At GPE, Praveen Prasad is leading GPE’s strategic and blended finance portfolio, in particular the innovative finance facility. Praveen has worked for over 15 years in the areas of development and innovative finance, global philanthropy and public-private partnerships with a background in leading and implementing multi-country development projects , in particular in crisis-emergency settings.

She has extensive country experiences, having spent a considerable part of her career being based in various countries across the world. Before joining GPE, Praveen was with the International Finance Corporation and the Special Initiative of the Ford Foundation in New York/Senegal. During this time, Praveen was based in Haiti for a year overseeing education and gender initiatives. Before she relocated to the US, she was based with the World Health Organization and with INGO’s in South Sudan and Darfur for over 3 years overseeing education in crisis and health programs in the Sudan’s including Chad, CAR and Uganda.

She is originally from Fiji and calls Australia her second home. She received her MPA from Columbia University (New York) where she was the first Fiji national to be admitted to the program and also has a MA from University of Sydney. She is a fan of rugby and field hockey, dabbles in photography and hackathons, and has also established girl’s mentorship and women’s leadership programs in the Pacific-Oceania region.