Economic Development

Soumashree brings over six years of expertise in diplomacy, strategic partnerships, and policy advocacy, with a strong focus on advancing gender equality and inclusive governance. She graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s degree from Tata Institute of Social Sciences and secured a 100% academic scholarship as a Global UGrad-Fulbright Scholar from the U.S. Department of Education. She has been nominated to represent India at international forums, including the Asian Development Bank, VSO UK, and Plan International. As a Governance and Strategy consultant at the Chief Minister’s Office in Kolkata, she specializes in establishing strategic partnerships and driving policy reforms to advance inclusive governance. A notable accomplishment is the implementation of a state-level grievance redressal system, enhancing bureaucratic accountability and empowering citizens through improved public service delivery and participatory democracy, fortifying government-citizen cooperation. She has collaborated closely with senior political figures across 11 Ministries, including Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assembly to devise effective strategies and crafted policies that leveraged communication channels to convey compelling value propositions to the electorate. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Soumashree collaborated with Samhita, an impact consultancy, playing a pivotal role in building strategic partnerships for REVIVE, a multi-stakeholder platform dedicated to empowering women economically through blended finance and technical support. Notable partners include Google, MSDF, Atlantic Council, and JPAL. Previously, she worked at Aangan Trust, where she focused on child rights advocacy and creating safe spaces for women and children. She collaborated with the communications team to execute successful social media campaigns, raising awareness around trafficking and child harm. Soumashree aspires to advance the cause of gender equality and promote inclusive governance through impactful policy changes and partnership-building initiatives.

Host Organization: Women’s World Banking

Role at Host Organization: As a Strategy and Stakeholder Management Fellow, Soumashree will work closely with the Head of the Brand, Marketing & Communications (BMC) team and also engage with the team on specific projects and initiatives that are instrumental to (1) enhance WWB’s external brand awareness and to internally (2) strengthen the BMC position as an expert strategic advisor and quality focused execution partner to the whole organization partner to the broader organization including senior management. The Fellow will also support the review and refinement of the current brand and marketing strategy, as well as to work with the team on the internal stakeholder engagement model to developing effective and efficient collaboration processes.

Morine has four years of experience in the humanitarian and nonprofit sector. She has earned a Master’s Degree in International Relations from the International Relations Institute of Cameroon, (IRIC). While working remotely as a Community Development and Resilience Officer at the Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Development (NISPED), she collaborates with UNDP, the Israeli Embassy in Yaoundé, Cameroon’s Ministry of Planning, and local/national partners to promote sustainable livelihoods and resilience in the East region of Cameroon. Morine has demonstrated exceptional leadership skills by successfully training and empowering over 1000 youths and refugees in host communities through financial literacy, education, and peace building projects. Previously, Morine worked with a community-based organization as a Monitoring and Evaluation Assistant, where she provided support to over 150 adolescent girls and young women, empowering them to raise their voices against gender-based violence, facilitated training in financial literacy for 100 young people living with HIV, helping them establish savings association groups for self-growth. Morine’s versatility shines through her previous role as a Corporate Communication Assistant at the Embassy of Israel in Cameroon. There, she managed public relations for the embassy and facilitated partnership opportunities between Israeli entrepreneurs and their Cameroonian counterparts in areas of start-up companies, agriculture, and water. She also played a vital role in supporting the embassy’s communication strategy during campaigns and key events. Passionate about humanitarian relief, community development, youth and women’s empowerment, Morine is dedicated to helping young people realize their full potential.

Host Organization: American Red Cross

Role at Host Organization: As a Movement Transformation Fellow, the Fellow will sit within the Movement Transformation/Collective Impact & Partnerships Engagement (CIPE) team at the American Red Cross. The CIPE team works to ensure strong partnerships between the American Red Cross and other national societies, and provides support to national societies (NS) through work with the IFRC to be effective, local actors that can reach scale and deliver sustainable disaster management services to its communities. The team achieves this by developing long-term plans in support of the NS goals and in alignment with ISD objectives, as well as furthering the ways in which we work as a distributed network. The Fellow will primarily be focused on the development of the new IFRC Certification & the New Way of Working files in coordination with the International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and other Movement partners. The Fellow will coordinate between the American Red Cross and IFRC to ensure quality representation at the most important events, whether at the global, regional or country levels.

