About NEED | Network for Effective Evidence-Based Development

What Drives Us

NEED's Mission

We help top students find high-impact opportunities in the development and global health fields, at a time when funding cuts make these opportunities harder to identify and access.

While the process of entering careers in consulting, tech, and finance is well-understood, pathways to social impact opportunities aren't obvious and often rely on informal networks. By leveraging the size of our collective student network, partnering with evidence-based development organizations, and utilizing the financial backing of our grant, we help maintain a strong talent pipeline to the social sector.

While we have experimented with a number of approaches, we are particularly focused on (a) working with organizations to create internships that didn't already exist, and (b) facilitating chats with employers about live job openings.

Who We Are

Team

Co-Founder

Bailey Marsheck is an MPP candidate at the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs focused on evidence-based development and program evaluation. He interns with J-PAL’s AI team and consults for the Weiss Asset Management Foundation and the World Bank.

Before Yale, he conducted research on international economics, technology, and U.S.-China relations for Dr. Graham Allison at Harvard Kennedy School’s Avoiding Great Power War Project.

Co-Founder

Walid Herzallah is an MPP candidate at the Jackson School of Global Affairs, focused on evidence-driven, cost-effective interventions in international development. Most recently, Walid completed a summer internship with Coefficient Giving, a private foundation and philanthropic advisor.

Before Yale, Walid was a senior manager at GiveDirectly and a management consultant at Bain & Company in Toronto, where he also completed a secondment with the Gates Foundation.

Officer

Lisa de Ràfols is an MPP candidate at the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs. She studies the intersection of development and diplomacy, with a focus on peacebuilding and devising development policy that is built to withstand conflict, corruption, and the influence of violent non-state actors.

Prior to Yale, Lisa spent three years at MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL). Before that, Lisa served as a Fulbright Scholar in Colombia and worked on state and federal policy for the City of Los Angeles. She also worked on a political campaign in her home state of Nevada.

Officer

Pankhuri Prasad is an MPP candidate at the Yale Jackson School, where she hopes to explore urban economic policy and development strategies needed to transform cities into engines of economic opportunity.

Prior to Yale, Pankhuri worked with Mathematica's Global Division conducting rigorous evaluations of programs across agriculture, education, climate, and cash transfer initiatives. She has also worked with Harvard's Growth Lab, the Centre for Effective Governance of Indian States in Delhi and Telangana, and the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.

Officer

Sarah Coughlin is a first-year joint MPP/MBA degree candidate at the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs and the Yale School of Management. At Yale, she hopes to explore actionable pathways to build equitable and climate resilient food systems.

Before Yale, Sarah spent three years working in agricultural development policy implementation and research at J-PAL. Prior to that, she spent a season working on a small-scale organic farm and managed citywide emergency food access programs during the COVID-19 pandemic at the YMCA of Greater Boston.