7th Class, 2013-2015
Policy Placement: FEWS NET, Washington, DC
Shannon continued her field research by developing an analysis approach for humanitarian assistance within the Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) framework in preparation for a global FEWS NET training session. The initial paper analyzed the current approach: who, what, and from where information is gathered, how criteria are defined, and various staff experiences working with humanitarian assistance data. The second provided guidance for the FEWS NET team and included training modules. Additionally, Shannon built lean season maps for FEWS NET countries and provided technical support for Tanzania and Uganda’s monthly acute food security monitoring and reporting. Finally, Shannon helped facilitate the Chronic IPC analysis roll out in Uganda.
Field Placement: FEWS NET, Nairobi, Kenya
Based in the East Africa Regional office in Nairobi, Shannon mapped and developed a systematic approach for analyzing humanitarian assistance data in order to forecast likely scenarios for food security conditions among vulnerable households. FEWS NET’s main goal is to provide warning information to humanitarian organizations three to six months in advance of a potential crisis. Part of Shannon’s research involved the construction of a database of historical humanitarian assistance flows to better predict the likely impact of food security interventions. In addition to research, Shannon was responsible for monthly food security monitoring and reporting of two countries in the eastern region, Tanzania and Uganda.
Pre-Fellowship Education/Experience:
While earning a BS in Nutritional Science, Shannon had her first taste of development fieldwork in Ghana where she studied for her thesis on changing dietary patterns of rural families. She later earned a master’s degree in Development Economics and International Cooperation and interned with the World Food Program-Iraq office. During her internship she focused on food security, provided statistical and technical support on nutrition, and co-authored The Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis on Iraq, 2010. She was recruited to the WFP-Jordan office during the initial stages of the Syrian refugee migration into Jordan as a Geographic Information Systems specialist. She later added the title Emergency Nutrition Consultant and worked in data management for several programs and studies. Throughout the emergency, she used her relationships with refugee-community leaders to resolve concerns related to WFP’s work. Recently her focus has been improving household economics by reducing natural resource (fuel consumption) usage in cooking.