Jo Howarth

Jo Howarth

Role: Business Engagement Manager - WOW

Profile:

I joined CARE in June 2020 and alongside providing technical advice and support across the confederation on Women’s Economic Justice, I also project manage CARE’s engagement in the FCDO funded Work and Opportunities for Women (WOW) programme. This involves research, design and delivery of interventions with private sector partners so as to drive women’s economic empowerment in their global value chains.

Prior to CARE I worked with the Ethical Trading Initiative, and studied for a Masters in Globalisation, Business and Development, where I researched how a circular economy affects workers, environmental upgrading of value chains, and what difference a living wage makes for garment workers. I spent some of my best years prior to that working in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Kenya in business development, communications, and programme design.

I am proud to be on the board of trustees for a Sierra Leonean civil society organisation, AdvocAid, which works to strengthen access to justice for women and girls in contact with the law. I’m driven by a firm belief in women’s rights, am passionate about increasing the role of business in development, and am a feminist in constant progress.

One good thing I’ve read

Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics is a really enjoyable read, and she does such a good job of showing why the existing economic system doesn’t work, and how we can build a new global economy that respects people and planet. I always enjoy the daily From Poverty to Power blog landing in my inbox, and recommend Emma Gannon’s very small handbook – Sabotage – for anyone needing to silence their inner critic.

Email address: howarth@careinternational.org
Twitter handle: @jo_howarth


Blog posts

Women make up approximately half of workers in global value chains, yet their representation in leadership positions is poor. Through the FCDO-funded Work and


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.

Climate Change & Resilience Team Leader

I am an environmental scientist with a background in international development, specialising in climate change adaptation, natural resource management, disaster…

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.

Senior Gender Advisor

My role is to provide technical advice to CARE International UK’s programme and operational teams to help meet our commitment…

Head of Governance

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

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 Programmes

I am Head of Programmes for CARE International UK, overseeing our development and humanitarian programming in Africa, Asia and the…

Policy and Advocacy Assistant

I see my role as a bridge between those who deserve change and those who have the power to make…

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.

Partnerships Manager

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

Senior Corporate Partnerships Executive

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

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…

Director Women’s Economic Empowerment

I joined CARE International UK in September 2016 as global Director for Women’s Economic Empowerment. Women's Economic Empowerment is one…

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.

Miski Abdi was formerly a Policy and Advocacy intern at CARE International UK. She worked on CARE’s Financial Inclusion and…

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