About Sarah King

For the last 25 years, I have worked in what we now call the “nexus” space between emergency/humanitarian response and longer-term sustainable development. As part of my public health nutrition MSc, I interned with WFP in Nicaragua, working on their school feeding programme. Another internship with CARE in Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya gave me the chance to spend months in the camp with women and families, carrying out direct consultations and running a feasibility study on on-site fortification. I then set up and run nutrition-focused programs with UNICEF in Kenya and various INGOs in Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia, including direct emergency treatment for severely malnourished children and women, trialing the Community Therapeutic Care (now CMAM) approach, supporting the initial stages of local production of ready-to-use therapeutic foods, running nutrition education and behaviour change communication campaigns, carrying out large-scale nutrition surveys and researching the impact of cash assistance in addressing malnutrition among IDPs. ​

I then moved more into general disaster management, still supporting direct programmes mainly in food & nutrition security, but also using my training skills to facilitate organisational capacity assessments with local partner organisations around the world and help them strengthen their overall disaster mitigation, preparedness, and response capacities. I also helped them to identify and secure funding and strengthen their monitoring and evaluation systems. Much of this work was with faith-based organisations, particularly Christian Aid where locally-led response was a fundamental principle.​

Lately, I have been more focused on social, economic and financial inclusion; market systems development; and strengthening resilience to shocks among marginalised and conflict-affected communities in a range of contexts. Graduation programming is a successful approach that I have been involved with for 6-7 years. I am also a trained permaculture designer, which brings together sustainable land management, water cycle restoration, organic food production, renewable energy, and nature-based solutions to cope with a changing climate. ​

Since 2022, I have been an independent consultant providing programmatic assessment, design, development, research, and technical advisory services to a range of non-governmental and organisations and government ministries. I work on my own and/or with others from my network of regional and global consultants. I am particularly interested in the intersection between humanitarian, development, and environmental conservation initiatives and would love to do more in this space.