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Ron Wendt

Pronouns: He/Him

Senior Research Director
Ron directs research and learning activities related to land, the environment, and governance.

Ron implements and manages evaluation and research activities for international development programs across sectors and data collection modes. In his 10 years of experience, he has managed over 20 research activities with individual budgets of up to $2.5 million, including mixed-methods impact and performance evaluations, case studies, landscape analyses, and co-creation activities. He has extensive experience related to land tenure and democracy, rights, and governance and has applied these skills in over 10 countries including Cambodia, Colombia, Ghana, Guyana, Kenya, Liberia, Nepal, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, Tanzania, and Zambia. 
 
Ron has supported multiple evaluations of USAID land and resource governance activities under the Communications, Evidence, and Learning (CEL) project and received multiple performance awards from NORC for these efforts. These projects include the impact evaluation of USAID’s Tenure and Global Climate Change activity in Zambia, where Ron prepared and programmed four separate survey tools covering nearly 4,000 respondents, oversaw all data collection activities and data quality checks, and supported report writing and analysis. Also under CEL, Ron served as the mid-level evaluation specialist for the mixed-methods performance evaluation of USAID’s Supporting Deforestation Free Cocoa in Ghana Project Bridge Phase. For this work, he created listing and baseline surveys, oversaw all data collection activities and data quality checks, and again supported report writing and analysis.  
 
Prior to joining NORC, Ron worked for Innovations for Poverty Action in Rwanda and Kenya as a research manager and project associate, respectively. While in Rwanda, he oversaw data collection efforts for an evaluation of a WASH intervention, including surveys with nearly 9,000 households, water quality testing, and anthropometric measurements. He also oversaw all data collection for an impact evaluation of a hillside irrigation intervention, including household surveys and field plot mapping. Ron is a native English speaker and proficient Spanish speaker.

Education

MIA

Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA)

BA

Augustana College

Project Contributions

Communications, Evidence & Learning Project

Strengthening the evidence base for effective land and resource governance

Client:

U.S. Agency for International Development

Democracy, Human Rights & Governance: Learning, Evaluation & Research Activity

Generating and promoting the use of data, evidence, and learning to inform DRG programming worldwide

Client:

U.S. Agency for International Development

USAID PRO-IP Policy: Research Supporting Indigenous Peoples’ Rights

Assessing and measuring the involvement of Indigenous Peoples in USAID programming

Client:

U.S. Agency for International Development

Women’s Political Participation and Leadership

Enhancing USAID’s understanding of women’s political participation and leadership around the globe

Client:

U.S. Agency for International Development