Jennifer Lentfer – Episode 54

Jennifer is very busy working on a whole lot of different projects. Listen in today as she tells us why she is looking for something a little more genuine and authentic, why we have to keep people at the center, why we need more stories about “overcoming” and not just success and how people are coming together globally to demand change.

Biography

Jennifer Lentfer was named one of Foreign Policy Magazine’s “100 women to follow on Twitter” and is the creator of how-matters.org. She aims to place community-driven initiatives, which can be more genuinely responsive to local needs, at the forefront of international aid, philanthropy, and social enterprise. Lentfer has worked with over 300 grassroots organizations in east and southern Africa over the past decade, as well as various international organizations in Africa and the US, including the Red Cross, UNICEF, Catholic Relief Services, and Firelight Foundation, where in her career she has focused on organizational development and learning. Lentfer is currently Senior Writer on Oxfam America’s Aid Effectiveness team and editor of the organization’s Politics of Poverty blog. Lentfer is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Social Impact Communication.

Check out her linked in profile here.

“I find my passion in accompanying small, local organizations to be strong forces for social change and poverty reduction at the community level, which is no wonder considering my home town of Bruning, Nebraska, USA has a population of less than 300 people.”

Today Jennifer Lentfer works to place locally-driven development initiatives, which can be more responsive to local needs, at the forefront of international aid, philanthropy, and social enterprise. This blogsite, how-matters.org, is aimed at just that.