Alice’s interest in microfinance was recently kindled whilst studying for a masters in politics, and since then she has aimed to bring this interest into the mainstream of her working life. Alice spent seven years working for the UK Government, during that time she managed the development of policy and strategy on resilience and security of the internet, telecoms and energy sectors, as well as project planning workstreams within Government emergency response. This involved many a happy hour working closely with national and international partners attempting to solve some challenging regulatory problems! Alice has also worked as a freelance consultant training people to deal with emergencies, providing research and analysis on security issues as well as advice on advocacy and lobbying strategies. Having spent any and every available spare moment travelling, Alice has long relished the opportunity to focus more on understanding and contributing to sustainable development. She is looking forward to bringing together professional experience, knowledge and academic research and a huge interest in microfinance, and is thrilled to be working with two of Kiva’s new MFI partners in Albania and Kosovo.