About Melissa Lawson

I have over 15 years of experience in international policy and development work - always prioritising and focusing on the End Impact.

My expertise includes policy and programme design, strategy development, coaching, facilitation, coalition building, research, management, capacity building and evidence-informed policymaking. Roles have included, Governance Adviser and Evidence into Policy Lead (Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office), Governance Adviser (Department for International Development), Regional Policy Adviser, Senior Policy Adviser, and Parliamentary Researcher.

In this time I’ve had the privilege of a diverse range of experiences including: Designing, managing and leading multi-million pound programmes covering several countries (approx £50m); Board, coalition and management experience; Influencing and involvement in international processes on a range of policy issues e.g. G20, UN; Shaping and influencing national level policy and legislative change; Designing, advising and critiquing cross-government policy and program strategies, establishing APPG’s in Parliament; Advising and facilitating national and local-level development and advocacy initiatives in many countries; Facilitating strategy workshops to cross-government teams; Leading diverse multi-country teams; Living in South Africa and travelling to over 35 countries.

I’ve also taken a period of unpaid leave to be full-time carer for my toddler diagnosed with a rare brain cancer (ETMR) which involved navigating and influencing the NHS system to enable her to receive treatment based on the latest available global evidence.  Our daughter was the first person to receive a chemotherapy protocol in the UK and is now in remission.