Abenezer is a Human Resource Professional with almost ten years of experience in the nonprofit sector. Abenezer earned a Bachelor of Art in Public Administration and Development Management from Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. While working as a Senior Human Resource Officer with CARE International in Ethiopia, he helped the organization to recruit, train, and retain a high performing workforce and implemented gender equality program in recruitment to increase female employees in the organization. Previously, Abenezer worked as a HR & Admin Manager with International Rescue Committee Ethiopia program under USAID and other donors funded programs. Through these experiences, he has developed strong people management skills, communication skills, and created welcoming workplaces for employees, where they can strive to do their best. Abenezer enjoys focusing on the topics of economic development, democracy, and human rights and has a strong passion of reading books.

Host Organization: Panorama Global

Role at Host Organization: As a Talent Acquisition Fellow, Abenezer will help Panorama Global source, identify, screen, and hire individuals for a broad range of roles across the organization affiliates. The Fellow’s role includes: inputting the overall hiring strategy of the organization to ensure the teams consist of a diverse set of qualified individuals; ensuring the staffing needs of the company are being met, with a long-term talent strategy in mind; and devising and implementing sourcing strategies to build pipelines of potential applicants, such as employer branding initiatives.

Shakir has over 5 years of experience in the non-profit sector of Pakistan. He has expertise in case management, communication, monitoring, evaluation, and research. He holds a Master’s degree in Muslim Cultures from Aga Khan University International in The United Kingdom. He worked at the Silver Jubilee Development Agency Pakistan (SJDAP) as a caseworker & mentor with ultra-poor families on their socio-economic upliftment. He worked with families on 7 quality of life indicators, i.e., education, health, livelihood, nutrition, habitat, access to finance, and community inclusion. He has facilitated 15 families through numerous interventions and has acquired micro loans of approximately 02 million PKR for them. Earlier, he was associated with the Family Educational Services Foundation (FESF) as an M&E and communication officer. He overlooked 77 social action projects to assess and report their output, outcome, and impact. Before that, he worked with the Basic Education for Awareness Reforms and Empowerment/Basic Education for Afghan Refugees (BEFARe), an Independent Monitoring Unit (IMU) on the ‘Capacity Building for Civil Society’ project with DAI and USAID, where he assisted in the data collection, reporting, management and designing of M&E tools. He has also studied the ‘Conflict and Development’ module from the Open University (UK), where he has analysed various conflicts through the conflict analysis framework and participated in a mock conflict negotiation simulation. Additionally, he has spent significant time volunteering for community schools, libraries, and welfare boards as a mentor, educator, and management personnel, where he gained project coordination and project management skills. Working in conflict, education, and social development contexts has honed his critical thinking, cultural sensitivity, rapport building, and monitoring and evaluation skills. Besides his professional and voluntary endeavours, Shakir loves sports and exploring new cultures.

Host Organization: American Red Cross

Role at Host Organization: As a Business Planning Analyst Fellow, Shakir will be part of the Quality, Data and Learning team and will support planning, analysis, data visualization, and reporting functions for both the American Red Cross International Services Department (ISD) and the Service to the Armed Forces/International Services (SAF/IS) Department. Shakir will help senior leaders’ decision-making by providing accurate data, helping to identify trends and effective comparatives, analyzing key performance indicators, and creating data visualization and other reporting materials. The Fellow will bring expertise in business analysis, planning, and performance management concepts and a willingness to learn new systems and applications. Shakir’s contribution will allow the Business Planning team to provide superior reporting, analytics, and planning support.

