Dr. Nicole Lefore is the Director of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Small Scale Irrigation, leading a consortium of interdisciplinary research and private partners in the U.S. and Feed the Future countries to increase equitable access to profitable and sustainable irrigation. She has over 25 years of international experience leading projects in research, policy advocacy and development implementation related to agriculture, natural resources (water and land), institutions and capacity strengthening, primarily in Africa. Her current research focus is on gender and women farmers, private sector scaling pathways and finance for small scale irrigation, and increasing irrigation in targeted value chains.