Fredline M’Cormack-Hale

Biography

Dr. Fredline M’Cormack-Hale is Associate Professor at Seton Hall University, School of Diplomacy and International Relations, and directs policy research at the Institute for Governance Reform. A comparativist by training, with a regional focus on Africa, her research interests include the political economy of post-war states, with a focus on questions around gender and development, state accountability in service delivery (particularly health and education), and the interplay between the international aid community and national governments.

She is passionate about promoting women’s empowerment and gender equality and conducting transformative research: engaging with policy makers on research outputs for policy uptake. In addition to her affiliation with the Institute for Governance Reform, she has consulted for a variety of organizations including UNDP, Oxfam Novib, and the International Development Law Organisation (IDLO) on a range of governance and human development issues. These include a comprehensive mapping of Sierra Leone’s laws from a gender perspective to identify practical entry points to achieve gender equality in practice, and not only in law; assessing the effectiveness of donor interventions promoting women’s political participation to develop contextually relevant and appropriate interventions; and studying national and internationally funded COVID-19 and Ebola interventions in Sierra Leone to understand how to build back better.

Her recent publications include the co-edited volume, “War, Women and Post Conflict Empowerment: Lessons from Sierra Leone” (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022) (with Josephine Beoku-Betts).