Philippines

Jessica has over ten years of experience in the nonprofit sector, and earned a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of the Philippines. She managed and implemented development projects funded by Oxfam and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), aimed at addressing poverty, child protection and education inequality. For the past five years Jessica has taken in the lead in improving the economic capacities of over 30,000 vulnerable families in the sugarcane farms through sustainable agriculture, enterprise development, business services, market linkaging, savings mobilization, microfinance and youth skills development throughout the Philippines. She is currently engaged in humanitarian work as the Food Security and Livelihoods (FSL) Coordinator of Action Against Hunger leading its FSL program.. In 2017 Jessica co-founded ENABLRS, Inc. (Engaging and Empowering Nation-builders in Learning, Research and Social Entrepreneurship), a development consulting firm focused on improving development effectiveness and impact of nonprofits. She is a Fujitsu Global Leaders for Innovation and Knowledge fellow, and an alumna of the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) of the U.S. Department of State, a program of President Barack Obama to strengthen leadership development in the ASEAN. In her free time, she runs career coaching and mentoring sessions to prepare youth to successfully transition from school to work. Jessica is committed to promoting inclusive growth through entrepreneurship, financial inclusion, agriculture development and resilient livelihoods.

Host Organization: Albright Stonebridge Group

Role at Albright Stonebridge Group: Jessica will act as a member of several client teams and will generally function as the engagement manager for one or more client engagements, taking the lead in communications with client POCs and other external stakeholder and leverage the expertise and networks of senior staff to meet clients needs.

Patrick has six years of experience in the nonprofit sector. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in History from the Mindanao State University in 2004. Patrick participated in the VSO and British Council’s Global Xchange Program in 2006 for a year of cultural exchange and volunteering in Mindanao and the United Kingdom under the theme “Peace and Development.” Together with other youth volunteers of the team, he was awarded the “Millennium Volunteer Award of Excellence” by the UK Secretary of State for Education and Skills. Prior to this experience, Patrick was an Oxfam International Youth Partnerships Action Partner from 2004-2007, where he received capacity-building training, online peer mentoring, and support for his community project. In 2003, he received the national “13 UNEP-Bayer Young Environmental Envoy Award” for his community project on reforestation. Currently, he is the Provincial Education Officer in Mindanao for World Vision Philippines’ Child Labor Education Project, an initiative that uses education and policy advocacy to strengthen social structures and alternative livelihood as a means to combat child labor in the Philippines. He also volunteers as coordinator for the Mindanao Young Leaders Parliament, a network of youth social activists from Mindanao, and as an “Oxfam Youth Mentor and Motivator” for the new participants of the 2010-2013 Oxfam Action Partners cohort. Patrick belongs to the Bukidnons, one of the indigenous tribes of Mindanao.

Host Organization: International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children

Adam has over six years of experience in the non-profit sector as a student and professional. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Communications from Leyte Normal University in 2005 where he graduated cum laude, and is pursuing his Master’s degree in Management at the University of the Philippines. As a student, he was active in various school and community activities where he held significant leadership positions. He represented his province in the 4th National Youth Parliament, a biennial assembly of young people representing the various sub-sectors and geographical groupings nationwide to develop a legislative-executive agenda for youth development. Soon after he graduated, he was selected to join the pioneer batch of Global Xchange Program leaders, a six-month exchange program between the UK and Philippines. Managed by Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) and the British Council (BC), the program aims to give young people from different countries a unique opportunity to work together to make practical contributions to local communities. Immediately after completing the volunteer exchange program, Adam began working as a Project/ Technical Officer at the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction – Sustainable Livelihood Projects for the Poor in Southern Philippines, a grant project supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), where he was responsible for overall management of the project in the Visayas Network. At age 22, Adam became the youngest addition to World Vision Philippines as a Program Officer. In four years at World Vision, Adam acquired experience and skills in program management in development and humanitarian relief projects. in Bangladesh, Adam underwent training to set-up accountability mechanisms for development projects and programs. Through his pursuits in non-profit and volunteer work, Adam has grown into a a conscientious, passionate and relentless development professional and volunteer.

Host Organization: Operation Smile

Francis has more than four years of experience in the nonprofit sector. He earned a Master’s degree in Philanthropy and Social Innovation from Universita di Bologna, Italy, and an MBA in International Management from Northern Illinois University, U.S. In the past year, he worked as Resource Mobilization Officer in Apnalaya, a nonprofit organization for the slum welfare in Mumbai, India. With Apnalaya, he was responsible in fundraising and marketing communications planning. He also developed a social entrepreneurship program for the youth in Mumbai to help them realize their latent potentials and to avoid dropouts in schools. Francis has extensively experienced the implementation of country programs of the United Nations in the Philippines, U.S., Italy, Spain, and Israel. Through these experiences, he acquired skills in research, international development, and public-private partnerships. As a global citizen, Francis is most passionate about cross-cultural understanding and multi-sectoral collaboration to achieve world peace and unity.

