Kara Medina

Kara Medina joined SEI Asia as Research Fellow in May 2026. Kara works with the Inclusive Climate Finance for Vulnerable Communities in Asia-Pacific (ICCAP) Project to guide and support local civil society organisations in co-designing bankable adaptation solutions based on the Living Labs approach. She leads GESI capacity-strengthening processes for ICCAP consortium teams and boundary partners in designing and delivering inclusive climate finance, and supporting the integration of GESI principles and practices across all of ICCAP’s work packages and 6 target countries.

Before joining SEI Asia, Kara worked at the Pacific Community (SPC) based in New Caledonia as a technical specialist for environmental and social safeguards and GESI, providing bespoke training and support to Pacific Island governments and project management units for climate change adaptation programmes supported by the Green Climate Fund and Adaptation Fund. She supported the development, implementation, monitoring, and reporting of projects in climate-resilient agriculture, public health, water security, nature-based solutions, coastal fisheries, and disaster risk reduction in FSM, Vanuatu, Nauru, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, PNG, and Palau. Prior to that, she worked with CARE International as humanitarian partnerships coordinator for the global secretariat and gender adviser for the Philippines country office, specialising in inter-agency rapid gender analysis and women’s leadership in emergencies.

She holds a masters in Women and Development and a bachelors in Psychology from the University of the Philippines Diliman.