American Institutes for Research

Andrea Coombes is a senior qualitative researcher specializing in studies of social protection and education programming in humanitarian settings. She leads process evaluations, stakeholder analyses, needs analyses, and performance evaluations on programs throughout Africa and Latin America, while also working with implementers on action research and practical program evaluation for ongoing improvement. Her current work includes a World Bank-funded, eight-country comparative case study to assess systems-level provision of inclusive, high-quality education to displaced populations and host communities, and qualitative research on a USAID-funded study of gang desistence in Honduras and Guatemala.

Coombes recently led the qualitative research for two education innovations in Rwanda and Bangladesh as part of the DFID-funded Humanitarian Education Accelerator, as well as a qualitative meta-evaluation of lessons learned from five innovations in education across various refugee settings. She also led the qualitative study of a UNICEF-funded evaluation of a gender socialization training program in the postconflict Karamoja region in Northern Uganda and a Women for Women International–funded evaluation in Nigeria on issues of women’s empowerment. She is fluent in Spanish and professionally proficient in Portuguese.