Jimena Eyzaguirre

Jimena Eyzaguirre is the International Team Director and Climate Change Adaptation Lead at ESSA. Previously, Ms. Eyzaguirre led several high-profile adaptation projects of national relevance, including a widely-cited study on the costs of climate change for Canada and the first comprehensive Canadian initiative exploring business readiness to confront climate change risk. Since 2013, Ms. Eyzaguirre has contributed to vulnerability assessments, climate-sensitivity screening and provided guidance and facilitation services to support the development of thematic (heat health and built infrastructure; agriculture; fisheries and oceans management), regional (Arctic Canada), and national adaptation strategies.

Ms. Eyzaguirre has led or contributed to a number of international monitoring and evaluation (M&E) efforts in the past two years: the final evaluation of a major climate resilience program in the Caribbean, two evaluations of Plan International’s child-centred climate change adaptation project in Southeast Asia, the final evaluation of CARE International’s Adaptation Learning Program in Africa, and the establishment of M&E systems for national climate change programs and finance facilities in Ghana, Zambia, and Ethiopia.

Ms. Eyzaguirre holds a B.Sc. in Geology from Georgia State University, a M.Sc. in Geology from Western University, and a master’s in Resources Management from Simon Fraser University, where she combined survey methods and innovation diffusion theory to characterize Canadians’ preferences for zero-emissions vehicles. She also holds a Graduate Diploma in Social Innovation from the University of Waterloo.

Ms. Eyzaguirre is committed to serving others, particularly communities considered to be vulnerable. She is the current Vice-President of the Canada Mathare Education Trust, a Canadian volunteer-run charity working in a Nairobi (Kenya) slum to increase youth access to high school and post-secondary education. She has volunteered with CMETrust since 2007 in several capacities, from event planning to policy development.

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