Economic Development

Dorothea Strüber is an Economist by training and graduated in International Economics and Development at the Complutense University of Madrid. She currently works for ClimateView, a climate tech company providing digital solutions for cities in their decarbonization journeys. Prior to joining ClimateView, she worked for six years at the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, a global initiative to unite science for the Sustainable Development Goals. She has extensive knowledge in community building, stakeholder management and engagement, and is passionate about sustainable agriculture and gender equality. She speaks English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Alisson Figueroa has worked in community social development with NGOs and private companies for over 10 years. Nicaragua is going through different social, economic, and environmental challenges and as a game changer, she feels the responsibility to make a positive contribution. That is why she is interested in being part of the Virtual Leadership Institute because she knows with this program she will have all the necessary tools for her professional development and to be able to implement her inclusive recycling proposal. Through this program, she will be able to find a community network in which she can maintain her development focus and involve local corporations to be part of the change as well. The result of her proposal is that families have a second source of income and that it can be a model for other communities in the country.

Benedicta Dawson-Amoah is a monitoring and evaluation professional with five years of experience in youth advocacy, gender, and rural development in the nonprofit sector. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Statistics from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana. While working as the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Coordinator at Plan International Ghana, she led in tracking project outcomes and conducting surveys for evidence-based advocacy on the She Leads Project. Over the past three years, Benedicta has advocated for the meaningful engagement of young people in leadership and decision-making by supporting Restless Development Uganda and the Mastercard Foundation to deliver compelling research on Young People’s priorities under the Youth Think Tank project. Benedicta has contributed to the academic research paper “Making a Living: A Young Employment Agenda” by Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge, and she continues to volunteer as a youth researcher for civil society organizations, including Restless Development USA, Mastercard Foundation, and the ILO. Through these experiences, Benedicta has developed strong skills in youth leadership, data analysis, and communication skills for project management. Benedicta envisions a world where data can be used to make better decisions, improve lives, and make lasting impact for development.

Lestel Ma. Kelly Aburto is an afrodecendance woman with a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and a Master’s degree in Intercultural Communication from the Universidad de las Regiones Autonomas de la Costa Caribe de Nicaragua URACCAN and Bluefields Indian & Caribbean University BICU. She is the Co-Founder of afrodescendance Woman in Nicaragua OMAN and Founder and CEO of Partners Construction S.A. PCONSA in Nicaragua. She also participated in several fellowships with the U.S. Department of State as leader of different groups in her community. She has previously worked in project management & community development with women, children and youths in areas like economical empowerment, combatting violence and drug abuse, human rights, and leadership. Lestel is particularly attracted to the quest of creating and enabling a safe environment for vulnerable groups. She has been involved in various initiatives to improve the quality of life among vulnerable women, youths, and children to increase school enrollment, gender inequality, poverty, child rights, and climate change. Her goal is to help people, especially vulnerable groups like women and youth where they could have more opportunities.

Nayab Zahra is a student of STEM with a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Antwerp, Belgium. Nayab has obtained 232 academic certifications in different fields, particularly in STEM. Nayab Zahra is the recipient of the 2017 Jabir Ibn e Hayan award for her practical and theoretical demonstration of the eradication of plastic components by driving natural polyolefin. In 2020, she won the Al Farabi medal for her prototype on conventional medicine using AI named bio conductor modular. Nayab won the award of Harkat 2021 from the Ministry of Science and Technology of Iran. In 2021, Nayab was awarded the National Youth Award for her research and work from the age of 12 till now (2012-2021) in the category of literature, education, technology, and innovation.

Mian Muhammad Alim comes from a small muddy village in the Sibi District of interior Baluchistan. Without any access to essential utilities, Mian still managed to turn into a young and enthusiastic man with good learning and hard-working habits. He learns quickly and always tries to complete his assignments as well as possible. He has good hands-on documentation and technology and has participated in different personality grooming and business studies-related events. Main is currently in the research phase of his Master’s degree in Management Sciences while he has already completed 16 years of education in Business Administration with a 3.56 CGPA from BUITEMS University. He has a certificate of main management courses from Minnesota State University Moorhead, USA through a cultural exchange scholarship. After completing five years of full-time employment with the State Bank of Pakistan and one year of full-time social entrepreneurship, not-for-profit community service, and encouraging civic engagement, Mian plans to enhance his capacities and abilities in development finance and economics. He strives to make workable plans or make plans work in the next two years and terminally transform into a policy maker and change advocate. He has a vision to ultimately establish a development finance institution or economic institution for the country and region for sustainable growth and inclusive prosperity.

