Cara Stephenson
Bachelor of Arts } Bachelor of Health Sciences | Master of Public Health | Graduate Diploma of Human Nutrition
Senior Consultant
  • Bio
  • Recent projects
  • Qualifications
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Cara has qualifications and experience in public health, nutrition and international development. She is passionate about health program evaluation, social justice and sustainable development practices. Through her studies and work in international development, Cara has worked with many diverse stakeholders. She has experience in monitoring and evaluation of various large and complex projects, which has further motivated Cara to make evaluations practical and useful for all stakeholders.
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Prior employment
Prior to joining First Person Consulting, Cara worked in monitoring and evaluation roles in the international development sector for six years, most recently working with Swiss Red Cross in Lao PDR. During her work in Lao PDR, Cara led the Lao component of Swiss Red Cross’ Implementation Research, a multi-country study exploring influences on decision making regarding women and their choice of place of birth, either home or health facility. This research was conducted using a backstopping approach, building the capacity of Lao government partners in conducting qualitative research and participatory analysis. 
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Previously, Cara has worked in Indonesia, Malawi and Uganda as the Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator of various nutrition and agriculture projects with international non-government organisations.
Examples of Cara's project experience include:
  • Evaluation of the Community Engagement Program, Prevention Partnership Program and Strategic Partnership Funding, Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation
  • Social Determinants of Facility-based Births Implementation Research, Swiss Red Cross
  • Evaluation of Community Health Worker Pilot Project, Swiss Red Cross - Laos
Cara has a Bachelor of Health Sciences (Health Promotion) and Bachelor of Arts (International Relations) from Deakin University. She completed her Master of Public Health in 2014 at the University of Melbourne, with specialisations in Global Health and Health Program Evaluation. During this Master of Public Health, she completed a research project exploring the effectiveness and acceptability of various cervical cancer screening methods. Cara recently completed a Graduate Diploma of Human Nutrition at Deakin University.