Social Policy Insights is a research consultancy based in Nairobi.

We’re helping to build a world where social protection beneficiaries in East Africa are served by programmes which are inclusive, respectful, and constantly learning about how they can improve.

Meet the Director

Rachel Strohm is the founder and director of Social Policy Insights. She’s passionate about building inclusive social protection programmes which help people to thrive throughout their lives, and is a huge believer in the power of research to help social protection implementers continually learn and improve.

As the associate director of social protection research for Innovations for Poverty Action, Rachel led quantitative evaluations of social protection programmes in Ghana, Uganda, Rwanda, and Zimbabwe. She carried out qualitative research on social protection programmes in Ghana and Uganda for her MA in political science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Rachel also holds an MA in international relations from Johns Hopkins University, and a BA in geography and French from Dartmouth College. Originally from Chicago, Rachel divides her time between London and Nairobi.

A black and white portrait of a middle-aged white woman. She's got long straight hair, dangly earrings, and a white sleeveless top. She's leaning against a brick wall and smiling into the camera.

Our Values

  • Respect: We treat everyone respectfully, and always keep in mind that we are working to enhance the human dignity of social protection beneficiaries.

  • Collaboration: We build strong partnerships with our clients, based on prompt and clear communication, to understand their objectives. We also value co-creating research projects with the beneficiaries of social protection programmes, so their voices are represented in institutional learning processes.

  • Excellence: The research and evaluation projects we carry out are rigorously designed; thorough in their scope; tailored to the learning goals of our clients; and conducted in a timely manner with appropriate technology.

  • Accessibility: We ensure that research results are presented in ways which are accessible to to their target audience, including appropriate choices of visualisation, translation, and delivery modality (written/audio/video). We prioritise accessibility for people with disabilities in our trainings & publications.