Fellows

Andrea studied architecture in Los Andes University, with a minor in Asian Studies and Language and Italian Culture. Then she did complementary courses in Project Management and Finances in the same university. Andrea worked as a fellow with Atlas Service Corps in 2008 and worked in Washington DC in an organization called Think Impact, as International Development Officer. In 2009 she coordinated the Global Development Ambassadors program in South Africa. In 2010 Andrea came back to Colombia and she founded Heart for Change, a nonprofit organization that designs and implements social impact projects through volunteerism and citizen participation in Colombia and Latin America .

HFC has since mobilized more than 2.000 volunteers to Colombia and has partnerships with the Ministry of Education (MEN), the Ministry of Commerce and Tourism (MINCIT), The International Cooperation Agency from the Presidency (APC), The National Training Service (SENA), PNUD, Embassy of Sweden, Purpose, among others. Andrea has worked as a representative in Colombia and a consultant for Partners of the Americas, ITDP and Ventures, and she was selected in 2015 for Gerente Magazine as one of the 100 most influential leaders in the Colombian society, in the category of nonprofits and social activists. She loves animals and reading.

Host Organization: Student Movement for Real Change / ThinkImpact

Angela Betancur has three years of experience in the nonprofit sector working with different social and development projects to support disadvantaged youth and women’s groups. Angela earned a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from the University of Antioquia in Medellin, Colombia and received formal training in Art Therapy to work with communities in University of Saint Buenaventura. She is currently working with the at-risk youth population in areas of drug abuse, crime, prostitution, and teen pregnancy. Through prevention campaigns and group interventions she works to restore youth rights. She also worked at an organization for rehabilitating people with physical disabilities and youths with cognitive and mental disabilities. Her work there also included supporting the families of the youths. After graduating from college, Angela worked as a Toy Librarian planning activities for children, teenagers, and their families while addressing possible abuses and rights’ violations. She also worked as a research assistant for two projects concerning migration and transnational families. She is especially interested in youth rights and women’s empowerment. Angela’s focus in college dealt with verbal and gestural expressions concerning gender-based violence in the school setting.

Host Organization: Latin America Youth Center (LAYC)

Role at Host Organization: Angela will provide individual, family and group counseling services, diagnoses, treatment planning, and community support to approximately twenty-two youths and their families. She will work to create individual plans of care for her clients while consulting with qualified practitioners in the field.

Carolina has six years of experience in the nonprofit sector, and earned a Communications degree at the Universidad of Medellín. She recently completed postgraduate studies in Sociology and Political Sciences at FLACSO, Argentina. While working at the Organización VID, she helped to strengthen the image of the institution by redesigning their virtual media. Likewise, Carolina worked at FENALCO ANTIOQUIA; a nonprofit organization that unionizes medium and small traders, for helping them to strengthen their business. One of the most relevant goals that she achieved was being designated as a member of the Strategic Planning Team. Carolina has also volunteered as a teacher on Communication and Information Technologies, at an HIV childrens’ foundation. She taught a group of children how to use web tools for their own development and self-education. Through all these experiences Carolina has acquired significant skills such as: creating multimedia educational material, researching relevant information and pedagogical resources, and organizing memorable social and institutional events. Carolina strongly believes in the mixture of education, technology and communication, as a powerful key to fight poverty and improve quality of life.

Host Organization: Mozilla Foundation

Role at Host Organization: Carolina will help design and develop a distributed training program for teaching web literacy skills. She will leverage existing research and conduct their own light research to inform and support a global program that provides guidance/instruction/community support for people that want to teach others how to read, write and participate in the digital world.

Emily has six years experience in marketing and international business in the public and private sectors. Although her work experience has mostly been in the private sector, from 2004-06 she worked for the employee fund “Grancoop” at the Corporacíon Autónoma Regional del Valle del Cauca (CVC), a local government institution which seeks to exert an environmental authority and promote the sustainable development of Valle del Cauca, the Colombian state from which she comes. Emily has worked with various companies focused on searching for new solutions for generating employment, new business opportunities, and changing Colombia’s image abroad. Currently, she is a marketing director at Ilitia Materna where she designs communication, media, and public relations plans and manages overseas sales online. Previously, she was a marketing assistant intern at C.I. Hermeco Off Corss (2003-04). She has served as a volunteer, giving motivational and civic engagement lectures as well as teaching English to students at her university. Emily obtained her B.A. in marketing and international business at the Universidad Autónoma de Occidente in Cali, Colombia.

