Merrick Schaefer

Merrick Schaefer is currently the Lead of the Mobile Data team at USAID working at the intersection of technology and international development. Before joining the USAID he was a Senior Innovation Specialist at the World Bank and an mHealth Specialist at UNICEF where he was a founding member of the UNICEF Innovation Team. His work ranges from strategic program design to managing software development, as well as implementing programs in the field and the monitoring and evaluation of ICT4D projects. Two defining projects of his career were managing the development of the RapidSMS software framework and leading Programme Mwana in Zambia, one of the first mHealth programs to be scaled nationally. He graduated from the University of Chicago where he earned a B.A. in Medical Ethics.