Sophie Hodder

Sophie Hodder

Country Director, Kenya

Sophie Hodder is the Country Director at Marie Stopes Kenya. She joined us in February 2016 bringing with her 12 years' health sector experience ranging from private sector to humanitarian, emergency and international development. Women's health has been a focus in Sophie's career coupled with a strong background in sustainable health financing.

Before moving to Kenya in August 2019, Sophie served as the Country Director of our programme in Nepal. In Nepal, Sophie was leading the Marie Stopes Nepal team to ensure that women are able to exercise their rights by receiving safe, high quality and affordable services.

Prior to joining us, Sophie spent the past 10 years mainly in Africa, including Rwanda, Senegal, Ghana, Democratic Republic of Congo and Haiti. Previous employers range from the Clinton Health Access Initiative most recently, to Medecins Sans Frontieres and the British National Health Service. Her qualifications include a Masters in Engineering and also in Public Health.

Sophie explains what drives her: "We still live in a desperately unequal world, both socio-economically and in terms of gender. In the countries we work in, few women make their own decisions. Therefore, having unwanted children adds phenomenal stress to already difficult lives in many instances. By giving women a non-judgemental and kind service that gives her back some of the decision-making power, I hope that we can change lives for the better."