Host Organization: Ayuda

Marcela has six years of experience in the nonprofit sector working with human security and development projects. She earned a Bachelor´s Degree in Government and International Relations from the Externado de Colombia University, and a Master of Arts in National Defense and Security in Bogotá. With a deep interest in capacity building, sustainable development, youth rights and civil society strengthening, Marcela has participated extensively in technical assistance processes for the design, implementation and evaluation of public policies, especially in the human rights, public security, national defense and victims’ protection fields. While working as a specialized professional in the international cooperation field, she contributed in the completion of strategies to achieve sustainable development in Colombia. Previously, Marcela worked to promote the private sector’s contribution to the community in coordination with local government projects, primarily in the areas of violence and abuse prevention. Early in her career, as a consultant in Public Security, Defense, and Strategic Intelligence, she collaborated during three years with several public entities, both national and local levels, in their capacity building processes. During that time, she successfully participated with different public and private organizations and victims of the Colombian armed conflict in the evaluation of the National Public Policy to protect the rights of the victims. Before finishing college, Marcela was an intern at the Organization of American States in the Dominican Republic where she was selected as an electoral observer to guarantee the transparency in the presidential elections of 2008. Marcela has a special interest in education processes as a path to prevent and reduce violence. She is a dedicated lecturer at the Externado University, where she analyzes with her students the main urban security issues in Latin America.

Host: Internews

Fellow Role at Internews:
Marcela will work closely with a team of approximately 20 development professionals, who develop and implement projects in Latin America related to access to safe, affordable, and uncensored information. The projects range from providing financial grants, technical training, and advisory support to local civil society and media organizations, to policy and advocacy projects. Marcela will also be involved in developing technologies that enhance and make access to an affordable internet safer. She will be paying particular attention to aspects of digital security and evolving developments in cyber security, as they affect the public, media and civil society.

Laura has worked in both the public and private sectors for over three years and has extensive experience working in educational programs for childhood and youth. In 2006, she co-founded Sueño Mi País, and implemented the Educando Soñadores program that promotes civic education for children in rural areas. She also worked for the Universidad del Rosario, in the Escuela de Control Social, where she facilitated the validation of games to promote civic participation for preschool and high school aged children in 60 schools from different areas of Bogotá. In 2004, Laura assisted the human resources department of the National Ministry of Treasury in building an interactive network of the Treasury Sector and redesigned staff evaluation and permission formats to make them more efficient and easy to understand. During her internship at the OAS General Secretariat in the summer of 2006, Laura wrote an investigative research paper on the land tenancy situation in Latin America and the Caribbean for the Department of Sustainable Development of the OAS. Laura’s latest work was with HL Consultoria Organizacional, where she contributed to the salary structure definition project of the Centro de Investigación y Educación Popular and the development of its human resources strategic policies. Laura has a B.A. in political science and government from the Universidad del Rosario in Bogotá.

Host Organization: CentroNia

Communication Specialist with more than ten years of work experience, five in the governmental sector and non-profit. Her job is to support innovative projects and knowledge sharing activities about the effective and appropriate use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in different contexts to strengthen learning and knowledge management processes that ensure organizations to achieve their objectives; It includes, strategies development; teacher training and support; capacity building; educational content; distance learning; digital literacy and skills development; and research and development (R&D) activities.

She has developed strong experience in knowledge management, innovation, and organizational learning. While working as an ICT advisor in the Colombian Education Ministry, she supported the implementation of strategies to strengthen institutional knowledge management while also building the Corporate School, formulating strategies to promote the use of ICT tools to the Knowledge Management System.

Professionally, her skills also include building communication strategies and graphic design for social change. Developing and leading these communication strategies, she has worked with local and international organizations that address social issues such as education, poverty, and violence against women.

Laura has actively participated in leadership programs, as well as in international volunteer opportunities leading several projects. While volunteering in Chile with America Solidaria Foundation, she headed the project “Voices that create opportunities”, working with women in a situation of social vulnerability doing workshops and training them in communications and marketing, with the purpose to help them to get access to better jobs.

Laura has developed a strong sense of ownership, motivation, creativity, talent, and passion to create a positive social impact to be keen to drive ethical social change anywhere in the world.

Social issues: Communication for social change; Social Enterprise / Entrepreneurship; Empowerment of women; Social impact Storytelling; Education through technology.

Host Organization: Atlas Corps

Role at Host Organization: Laura will manage the Atlas Corps social media strategy and enhance the “storytelling” component of external events to better showcase the achievements of Fellows and Host Organizations. She will also help to expand the Atlas Corps external presence as included in our communications and public relations strategy.

Lina has two and a half years of experience in the nonprofit sector, and earned a Bachelor´s degree in Business Administration from the University of Los Andes in Colombia. While working as Social and Environmental Promoter in the Aqueduct of Bogota, she has helped to formulate projects about educating people and enterprises on how to handle their solid wastes. In 2013, Lina was chosen to be a fellow of Balloon Chile, where she gave classes on entrepreneurship and innovation to local entrepreneurs of Lonquimay and Malalcahuello, Araucanía, South of Chile. Previously, she worked in a Marketing Research Agency, coordinating quantitative and qualitative projects for different industries. Lina has volunteered in Asociacion Somos CaPAZes where she gave classes to kids about how to handle conflicts, and coordinated an environmental project. Through these experiences, she developed project formulation, and coordination, marketing research, and teaching skills. Lina enjoys focusing on the topics of entrepreneurship, innovation, and development of projects.

Host Organization:  Latin American Youth Center (LAYC)

Role at Host Organization: Lina will be working with Academic support and tutoring, Community Peace Building, and Arts & Media programming within the Teen Center. She will be responsible for working with Teen Center staff to facilitate recruitment and registration of middle/high school youth and evaluating student progress in the programs.