Mai has extensive experience in project implementation through her coordination of various projects and her direct work with partners, vendors, refugee communities, and host communities in her former organization, Catholic Relief Services, in Egypt. Mai was also a Special Assistant to the Advisor to the Chairperson on strategic relations at the African Union Bureau of the Chairperson as an assignment of her AU Youth Volunteer Corps. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Cairo University in 2016 and is currently enrolled in a Euro-Mediterranean Master program in Cairo University. Furthermore, Mai has four years of experience in the fields of advocacy, program coordination and support. As an advocacy officer at the Egyptian Center for Public Policy Studies, she worked on three projects that focused on the role of nonprofits in development in Egypt, business environment for SMEs, and budget transparency and disclosure. These projects were with multi-level stakeholders. Mai also succeeded in designing and facilitating 15 capacity building trainings for the parliamentarians’ staffers and workshops for young entrepreneurs with Friedreich Numan Foundation. Working on these projects developed her organizational and communication skills since working with different stakeholders on different levels paid off with much experiences in organizing conferences, capacity building, stakeholders meetings, international donors meetings and one to one meetings with government officials and public figures. As programs coordinator at Tahrir Lounge @Goethe institute, Mai was responsible for coordinating cultural programs in which she worked on creative expression for social issues like poverty and gender based violence, which resulted in seven productions of art materials and 10 short movies addressing gender related issues.

Host Organization: Save the Children

Role at Host Organization: As an Advocacy Officer Fellow (Child Rights and Participation), Mai will offer support to the Save the Children New York Advocacy Office (NYAO) in the areas of engaging children and youth to influence policy and political debate at the United Nations. The Fellow’s role is key to the office’s commitment to ensure the protection and rights of children around the world through strategic engagement in key moments, commissions, resolutions, and for a in the UN space. The Fellow will work alongside NYAO colleagues and UN-based coalitions to secure meaningful participation of children in the UN Space and to inform that issues that disproportionately affect children are clearly addressed in UN outcome documents and resolutions. This role will also work closely with the “Shift Power” program colleagues across Save the Children member, regional and country office colleagues to provide direct support to adolescent and youth from frigate context to participate in global advocacy.

Soumashree brings over six years of expertise in diplomacy, strategic partnerships, and policy advocacy, with a strong focus on advancing gender equality and inclusive governance. She graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s degree from Tata Institute of Social Sciences and secured a 100% academic scholarship as a Global UGrad-Fulbright Scholar from the U.S. Department of Education. She has been nominated to represent India at international forums, including the Asian Development Bank, VSO UK, and Plan International. As a Governance and Strategy consultant at the Chief Minister’s Office in Kolkata, she specializes in establishing strategic partnerships and driving policy reforms to advance inclusive governance. A notable accomplishment is the implementation of a state-level grievance redressal system, enhancing bureaucratic accountability and empowering citizens through improved public service delivery and participatory democracy, fortifying government-citizen cooperation. She has collaborated closely with senior political figures across 11 Ministries, including Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assembly to devise effective strategies and crafted policies that leveraged communication channels to convey compelling value propositions to the electorate. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Soumashree collaborated with Samhita, an impact consultancy, playing a pivotal role in building strategic partnerships for REVIVE, a multi-stakeholder platform dedicated to empowering women economically through blended finance and technical support. Notable partners include Google, MSDF, Atlantic Council, and JPAL. Previously, she worked at Aangan Trust, where she focused on child rights advocacy and creating safe spaces for women and children. She collaborated with the communications team to execute successful social media campaigns, raising awareness around trafficking and child harm.Soumashree aspires to advance the cause of gender equality and promote inclusive governance through impactful policy changes and partnership-building initiatives.

Host Organization: Women’s World Banking

Role at Host Organization: As a Strategy and Stakeholder Management Fellow, Soumashree will work closely with the Head of the Brand, Marketing & Communications (BMC) team and also engage with the team on specific projects and initiatives that are instrumental to (1) enhance WWB’s external brand awareness and to internally (2) strengthen the BMC position as an expert strategic advisor and quality focused execution partner to the whole organization partner to the broader organization including senior management. The Fellow will also support the review and refinement of the current brand and marketing strategy, as well as to work with the team on the internal stakeholder engagement model to developing effective and efficient collaboration processes.

