Cristina Mendoza Mora is a Master in Public Policy (MPP) candidate at the Jackson School of Global Affairs, focused on how new technologies, interventions, and approaches can improve the effectiveness of social spending. She has five years of work experience in international development and is committed to improving the effectiveness of social spending in development settings.

Before coming to Yale, Cristina was working as a senior associate at Instiglio, a global consultancy that helps international development actors enhance the efficacy of their programs. For two years in Colombia and two more in Kenya, she designed results-based financing (RBF) mechanisms and supported their rollouts for several international development organizations such as the World Bank, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, and the Millennium Challenge Corporation. Her projects spanned across the health, agriculture, waste management, and water and sanitation sectors. Cristina also served during a six-month secondment as the chief of staff to the CEO of TakaTaka Solutions, the largest waste collection and recycling company in Kenya, where she worked closely with the management team to design and streamline key company processes.

Cristina holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Universidad de Los Andes in Bogota, Colombia, with a minor in law and state. She is a native Spanish speaker and is fluent in English and French.