Atlas Corps Fellowship for Climate Change and Environmental Professionals

Elijah has seven years of professional experience in the nonprofit sector. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Renewable Natural Resources Management from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana. Passionate about driving positive social change, Elijah is a Co-Founder and Executive Director of community-based nonprofit organization- Help Change Ghana which works to empower communities to take proactive actions to reduce litter, indiscriminate dumping of waste and undertake beautification projects such as tree planting. His most significant professional accomplishment with this organization is the design and launch of the Community Litter Prevention initiative which trained and developed skills of 300 volunteers through a train the trainer model in 2014. The initiative has since reached over 30,000 individuals in nine communities with information on litter prevention techniques. Additionally, he coordinated conservation education programs in community schools which increased formation of Eco-clubs to ninety-six as at March 2019. Elijah’s efforts have been tremendous in rekindling grassroots support in keeping clean communities and conserving nature. Previously, he worked with the National Disaster Management Organization where he coordinated a team which administered support for flood displaced victims in rural Accra. Also, he volunteered with the Accra Metropolitan Assembly in public cleanup events such as the National Sanitation Initiative. Through these experiences, he has developed skills in project planning and implementation, leadership development, training and capacity building. Elijah has strong desire for leadership development, entrepreneurship and community empowerment.

Host Organization: Keep America Beautiful

Role at Keep America Beautiful: At Keep America Beautiful, Elijah will work with the Programs Director to execute Keep America Beautiful’s signature programs focused on cigarette litter prevention and community beautification. He will execute a grant program, market the programs to their affiliates and a broader audience, help execute an educational campaign and research potential new sponsors.

Julie has six years of work experience in the nonprofit sector. She earned a Master’s of Science degree in Project Management from the University of Bolton, and a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Economics and Public Administration from the University of Zambia. Julie has worked as Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning Officer for Pact Zambia in Ndola since November 2016. She supported the Zambia Community HIV Prevention project (Z-CHPP) focusing on community HIV prevention. Julie’s main role was ensuring a functional monitoring and evaluation system to catalyze innovative sustainable, accessible and quality health solutions. She supported Implementing Partners to ensure that data was collected from health service delivery points, analyzed and reported, conduct data quality audits, identify success stories for organizational learning, and participated in all research work. From March
2016 to October 2016, Julie worked as a Monitoring and Evaluation Officer in Lusaka, Zambia for Society for Family Health (Population Services International). Her project portfolio included; Sexual Reproductive Health Initiative for all, Department of Defense, Expanding Effective Contraceptive Options and HIV self-testing. From February, 2012 to March, 2016 Julie worked for World Vision Zambia as Monitoring and Evaluation Officer in Eastern province. She contributed to World Vision Zambia’s mission to work for the poor and oppressed through the implementation of area development programs aimed at enhancing transformational development by reducing poverty and empowering communities. At World Vision, Julie’s project portfolio included Health, HIV/AIDS, Sponsorship, Water and Sanitation, Education, Food Security and Livelihood. Julie has assisted programs with planning, managing information
systems, reviewing performance against targets, identifying and addressing implementation challenges, documenting lessons learned and most significant success stories, report periodically and, oversee research activities, program assessments and designs. Julie has acquired skills in activity scheduling and tracking, design and implementation of project monitoring and evaluation plans and, conducting both qualitative and quantitative research.
Julie is interested in development programming, research and policy formulation and implementation to improve development outcomes. She enjoys traveling, site seeing, meeting different people from all walks of life and dancing.

Host Organization: Save the Children

Role at Host Organization: Julie will work with the HIV & TB technical team to support the technical aspects of program implementation. She will assist with program oversight, operations, logistics, and monitoring and evaluation functions and will also support the technical and M&E teams in reviewing program documents/reports and ensuring their timely submission to the relevant quarters. She will also contribute to the development of new proposals, program innovations, knowledge products and various other technical tools and processes.

Olumide has over 10 years of experience working on Communications, Environment Sustainability, Climate Change, Agro-ecology, Monitoring & Evaluation, and Sustainable Development issues. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Statistics from the University of Abuja in 2010. Olumide is a communication and digital expert and trainer with extensive experience in creating, facilitating and managing projects. He has represented Nigeria and Africa at over 25 high-level global governance and environment meetings on sustainable development and has served as the African Youth Champion for UNISDR. He was selected as a facilitator for UNISDR in Japan 2014 and Mexico 2017 for his strong interest in Youth and Disaster Risk Reduction, as well as serving as an Expert of the Week by UN environment and UNISDR. Olumide is the recipient of the 2015 Save the Children Award of Contribution toward Sustainable Development in Nigeria and Commonwealth Youth Climate Fellow. Olumide has co-founded two organizations: the Nigerian Youth Climate Coalition, the biggest youth environmental movement in Nigeria, and the International Climate Change Development Initiative, which identifies key environment-based issues affecting development across Africa. Olumide currently works as the Youth Lead Author for Global Environmental Outlook of the UN Environment and was selected by the US Embassy in Nigeria for International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP), where he spent almost 3 weeks in the United State learning about Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation.

Host Org: Creating IT Futures

Fellow role at Creating IT Futures: Olumide will serve as a Social Media and Student Recruitment Fellow where he will manage social networks to increase audience engagement and strengthen the reputation as a thought-leader in the STEM and tech workforce development markets.

Vanessa is passionate about the arts, culture, and environment. She has six years of experience in the nonprofit, public and private sectors in Nicaragua. Vanessa earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Central America University (UCA) in Nicaragua. In several of her previous roles, she contributed building and reinforcing leadership abilities of students from different high schools and universities from the United States. Vanessa worked with university students to help them design work plans and write grants focused on health awareness, women’s rights, environmental care, education and economic development for the community of Masaya. Previously, Vanessa worked with GSE, where she leads educational exchange trips that focused on sustainable small-scale agriculture and promoted the social leadership of students from the USA and local community members from the State of Boaco, Nicaragua. She guided in the process of finding sustainable solutions to address the common challenges as species. Through these experiences Vanessa has developed capacity-building abilities and project management, creating spaces in which art is included as a channel for recognition of the self and transmission of ideas. In November of 2017 she founded the social program: “Potencial de Nicaragua” and in April of 2018 participated as a finalist in the international competence, (TIC Américas), celebrated in Lima, Perú in the framework of the VIII Summit of the Americas. Her main goals are to strengthen human potential and promote respect for the environment.

Host Org: The Nature Conservancy

Fellow role at The Nature Conservancy: Vanessa will serve as an Ecosystem Disaster Risk Reduction Fellow and will contribute to the design and development of outreach tools, guidance and other resources pertaining to coastal risk and resilience. She will assume the lead role for one or more projects pertaining to strategic priorities and support website content development/maintenance and social media outreach.