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Kristin O'Planick

Market Systems Specialist at USAID

Kristin O'Planick is an accomplished international development professional currently serving as the Market Systems Team Lead at USAID.1 She has extensive experience in business and market systems growth, with a focus on supporting local enterprise and market system development.

O'Planick's educational background includes an MBA in Sustainable Global Enterprise from Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management and a BA from the University of Maryland College Park. Her career in international development began with the Peace Corps as a volunteer.3

Throughout her career, O'Planick has held various positions at prestigious organizations:

  1. USAID: She has worked as a Market Systems Specialist, Enterprise Development Specialist, and now leads the Market Systems Team.3
  2. Chemonics International: She gained experience in the private sector.3
  3. Cisco: She worked in the corporate sector.

At USAID, O'Planick has been instrumental in advancing the market systems development (MSD) approach. She has noted that MSD has evolved from a "guerilla warfare" status to a more widely accepted and visible approach across the agency.1 Her work involves providing assistance to market systems, enterprise development, and workforce development programming.3

O'Planick is also actively involved in knowledge sharing and capacity building within the international development community. She participates in symposiums, webinars, and other events to discuss the evolution and application of market systems approaches in various contexts, including food security, conflict, and climate change.124

With over 15 years of experience in development, Kristin O'Planick has established herself as a key figure in the field of market systems development and international aid.3

Highlights

Aug 15 · linkedin

We are swimming in vacancies over here! Yet another #job #opportunity alert!! This one is targeting the #policy peeps out there....again, must be a U.S. citizen. USAID needs more good people for Feed the Future!

Division Chief, Strategy and Policy Division The Division Chief of the Strategy & Policy Division will articulate strategic policy priorities for the Bureau through engaging in the coordination of the work of a technical steering committee to inform food security strategy and decision-making, supporting the Bureau’s engagement with the Feed the Future Interagency, and drafting briefers and policy documents. The Division Chief will also guide the Strategy and Policy Division in the direction of its programs; manage a $10million award portfolio; work across the REFS Bureau and other Bureaus on important aspects of government policy and enabling environment at national and regional levels in FTF countries; oversee activity development and implementation; and manage budgets, work plans and supervise a staff of five FSLs and one FSO.

SP Division core work consists of 1) engaging Feed the Future focus country missions and the Interagency at Post and in Washington on the development, implementation and reporting of robust policy agendas; 2) supporting the African Union on their bespoke African agriculture agenda, the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Program (CAADP); 3) strengthening African and Asian policy institutes and networks to promote evidence-based policy decision-making; 4) providing leadership on policy and agricultural transformation; and 5) spearheading REFS trade and NRM policy agendas, coordinating across the Bureau as relevant.

Jul 31 · linkedin

👀👀👀 Looking for my local #systems peeps! USAID is seeking public comments on our draft Local Systems Position Paper through August 9th. Effective local systems practice is a critical pillar of our localization focus.

I'd love to see some thoughtful input from the #marketsystems and Feed the Future community on this.

Related Questions

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How does Kristin O'Planick integrate private sector engagement into her market systems work?
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Kristin O'Planick
Kristin O'Planick, photo 1
Kristin O'Planick, photo 2
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Location

United States