Tom Aston

Tom Aston

Role: Governance Advisor

Team: Inclusive Governance team

Profile:

Tom was the monitoring, evaluation and research lead for the inclusive governance team. He particularly looked at the application of theory-based evaluation methods such as contribution tracing and outcome mapping.

He joined CARE International UK in 2012, providing support to the Latin America and the Caribbean and Middle East and North Africa regions, particularly in conducting political economy analyses, and conducting studies on social accountability and advocacy.

He has an MSc in Development Administration and Planning from University College London (UCL) and is doing a PhD on the political economy of cash transfers, with Bolivia as a case study. Previously he worked for CARE Bolivia and as a consultant for the ODI and UCL on issues of social protection and disaster risk reduction.

One good thing I've read

For those of you looking to unlock the activist inside you I recommend Rebecca Solnit’s Hope in the dark: Untold histories, wild possibilities.


Blog posts

By Tom Aston and Jay Goulden

Measuring the impact of advocacy may be difficult, but it’s not impossible. Yes advocacy is different, but it’s

Advocacy and influencing is at the heart of CARE’s program strategy – otherwise we couldn’t achieve our aims

About a decade ago, the development sector fell into the same trap the financial services industry did in the mid-1990s. We were all seduced by clever people selling clever methods we didn’t really understand. Only, we had a different acronym.

The Doing Development Different (DDD) community emerged in August 2014 and advocates that (a) the barriers to development are as much political as technical; (b) international development agencies therefore need to design programmes to be

On the plane to Accra just over a week ago I read Rebecca Solnit’s Men Explain Things to Me (the origin of the term

For those of us that sing the praises of social accountability (citizen-driven initiatives to hold those in power to account), making a claim about “impact” (or transformative change) is a challenge we face on a daily basis. And CARE’s not

At the end of 2016 the Doing Development Differently community held a workshop to take stock. What have we learned over the past two years? Is anything actually

CARE International UK invites you to the launch of our latest report on domestic workers and the ratification of ILO Convention 189. 

Venue: One Great George Street, Westminster SW1P 3 AA

In 2011, the International Labour Conference voted to adopt Convention 189 which, for the first time, mandates state supported protection to ensure decent work for domestic workers. Yet to date, only 12 countries have ratified and submitted

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Humanitarian team

CARE International UK’s humanitarian team supports CARE’s humanitarian work by accessing funding, and by providing project management and technical advice and capacity to CARE’s country offices and CARE’s emergency responses. CARE has a strong focus on ensuring that all our humanitarian programming responds meaningfully to the needs and capacities of different people, whatever their gender, identity or particular circumstances. CARE’s emergency shelter team is also based at CARE International UK.

Head of Humanitarian

As Head of Humanitarian at CARE International UK, I provide leadership on humanitarian issues and sit on CARE’s Emergency Response…

Senior Humanitarian Advisor (Gender and Protection)

Toral is currently on sabbatical until the end of 2019. My job is to make sure that CARE’s humanitarian work…

Inclusive Governance team

Poverty and social injustice are caused and maintained by unequal power relations that result in the inequitable distribution of resources and opportunities – between women and men, between power-holders and marginalised communities, and between countries. CARE believes poor governance is a key cause of poverty and social injustice. Our Inclusive Governance team promotes inclusive and accountable governance systems so that poor and marginalised people have influence over decisions that affect their lives. We help communities get organised and get their priorities included in development planning. We work to increase women’s voice and leadership in public life. We support service users to hold service providers to account. We work with public authorities and service providers to help them become more transparent and responsive to poor and marginalised people.

Head of Governance

I joined CARE International UK in 2006, with 15 years experience working in the NGO development sector. I have extensive…

Inclusive Governance Business Manager

I lead on business development for CARE's Inclusive Governance team. I lead the diversification and growth of inclusive governance across…

Programmes and Policy team

The Programmes and Policy team is responsible for overseeing programme quality and multiplying the impact of our programming by encouraging governments, business and donors – based on the evidence we witness on the ground – to adopt policy reforms that support the world’s poorest people and communities. Working in partnership with our country programmes, women’s rights organisations and civil society, we put forward the views of the most marginalised to governments, including the UK government, multinational businesses and global institutions and press the case for change. In short, our goal is to change the rules of the game that keep people poor.

Head of Advocacy and Policy (Jobshare)

After 10+ years working in the development and humanitarian sector I remain passionate about putting disaster and conflict-affected people at…

Senior Advocacy and Policy Adviser

I work in CARE International UK’s Advocacy and Policy team. I focus on gender and climate change, women’s leadership in…

Strategic Partnerships team

Strategic partnerships are a key way for CARE to increase and widen our impact. Our Private Sector Engagement team partners with national and multinational companies to co-create innovative 'inclusive business' approaches that drive new opportunities for poor people as producers, workers, entrepreneurs, and consumers. We – and our partners – believe this makes good business sense: helping to generate efficiency, securing supply chains, accessing new markets and products, and improving credibility with consumers who increasingly expect companies to behave responsibly. Our Institutional Partnerships team connects the vision and commitment of our funding partners with poverty-fighting programmes throughout the world.

Senior Corporate Partnerships Executive

Within my role, I manage corporate partner funding and the relationship with corporate partners, as well as working with teams…

Partnerships Manager

I am a Partnerships Manager in the Private Sector Engagement team. I oversee the team’s portfolio of partnerships with the…

Women’s Economic Empowerment team

Our Women’s Economic Empowerment team leads CARE’s work globally to ensure women have greater access to and control over economic resources, assets and opportunities. We focus on four inter-related pathways to economic empowerment, based on a combination of women’s core economic roles as producers, workers, entrepreneurs and consumers: financial inclusion, women and value chains, dignified work, and entrepreneurship. We also focus on supporting the involvement of women in creating resilient markets in fragile and humanitarian contexts.

Senior Advisor – Financial Inclusion

Prior to joining CARE International UK as Senior Advisor – Financial Inclusion, I led the Women and Youth Financial Inclusion…

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Advisor

Regine is currently on leave. I lead CARE International’s Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning work for our Women’s Economic Empowerment programmes.…

I joined CARE in August 2014, because I believe strongly in our focus on economic development, gender equality and people…

CARE International alumni

Many CARE staff who have written Insights blogs have since moved on to other roles. Your blogs are still part of the CARE story – and we welcome any future contributions you may make to Insights and to our shared learning on what works in humanitarian response and international development.

Nicola was formerly the Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Specialist within the Programme Management Team at CARE International UK.…

Penda was formerly a Senior Resilience Advisor, providing technical support and project development assistance on resilience building projects in various…