About Us

Meet NEED

NEED's mission is to support ambitious students in their pursuit of careers in evidence-based development by coordinating internship placements, creating networking opportunities, and fostering community and learning.

Mission Theory of Change (Coming Soon) Team

What Drives Us

Smart, mission-driven individuals are critical for the development sector.

While there is a clear-cut process to enter careers in sectors like consulting, tech, and finance, pathways to social impact careers aren't always obvious and can run through informal networks. By leveraging our collective student network, partnering with evidence-based development organizations, and utilizing the financial backing of our grant, we help build a strong talent pipeline to the social sector. We make the existing pool of jobs more accessible and facilitate opportunities for students to gain valuable experience while doing impactful work.

NGOs and governments constantly make tradeoffs with limited resources. For that reason, our programming is centered on the principles of evidence use and cost-effectiveness. Our goal is to empower members of the NEED community to meaningfully engage with these principles in their work and be part of a community that will apply these concepts throughout their careers. In our own work, we apply evidence-use principles by working with evidence-oriented organizations, tracking our impact (including number of internship and job placements), and seeking regular feedback from both students and employers to adjust our offerings and approach.

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Team

(Based out of Yale University's Jackson School)
NEED team group photo
NEED Team 2025-2026
Headshot of Lisa de Ràfols

Co-Director

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.

Headshot of Pankhuri Prasad

Co-Director

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.

Headshot of Sarah Coughlin

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.

Headshot of Bailey Marsheck

Advisor | Co-Founder

Bailey splits his time between HealthLearn and the Weiss Asset Management Foundation. He has previous experience with the World Bank, J-PAL, the International Growth Centre, and the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Bailey holds an MPP and Certificate in Program Evaluation from Yale University.

Former Team Members

Headshot of Walid Herzallah

Co-Founder

Walid joined Coefficient Giving in June 2026, where he supports grant investigations, research projects, portfolio analyses, and AI enablement across several of its programs in Global Health & Wellbeing. Prior to joining Coefficient Giving, Walid worked at GiveDirectly and Bain & Company. He has a Master's in Public Policy from Yale University and a Bachelor of Commerce from Queen's University.