Meet Mercy Gakii Muthuuri, a recent graduate of the Master of Public Policy and Global Affairs program, class of 2025. Today, she’s making an impact at World Vision Canada, an international NGO. After 12 years working in finance and climate initiatives in Kenya, Mercy is now leading efforts to develop innovative financing models that serve the world’s most marginalized children.
Introduce yourself! What brought you to MPPGA?
I come all the way from Kenya where I had worked for 12 years in different roles cutting from Pension & Investment management, climate finance and sustainable infrastructure, leading public-private partnerships and mobilizing domestic capital for green investments. Over time, I realized that while financial tools are powerful, policy is what truly shapes systems and unlocks equity. With a Master of Science in Finance and vast experience, I knew bringing in that intersection of Policy from a global perceptive would position me in a better position while advocating for sustainable development and climate policies. That realization brought me to the Master of Public Policy and Global Affairs (MPPGA) program at UBC, an opportunity to deepen my understanding of global policy frameworks with specialization in resources, energy and sustainability.
In what ways has MPPGA shaped the kind of policy professional you aspire to become?
MPPGA helped me evolve into a policy professional who is not only analytical but also deeply empathetic and equity driven. It taught me that good policy is not just about efficiency, it’s about justice, inclusion, and listening to those most affected. I now aspire to lead initiatives that center marginalized voices, especially children, women, youth, and Indigenous communities, in climate and development policy. What’s most fulfilling is seeing how the skills I homed in policy analysis, program evaluation, and research are now contributing to real-world change especially in my current role at an International NGO, World Vision Canada where I am providing strategic leadership in emerging Innovative funding models and partnerships to unlock philanthropic capital for sustainable development in the most vulnerable communities globally. It’s a full-circle moment: from studying policy in the classroom to shaping it in practice, with communities at the heart of it all.
MPPGA allows you to work and learn within a tight-knit cohort of diverse students. What lessons have you learned from your fellow classmates?
My cohort was the best team anyone would dream of working with! All over from 25 different countries, we were a mosaic of perspectives. We learnt a lot from each other everyday and greatly supported each other! I learned the value of collaborative leadership, how to navigate complex global issues with humility, and how diverse lived experiences enrich policy solutions. The informal debates, shared meals, hugs and tears as well as the study sessions were just as educational as the lectures. This learnt skills prepared me for the kind of work that I do currently where I have to work with 100 countries in which world vision Canada has presence in, work with diverse teams and have that global lens when analysing policy problems from different geographies.
Is there a specific MPPGA course that you found particularly useful toward building your professional skill set?
I would say “Policy Analysis and Evaluation”. It was baptism by fire but also the point in which I became a policy analyst! From pinpointing policy gaps, stakeholder analysis & mapping, Risk assessment and multi-criteria analysis, cost-benefits analysis and program evaluations, to crafting comprehensive recommendations and producing high quality policy briefs and reports – this was the highlight of my studies!
What is one way you have directly applied your learnings from MPPGA to a workplace position?
Coming to Canada from Kenya to pursue the MPPGA was more than an academic decision, it was a leap toward a lifelong dream of working within the international development space to shape inclusive and impactful policy. That dream started shaping up when I joined the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) as a Research Awardee where I had the opportunity to lead a research project focused on analyzing climate financing mechanisms that integrate gender and youth. Using lessons learnt from my coursework and the MPPGA capstone experience, I designed inclusive methodologies, facilitated knowledge-sharing seminars, produced policy reports, policy briefs that are now informing regional initiatives across the Global South.
How has MPPGA influenced your career path? Has it reinforced your interest toward a specific sector, or inspired a newfound curiosity about others?
MPPGA reinforced my commitment to climate and energy policy, but it also sparked a deeper curiosity about Indigenous governance and gender equity. It helped me see how interconnected these sectors are and inspired me to pursue work that sits at those intersections. Policy cuts across diverse sectors, having a background in finance, I chose to explore climate policies and then specialized in climate finance policies. MPPGA then reminded me that good policies bust be community led and inclusive! In my current role, I develop models, strategies or partnerships well informed by Inclusive policies for the welfare of children in the most vulnerable countries or regions in this world. Nothing else would have been this fulfilling!
If you could give advice to an incoming MPPGA student, what would you tell them?
Come with an open mind and a full heart. Be ready to unlearn, relearn, and grow. Engage deeply with your cohort, professors, and the school. Please, don’t be afraid to bring your whole self, your story, your values, your questions because all our individual perspectives build a web of knowledge. It is going to be challenging the first days, especially for international students, but I want you to know it is doable! You must make your dream come true. Follow your passion, be candid on what brought you to this program and harness the amazing networks you create while on it! Please be visible on LinkedIn, you never know who is watching your journey. I was headhunted on LinkedIn, so trust me- revisit your LinkedIn strategy!
What is one thing about your MPPGA experience that surprised you / you didn’t anticipate?
I didn’t anticipate how emotionally resonant the program would be. Engaging with topics like reconciliation, displacement, and climate injustice wasn’t just academic, coming from global south, it was personal. The program created space for reflection, which made the learning powerful as we all shared our lived experiences.
To the faculty and my peers that I worked with, thank you for shaping me into the policy professional I am today. And to future students, your voice matters. Use it boldly and use it well. Be the change maker! Today, less than a year after graduating- I am leading a department because of the skills I learnt being an MPPGA student! I finally became the change maker I once looked forward to!