Benedicta is a monitoring and evaluation professional with five years of experience in youth advocacy, gender, and rural development in the nonprofit sector. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Statistics from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana. While working as the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Coordinator at Plan International Ghana, she led in tracking project outcomes and conducting surveys for evidence-based advocacy on the She Leads Project. Over the past three years, Benedicta has advocated for the meaningful engagement of young people in leadership and decision-making by supporting Restless Development Uganda and the Mastercard Foundation to deliver compelling research on Young People’s priorities under the Youth Think Tank project. Benedicta has contributed to the academic research paper \"Making a Living: A Young Employment Agenda\" by Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge, and she continues to volunteer as a youth researcher for civil society organizations, including Restless Development USA, Mastercard Foundation, and the ILO. Through these experiences, Benedicta has developed strong skills in youth leadership, data analysis, and communication skills for project management. Benedicta envisions a world where data can be used to make better decisions, improve lives, and make lasting impact for development

Host Organization: Generation

Role at Host Organization: As a Data and Impact Fellow, Benedicta will become comfortable “in the weeds” working with multiple sources of data, thinking through processes to improve data quality, and plugging in on advanced analyses with a Generation country or Generation Center of Excellence. Data is a key step of Generation’s methodology, informing, and validating our approach across the learner lifecycle. The Data and Impact team, with the support of the Fellow, is responsible for end-to-end data management, metrics, impact quantification, and supporting the organization to be data-driven across the board.

Shivalika Gupta is a rural development specialist committed towards generating quality evidence in development programs and policy. During the past eight years, she has progressively engaged with a variety of stakeholders, including consultants, academics, international donors, and the Government of India across topics including agriculture, financial inclusion, health & nutrition, and energy. It is her conviction that the missing key to the infamous challenge of policy implementation gap is providing access to credible evidence to all stakeholders, especially the communities concerned. As a technical expert for monitoring, evaluation, and policy research, her strengths are research designs (experimental & quasi-experimental), leading evaluation studies, developing logical frameworks, developing indicators for projects and programs, designing monitoring systems, and documentation. In her prior engagement as Welthungerhilfe India’s first M.E.A.L Coordinator (Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, Learning), she led the creation of a new technical support unit for the country program comprising 31 local NGO partners nationwide. The unit supports the partners on planning and implementing M&E functions, accountability initiatives, and capacity building initiatives. Previously, she has worked in various research-oriented capacities with research consulting, J-PAL, and NITI Aayog (Government of India’s policy think tank). As an evaluator, she has singlehandedly led field studies across eight states in India. As a trainer, she is known to deploy a hands-on approach to M&E related topics across all levels of program implementation. Shivalika continues to work on challenges related to agrarian distress and farmer welfare.

Host Organization: International Fertilizer Development Center

Role at Host Organization: As the Global Engagement Programs Fellow, Tabish will play a role in managing global engagement programs at the Buffett Institute for Global Affairs. The Fellow will be working within different fields, including assessment, event planning, program/partnership management and development, marketing and recruitment, curriculum development, and alumni engagement.

Simon Mwangi has more than five years of experience working on education, employment, disability, marginalization and inclusion. He is currently the Program Manager for the COVID -19 Recovery and Resilience Program, focusing on inclusive education and inclusive livelihoods. Previously, he served as Program Manager for the professional fellows’ program on inclusive development and as Project Assistant for the Inclusive Disability Employment Project at HI. He volunteered in inclusive education support in informal settlements in Kenya as a teacher support. Prior to joining HI, he was the chair of an organization he founded at Kenyatta University which advocated for the rights of people with disabilities and creates awareness in local communities. Through his strong leadership and interpersonal skills, he has built meaningful relationships with relevant stakeholders so that the projects and programs he has initiated and supported are successful and sustainable. He has awakened the spirit of volunteerism, innovation, advocacy, community service, and activism. His collective efforts in community service were recognized by the Kenyatta University student governing body and awarded Community Service Person of the Year. He recently participated in the Young Africa Leadership Initiative Fellowship in the Public Management track. He enjoys and aspires to focus on young people with disabilities. He believes it is important to put people at the center of development so that progress is equitable and broad-based and people can actively participate in social, economic, and political change.

