McCourt School policy student leverages data science for social impact in the Philippines

With generous support from the Colin McCollester Mission Fund and the Master of International Development Policy program’s Summer Experience , Hannah Reynolds (MIDP’25) spent 11 weeks working in Manila, Philippines, on the Research, Evaluation and Data team at IDinsight, a data analytics and research organization that helps global development leaders maximize their social impact.  

Throughout her internship, Reynolds worked on three projects for the Philippine Department of Health (DOH), each focusing on health care access and health literacy within the country. 

“I worked on each project at different stages, which allowed me to engage in a variety of work, including coding and analyzing 50 key informant interviews on mental health in the Philippines, creating data visualizations for a DOH report and cleaning and analyzing immunization data to be presented at a health conference,” she said.

Reynolds, who studied economics and global affairs as an undergraduate, serves as the project coordinator for McCourt Policy in Practice, a student-run organization that provides policy consulting for nonprofits in Latin America. She is also a McCourt Ambassador . 

Working in-country for an international development organization proved instrumental in helping Reynolds understand research and development and prepare for the next phase of her career. 

“I learned so much about the intricacies and difficulties of data collection during my time in the Philippines. I came away from my internship with great insight into how best to use and prepare data for research,” she said.

“Working in-country provides such an exciting opportunity to learn more about the context of your work and engage firsthand with the communities that your project or research will impact,” said Reynolds. 

Outside of her work at IDinsight, Reynolds traveled across the capital city and many rural areas, taking advantage of the island nation’s natural beauty.

“Manila is comprised of 16 separate cities, so I spent a great deal of time exploring many of them and getting to know the area around my apartment,” she said. “I also traveled to Bohol and Palawan islands. Hiking to waterfalls, snorkeling with sardines and seeing the tarsiers (a very small primate only found in a few parts of South East Asia) were highlights of my time there.”

“I am so grateful to the McCourt School, the McCollester family and IDinsight for making this incredible opportunity possible,” said Reynolds.

Learn more about the Colin McCollester Mission Fund here.