HERproject Team

Christine Svarer

Director, HERproject | France

Christine leads BSR’s HERproject—our women's empowerment workplace program that brings together global and local companies, business associations, and donors to support women in global supply chains through health, finance, and other curricula.

With more than 15 years working in international development, Christine has substantial global experience in women’s economic empowerment, private-sector development, financial inclusion, value chain development, enterpreneurship, cross-sector partnerships, and social enterprise.

Prior to BSR, Christine was the director of women’s economic empowerment at CARE International, leading the organization’s global work to support 30 million women and give them greater access to and control over economic resources and opportunities. Before that, Christine led CARE International’s work on private-sector development, focusing on inclusive business models and bottom-of-the-pyramid social enterprise development, and significantly expanding CARE’s strategic engagement with companies. Christine also previously worked on building leadership training programs for sustainable development at Lead International and for the United Nations Development Programme. She speaks English, Spanish and Danish.

Christine holds an M.S. in International Development and Business and a B.S. in International Business and Modern Languages, both from Copenhagen Business School. She also holds an Advanced Business Management degree from IESE Business School. 

HERproject Team

Lauren Shields

Director | France

Lauren is responsible for the global implementation and quality of HERproject programming.

She also oversees HERproject’s strategy for monitoring and evaluation and program sustainability and contributes to BSR’s women’s empowerment practice.

Previously, Lauren worked at the Social Science Research Council in New York, where she conducted research on migration, development, and human rights. Lauren’s consulting experience includes giving advice on best practices for monitoring and evaluation for the Center for Socio-Economic Development and developing recommendations on the post-2015 Millennium Development Goals agenda for UNDP. With a focus on sustainability in emerging markets, Lauren has led research projects on value chain development and women’s empowerment in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Vietnam.

Lauren holds an M.A. in Public Affairs from Sciences Po and a B.A. in International Relations from Tufts University.