Host Organization: Points of Light

Role at Host Organization: Francis will develop and implement Points of Light’s global marketing and communications strategy, conduct international market research and feasibility studies, and support new product development.

Ann has over five years of experience in the nonprofit sector. She earned her Diploma in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of the Philippines and received a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science at the University of Santo Tomas. Formerly, Ann was the Policy Officer of NGO Forum in ADB. The Forum is an independent network of over 250 civil society organizations in Asia based in Manila, Philippines. The network champions the rights of local communities adversely affected by the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) large scale infrastructure projects and policies. As the Policy Officer, Ann had the opportunity to be involved in the safeguards evaluation process of the Bank, and to work with its local partner, CSOs to institute affected communities in filing complaints for ADB’s Accountability Mechanism. Prior to joining the Forum, her inclination to local governance and development work led her to join the Leagues of Cities of the Philippines for three years as Junior Program Officer. LCP is the mandated organization of all cities in the country that tackles local governance agenda at the forefront of the country’s national development. As the Junior Program Officer, she was able to handle projects on improving the state of maternal health in the country, like its governance and making cities resilient among others. Through these experiences she had developed strong skills on project management and policy advocacy. Therefore, Ann is interested to further work directly with local communities, be immersed on issues of local governance, human rights, urban planning and advocacy targeting international financial institutions.

Host Organization: International Accountability Project

 Role at Host Organization: Annabel will serve as the IAP Smitu Kothari Fellow. The Smitu Kohtari Fellowship is a unique work and learning opportunity for young advocates created in honor of IAP founding board member Smitu Kothari. The aim of the Smitu Kothari Fellowship is an opportunity to continue growth within the movement for global justice and to strengthen their abilities as activists, critical thinkers and change-makers.

Raiza has six years of experience in the nonprofit sector, and earned a Master’s Degree in Political Economy with a specialization in International Relations and Development from the University of Asia and the Pacific in the Philippines. While working as the Executive Director for the Philippine Center for Civic Education and Democracy, she led the implementation of Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid programs in various local government units and in the disaster-affected communities of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Previously, Raiza worked for numerous civic education and good governance initiatives to address critical issues and challenges related to rule of law, participatory budgeting, and disaster risk reduction and management. Raiza also taught courses on Philippine Politics and Governance and Political Theories at the Institute of Political Economy of the University of Asia and the Pacific. Through these experiences, she strengthened her skills in community research, project planning and management, resource mobilization, and training and workshop facilitation. Raiza enjoys focusing on the topics of good governance principles, organizational and leadership development, and mainstreaming gender and human rights issues. She recognizes these topics as important elements in transforming communities into ‘schools of citizenship’.

Host Organization: Heartland Alliance International

 Role at Host Organization: Raiza will support the Director of Learning/Program Quality by providing research on the wider field of organizational learning, the development and dissemination of learning tools, the development and administration of HAI’s intranet-based learning landing page, and some administrative support related to HAI’s Technical Team. She will also provide some direct support to HAI’s Technical Advisors, specifically with research related to HAI’s technical areas (gender, mental health, and access to justice), and with the administration and management of HAI’s technical communities of practice.

Ava is a development worker with nine years of experience managing global projects and campaigns, providing capacity development to communities and nonprofit organizations, conducting research and designing and executing communication strategies for international NGOs. As Campaigns Officer for a regional organization on agroecology and food sovereignty, Ava supported the capacity development of communities and local organizations on community-based monitoring of the human rights implications of hazardous pesticides. She also initiated the development of a global campaign calling for the accountability of agrochemical TNCs for human rights abuse. Previously, she spearheaded a team to evaluate a large government program on a community-driven development approach to disaster recovery and rehabilitation. Ava has worked on various issues such as climate change, right to water, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and aid/development effectiveness. As an activist, Ava is strongly committed to social justice, grassroots empowerment, and gender equality. She recently finished her Master’s degree in International Development at Massey University, New Zealand. In her downtime, you can find Ava outdoors, probably hiking, swimming or aimlessly wandering. She also enjoys reading, singing and collecting new experiences.

Host Organization: Transparency and Accountability Initiative

Role at Host Organization: Ava will help shape TAI’s communications, advocacy and reporting. She will be responsible for managing the new TAI website, strengthening relations with member donor and grantee communications and knowledge management counterparts, raising awareness of TAI and members’ activities and finding innovative ways to communicate findings from research and meetings to core audiences.