agency programs, analyzed and presented data findings, and created evaluation plans and communication materials.

Vanessa also served as a Data Analyst for Organizational Learning and Evaluation at the International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region from August 2013 to April 2016. Their responsibilities included analyzing and interpreting data for programmatic decision making, collaborating with international colleagues to build a data management platform, and designing and implementing qualitative evaluations.

In addition, Vanessa worked as a Survey Consultant at Girl Effect in February 2015, where they designed and implemented surveys and integrated quantitative results with qualitative findings. Vanessa also gained experience as an Intern at CARE USA, supporting proposal development for US government grants, and as an Emory Global Health Institute Field Scholar at the Instituto Nacional de Salud.

Vanessa's work experience also includes roles as a Graduate Research Assistant at the Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, and as a Post-Placement Counselor at REACH Prep.

Vanessa Rios has a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in Human Development, Inequality Studies from Cornell University. Vanessa also holds a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree from Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, with a specialization in Global Health, Community Health, and Development. Prior to their higher education, Vanessa attended Greenwich Academy, although the specific degree and field of study are not mentioned. Additionally, they have obtained a certification in Cultivating Creative Collaboration from IDEO U in February 2022.