Megan Kloeckner is interested in exploring how global development programming and impact-oriented finance can advance locally-led economic growth, climate change adaptation and resilience, and transformative policy and programs. Before graduate school, she worked at Tetra Tech, a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) implementing partner, where she led new business and proposal development for USAID-funded projects, helping to secure $161 million in project awards. In this role, she managed projects contributing to natural resource management, climate adaptation, and biodiversity conservation in Central and Southern Africa. She additionally contributed to research, policy analyses, strategic communications, and gender equality and social inclusion initiatives. Prior to her time at Tetra Tech, Megan completed internships at the U.S. Department of State and USAID.

Megan holds a B.A. in Anthropology-African Studies from St. Lawrence University, where she graduated magna cum laude and participated in the Kenya Semester Program which took her to Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda and solidified her interest in global development. She speaks French, and in her free time she enjoys reading, cooking new recipes, exercising, and traveling.

Megan chose GHD because to her, the program brings together incredible academic faculty, development practitioners, and graduate students and forms a community so engaging and diverse that she is,  in her words, "constantly inspired by everyone I meet and everything I learn." From hands-on learning opportunities, guidance on career development, and community-building retreats, she feels honored to be a part of the GHD Program. She finds it is proving to be an invaluable experience and investment on her journey as an international development practitioner. She said, "I would choose it again (and again) in a heartbeat!"

Summer Internship

I interned with the Migration, Environment and Climate Change (MECC) unit of the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) West and Central Africa Regional Office (RO) in Dakar, Senegal. The RO supports programs and partnerships that promote humane and orderly migration within and across the 23 countries in the region. Working alongside IOM staff, I reviewed and advised numerous project proposals seeking MECC program funding; built a data dashboard on climate and environment-affected migration and displacement in Chad during 2023; and co-developed a West and Central Africa Climate Vulnerability Assessment (CVA) methodology. I am especially proud of the CVA methodology, which IOM will use to identify socioeconomic conditions and environmental drivers that influence migration decisions. Findings will inform IOM and government policies and programs to facilitate solutions to environmental migration and disaster displacement, and assist migrants in accessing stable livelihoods and living conditions in the face of climate change.