Morine has four years of experience in the humanitarian and nonprofit sector. She has earned a Master’s Degree in International Relations from the International Relations Institute of Cameroon, (IRIC). While working remotely as a Community Development and Resilience Officer at the Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Development (NISPED), she collaborates with UNDP, the Israeli Embassy in Yaoundé, Cameroon’s Ministry of Planning, and local/national partners to promote sustainable livelihoods and resilience in the East region of Cameroon. Morine has demonstrated exceptional leadership skills by successfully training and empowering over 1000 youths and refugees in host communities through financial literacy, education, and peace building projects. Previously, Morine worked with a community-based organization as a Monitoring and Evaluation Assistant, where she provided support to over 150 adolescent girls and young women, empowering them to raise their voices against gender-based violence, facilitated training in financial literacy for 100 young people living with HIV, helping them establish savings association groups for self-growth. Morine’s versatility shines through her previous role as a Corporate Communication Assistant at the Embassy of Israel in Cameroon. There, she managed public relations for the embassy and facilitated partnership opportunities between Israeli entrepreneurs and their Cameroonian counterparts in areas of start-up companies, agriculture, and water. She also played a vital role in supporting the embassy’s communication strategy during campaigns and key events. Passionate about humanitarian relief, community development, youth and women’s empowerment, Morine is dedicated to helping young people realize their full potential.

Host Organization: American Red Cross

Role at Host Organization: As a Movement Transformation Fellow, the Fellow will sit within the Movement Transformation/Collective Impact & Partnerships Engagement (CIPE) team at the American Red Cross. The CIPE team works to ensure strong partnerships between the American Red Cross and other national societies, and provides support to national societies (NS) through work with the IFRC to be effective, local actors that can reach scale and deliver sustainable disaster management services to its communities. The team achieves this by developing long-term plans in support of the NS goals and in alignment with ISD objectives, as well as furthering the ways in which we work as a distributed network. The Fellow will primarily be focused on the development of the new IFRC Certification & the New Way of Working files in coordination with the International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and other Movement partners. The Fellow will coordinate between the American Red Cross and IFRC to ensure quality representation at the most important events, whether at the global, regional or country levels.

Abenezer is a Human Resource Professional with almost ten years of experience in the nonprofit sector. Abenezer earned a Bachelor of Art in Public Administration and Development Management from Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. While working as a Senior Human Resource Officer with CARE International in Ethiopia, he helped the organization to recruit, train, and retain a high performing workforce and implemented gender equality program in recruitment to increase female employees in the organization. Previously, Abenezer worked as a HR & Admin Manager with International Rescue Committee Ethiopia program under USAID and other donors funded programs. Through these experiences, he has developed strong people management skills, communication skills, and created welcoming workplaces for employees, where they can strive to do their best. Abenezer enjoys focusing on the topics of economic development, democracy, and human rights and has a strong passion of reading books.

Host Organization: Panorama Global

Role at Host Organization: As a Talent Acquisition Fellow, Abenezer will help Panorama Global source, identify, screen, and hire individuals for a broad range of roles across the organization affiliates. The Fellow’s role includes: inputting the overall hiring strategy of the organization to ensure the teams consist of a diverse set of qualified individuals; ensuring the staffing needs of the company are being met, with a long-term talent strategy in mind; and devising and implementing sourcing strategies to build pipelines of potential applicants, such as employer branding initiatives.