Opeyemi Oguntomi is a Programme Development and Strategy Specialist with seven years of experience in the nonprofit sector. He holds a Higher National Diploma and a postgraduate diploma in NGO management from Lagos, Nigeria. He has attended various capacity building trainings in the area of development programs and health and youth-related projects. Opeyemi attended international training on business research methodology and data analysis at the Entrepreneurship Development Institute, Ahmedabad in India. Opeyemi is currently working with SOS Children’s Villages Nigeria, a child-focused organization, as a Youth Development Coordinator, and where he coordinates the implementation of the Johnson and Johnson Catapult project, Grieg Gender Challenge Programme, and the Next Economy program, a Dutch government-funded project in a multi-cultural community. These programs address the root causes of poverty, youth employment, girl-child education, gender equality, and marginalization of children through investment in the socio-economic development of communities and families, by enhancing the capacities of individuals, local groups and parties that impact most on child wellbeing. Opeyemi believes that young people must be supported to live up their full potential.

Patrick Rumanyika is a community development practitioner from Rwanda with three years of experience working in the nonprofit sector. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Development Economics from the University of Rwanda and a master’s degree in International Development with a specialization in Community Development from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. He utilizes his skills and knowledge in the areas of project management, economic development, youth empowerment, and capacity building. He is particularly interested in empowering rural youth and bridging the linkages between community development and agriculture. Previously, Patrick worked with PPIZ in Tanzania as a project leader. In this position, he played a key role in project designing, planning, and documentation processes, as well as developing all essential project documents.

Host Organization: CorpsAfrica

Role at Host Organization: At CorpsAfrica, Patrick will be serving as the Alumni Association Fellow where he will work to build a system that supports former CorpsAfrica Volunteers in their personal lives and professional careers. Patrick will develop a solid framework of communication for CorpsAfrica Volunteer alumni, create opportunities for alumni to stay involved with CorpsAfrica and provide professional support services to alumni, including hiring events and professional development opportunities.

Debra Nhokwara is a media professional with four years of experience in communication and social development. Debra holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Journalism and Media Studies from the National University of Science and Technology (ZW). She was awarded a Chevening Scholarship and completed her Masters in Gender and Media at the University of Sussex. During her tenure at Nhimbe Trust, she helped in developing and implementing COVID-19 Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) policy framework and a CCI portal to support artists and cultural professionals during the pandemic. She served as a Production Assistant for Bulawayo Arts Festival 2020 and the Amavuso Project. As aCommunication and Information Consultant at Transparency International-Zimbabwe (Bulawayo Region) she trained 30 citizen journalists new writing and investigative journalism skills. She was the editor of Hayibo S’khangele (We are Watching), a newsletter used as an advocacy tool to report corruption cases in Matabeleland, Zimbabwe. Debra is an experienced Public Relations Officer skilled in crisis management, project management, advertising, managing digital campaigns, planning digital marketing strategies, designing marketing material, and creating social media content. She is proud to have worked at Mike Hamilton Public Relations Consultants and at 143 Communications. Debra is passionate about women’s issues and she is part of project that manufactures reusable pads for disadvantaged women. Recently, she published a podcast called Shadow Pandemics Behind COVID-19 to raise awareness on child sexual harassment during the pandemic.

Host Organization: The Hunger Project

Role at Host Organization: At The Hunger Project, Debra will be serving as the Global Communications Fellow. Debra will work in partnership with fellow Hunger Project communicators to develop robust content and strategies that elevate the voices of individuals engaged in programs in Africa, South Asia and Latin America. The role will sit within the Global Communications team and work closely with members of the communications, program and fundraising teams to ensure The Hunger Project’s brand, messages and impact are compelling, understandable, accurate and widely accessible. Ultimately, this position drives toward the mission of ending hunger by equipping our global team with the resources needed to expand our global movement of partners, supporters, advocates and investors.