Vennessa Kelly Smith

• Designing Training Programs: Developing and implementing customized training sessions aimed at enhancing skills and knowledge.
• Facilitating Workshops: Leading interactive workshops that encourage active participation and foster knowledge sharing among stakeholders.
• Developing Strategic Plans: Assisting organizations in the formulation of strategic plans that are aligned with their mission and objectives.
• Monitoring and Evaluation: Establishing frameworks to assess the effectiveness of capacity-building initiatives and to implement necessary modifications.
• Engaging Stakeholders: Collaborating with diverse stakeholders, including government entities and community members, to promote inclusive development.
• Providing Coaching and Mentorship: Delivering individualized support to improve both individual and team performance.
• Resource Mobilization: Identifying funding opportunities and assisting organizations in securing the necessary resources for capacity development.

• Directed and coordinated day-to-day activities in the field
• Coordinated various projects efficiently
• Client Engagement.
• Data Collection and quality assurance

Notable achievements

• Managed extensive research teams in multiple African locations
• Led or supported all project implementation activities, such as research, training, deployment, data collection monitoring, quality assessment of collected data, and reporting.
• Partnered with multiple civil society organizations in Liberia for the creation of the CSO Sustainability Index
• Effectively led and coordinated over 15 project activities across countries including Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Liberia, East Africa, and Ghana.
• Facilitated capacity development training and mentorship for multiple organizations.

Areas of Expertise.

• Research
• Project Management.
• Organizational Development
• Capacity Development.
• Operational Excellence

Actively led research activities, including training, data monitoring, report writing, and data analysis, on the following projects.

Gallup World Poll.

Women's Political Participation and Leadership.

ICF Child Labor Project.

• Served as the project lead for the LEC Training Center Component of the Liberia Energy Study - Kakata Data Collection by Mathematica. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of the Liberia Electricity Corporation on small and large businesses and households in and around Monrovia. Managed all the activities of the project, including the preparation of the implementation plan, training manual, and research tools.
• Led the Impact Evaluation of the President's Young Professionals Program. The President's Young Professionals Program (PYPP) is a public sector leadership development innovation that is helping to drive Liberia's economic growth and development through nurturing the next generation of professionals who will boost accountability and transparency, increase effective service delivery, and sustain good governance. The evaluation will primarily seek to assess programmatic effects on its beneficiaries/participants' (President's Young Professionals - PYPs) employment outcomes, job performance capacity, and attitude towards civil service. Managed all activities on the project, including a pilot exercise; prepared the training documents; supported in preparing reports; led training; supervised data collection; and ensured quality assurance.
• Project Lead for the Survey for the feasibility study of a micro-saving study in urban Liberia, an in-person survey funded by the World Bank. Managed all activities on the project, including a pilot exercise; prepared the training documents; supported in preparing reports; led training; supervised data collection; and ensured quality assurance.
• Served as a Project Lead for the Civil Society Organization Sustainability Index (CSOSI), funded by FHI360. This Index aimed to assess the sustainability of the CSO sector within the country across seven dimensions and draft a report with an annual score and narrative analysis for each.

• Supervised sales and marketing of LMDRS magazine
• Work with the sales and marketing team to create and package online programs and opportunities
• Managed all capacity development training