Shakir has over 5 years of experience in the non-profit sector of Pakistan. He has expertise in case management, communication, monitoring, evaluation, and research. He holds a Master’s degree in Muslim Cultures from Aga Khan University International in The United Kingdom. He worked at the Silver Jubilee Development Agency Pakistan (SJDAP) as a caseworker & mentor with ultra-poor families on their socio-economic upliftment. He worked with families on 7 quality of life indicators, i.e., education, health, livelihood, nutrition, habitat, access to finance, and community inclusion. He has facilitated 15 families through numerous interventions and has acquired micro loans of approximately 02 million PKR for them. Earlier, he was associated with the Family Educational Services Foundation (FESF) as an M&E and communication officer. He overlooked 77 social action projects to assess and report their output, outcome, and impact. Before that, he worked with the Basic Education for Awareness Reforms and Empowerment/Basic Education for Afghan Refugees (BEFARe), an Independent Monitoring Unit (IMU) on the ‘Capacity Building for Civil Society’ project with DAI and USAID, where he assisted in the data collection, reporting, management and designing of M&E tools. He has also studied the ‘Conflict and Development’ module from the Open University (UK), where he has analysed various conflicts through the conflict analysis framework and participated in a mock conflict negotiation simulation. Additionally, he has spent significant time volunteering for community schools, libraries, and welfare boards as a mentor, educator, and management personnel, where he gained project coordination and project management skills. Working in conflict, education, and social development contexts has honed his critical thinking, cultural sensitivity, rapport building, and monitoring and evaluation skills. Besides his professional and voluntary endeavours, Shakir loves sports and exploring new cultures.

Host Organization: American Red Cross

Role at Host Organization: As a Business Planning Analyst Fellow, Shakir will be part of the Quality, Data and Learning team and will support planning, analysis, data visualization, and reporting functions for both the American Red Cross International Services Department (ISD) and the Service to the Armed Forces/International Services (SAF/IS) Department. Shakir will help senior leaders’ decision-making by providing accurate data, helping to identify trends and effective comparatives, analyzing key performance indicators, and creating data visualization and other reporting materials. The Fellow will bring expertise in business analysis, planning, and performance management concepts and a willingness to learn new systems and applications. Shakir’s contribution will allow the Business Planning team to provide superior reporting, analytics, and planning support.

Abdulsamod Balogun is a communications and marketing professional with over six years of experience leading end-to-end content storytelling and digital marketing (search, social and email) campaigns in the nonprofit, financial services, venture capital and technology sectors in Africa. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from the University of Ilorin, Nigeria, and is trained in product marketing and growth marketing by Product Marketing Alliance UK and CXL Institute US respectively. He is the director of partnerships at Vibrant Girls Development Initiative, a social enterprise that has empowered over 300 girls in semiurban areas of Lagos with soft and digital skills, and provided career mentorship to 90 girls. Previously, he was a communications and marketing fellow at VestedWorld, an impact-focused African VC, where he raised newsletter open rate to over 40% and executed content marketing strategies that grew Linkedin followership by 115%, engagement by 1100% and unique visitors by over 70%. He also led communications for Leonine, a financial services firm, where he helped over 20+ social entrepreneurs get investor-ready and raise external capital. He also executed tailored B2B and B2C content marketing strategies that helped increase the firm’s web traffic by 300%, Linkedin page followers by 70%, enterprise client pool by over 60%, training pool by over 150% and originated deals worth over $1million. He is one of 5 Agora Fellows trained in communications by Young Voices UK in 2019 and has coordinated marketing for LEAP Africa SIPA and SocialGood Summit Lagos. Through these experiences, he has developed strong skills in content, digital and event marketing. Abdulsamod enjoys launching initiatives and dissecting issues in youth development, entrepreneurship, gender, and education.

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.

​Divya Chhabra is an AIF Fellow working with SAFA India, based in Hyderabad, Telangana. She is focused on developing local employment opportunities by incubating micro-entrepreneurs and creating an ecosystem for micro startups. She holds an integrated degree in BCom LLB from Tamil Nadu National Law University, Tiruchirappalli. During her academic pursuits, Divya gained valuable experience interning with various organizations, including the People’s Union of Civil Liberties in Jaipur, Majlis Legal Centre in Mumbai, and Jagori Rural Charitable Trust in Dharamshala. Through these internships, she gained knowledge about litigation and violence investigation while developing her passion for the development sector. Divya believes in effective communication with communities to understand their needs and bring positive change. She is determined to use her Fellowship as a stepping stone toward starting her own social enterprise or NGO. When she is not working, Divya enjoys reading and traveling.