Merja Laakso is Head of Programme, Southern Africa at REEEP, where she and her team are in charge of programme management for the Beyond the Grid Fund in Zambia and Mozambique, including oversight of implementation of the results-based financing scheme, programme and process development, monitoring and reporting as well as engagement and coordination of in-country teams, stakeholders and service providers.

Merja has ten years' experience managing, implementing and developing programmes to support the creation and acceleration of clean energy markets in Sub-Saharan Africa, and supporting renewable energy projects in developing countries globally.

Merja is from Finland and studied Geography and International Relations (Master’s programme on Globalization, Environment and Social Change) at Stockholm University in Sweden. As part of her studies, she worked with SouthSouthNorth on a REEEP-funded solar water heater project in Lwandle township, Cape Town, South Africa.