Helen Derbyshire is an independent gender and governance consultant.  Helen has worked for 25 years with DFID/FCDO, with UK-based international NGOs and with their government and civil society partner organisations. Her work has involved leading and participating in programme planning, evaluations, training and communications. From 2008 to 2016, Helen played a leading role in shaping and communicating the experience of the DFID Nigeria-funded State Accountability and Voice Initiative (SAVI), a programme facilitating citizen engagement in governance. 

Helen has written extensively about the practicalities of gender and development work, and, from 2012 to 2016, documented SAVI’s experience in a series of think pieces and approach papers as a contribution to international debates on thinking and working politically, doing development differently and adaptive programming.

Helen has continued to be involved in communicating the results and experience of the Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL) programme, the follow up programme to SAVI. She has contributed to a number of LEAP research products about DFID governance programmes in Nigeria, focusing in particular on the practicalities of programme ways of working.