Marie Claire is currently pursuing her PhD studying whether mentorship can improve poverty alleviation outcomes. Specifically, she  is conducting a longitudinal study looking at whether women who have been assigned a mentor (or coach) improve their livelihoods and wellbeing, in addition to the impact of these programs on their families.

Prior to joining the DPhil programme at IDS, Marie Claire worked in education and development. She worked at Fundación Paraguaya, the country’s largest NGO, conducting research and leading different educational initiatives. She is also a trained teacher and has worked as a teacher in low-income areas of Paraguay and the United States.

She has a Master’s degree in Education from Claremont Graduate University (USA), a Master’s degree in Social Research from the University of Edinburgh (Scotland), and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Studies from Pitzer College (USA).