Saila Toikka

Saila is a PlanAdapt fellow based in Helsinki, Finland.

She has 12 years of experience as a project and programme professional with UNEP, UNDP, non-governmental and private sector and most recently as a freelance consultant. Her main area of expertise relates to the application of monitoring and evaluation approaches for effective development programming. Her recent interests include metrics and assessment approaches for local climate adaptation impacts and further understanding learning mechanisms for just climate action.

Saila has gained insight into a wide range of topics relating to climate change, inclusive local governance, environment and security, environmental policy implementation, and humanitarian interventions. She has lived and worked in Kenya, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, India and Finland, serving at the country programme, project and headquarter levels as well as in the donor interface. In the Evaluation Office of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), she designed and managed evaluations of UNEP and Global Environment Facility (GEF) interventions. Furthermore, as an evaluation team member, she has contributed to the evaluation of the International Resource Panel and multiple evaluations of Finland’s development policy and programmes. Saila is also accustomed to designing fit-for-purpose monitoring systems at the project and programme levels and conducting capacity building for results-based monitoring and evaluation.

Holding a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, Saila is currently completing her second master’s degree in Environmental Change and Global Sustainability at the University of Helsinki; her research focuses on climate adaptation metrics. She has also studied international development and completed numerous professional training courses, including a leadership programme on Evaluation and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at Claremont Graduate University/UNITAR and Impact Evaluation with the University of East Anglia.

For more information, see Saila’s LinkedIn page.