Fellows

Aaron possesses about four years of progressive experience in developing data infrastructure software solutions. He has hands-on experience overseeing the design, development and maintenance of various database systems. He supports War Child Holland in Uganda as the IT Supervisor. In October 2017 he joined PATH, an international organization for global health innovation, as a Software Engineer Research Fellow on Health Systems under the USAID Advocacy for Health Fellowship. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology and is also pursuing his Postgraduate degree online in Data Science. His professional history also includes positions such as M&E Database Engineer Research Fellow, Oxfam Database Developer, and Software Engineer. He supported a civil society organization locally known as Jinja Area Communities Federation to develop digital web monitoring and evaluation systems, plus a child participation database, during the twelve month placement period. The monitoring and evaluation systems supported collaboration of regional actors together with data and operations units from all projects. The effective new approach and channel of strengthening and tracking health units performance was linked to the organization performance data in thematic areas of HIV/AIDS and maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH). He enjoys solving large, complex data problems in the process of building and determining a solution.

Host Organization: American Red Cross

Role at American Red Cross: At The American Red Cross, Aaron will serve as a Disaster Preparedness ICTs Fellow: supporting coordination and dissemination of innovative programs of the Global Disaster Preparedness Center (GDPC) and contributing to the GDPC’s knowledge management efforts.

Abby brings more than 10 years of experience in development, communications, and youth leadership development, which include being a Class 2 Atlas Corps Fellow in Colombia. Abby is also an alumnae of the Independent Sector NGEN Program and the American Express Leadership Academy. Prior to Atlas Corps, Abby worked as a Development Strategist for the InterAmerican Development Bank (Washington, DC), Fundacion Escuela Nueva (Bogota, Colombia), and The Campus Kitchens Project/DC Central Kitchen (national). Abby served on the Board of the One Percent Foundation—a group of citizen philanthropists who pool their funds and time to strengthen their communities, while at the same time increasing their understanding of and participation in philanthropy. Abby served as an AmeriCorps VISTA in Puerto Rico and organized community development efforts throughout the northern part of the island. Abby graduated with a Bachelors of Arts degree in Communications and Spanish with a minor in Marketing from the University of Minnesota Duluth and completed the Fundraising for Small Nonprofits course offered by The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

Host Organization : Fundación Saldarriaga Concha

Abeer is a communications specialist from Syria with more than three years of experience in the humanitarian and nonprofit sector. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Aleppo in English literature. In 2013, Abeer joined the communications team in Syria at SOS Children’s Villages, an international nonprofit focused on the comprehensive care of vulnerable children. In Aleppo, one of the areas most affected by the war, Abeer produced human-interest stories that showed the broad impact of the organization’s humanitarian relief program. Most recently, she has served as the Crisis and Communications Advisor in Casablanca, Morocco and is responsible for internal and external communication related to crisis and emergency communication in the region. Abeer has gained valuable experience in war reporting, digital storytelling, media relations, social media strategy, and corporate communications. She strongly believes in the power of good communications and storytelling in raising the money needed to support vulnerable communities.

Host Organization: Spark Action | American Express

Role at Host Organization: Abeer will will support communications for American Express’ three areas within Corporate Social Responsibility: Historic Preservation, Leadership Development, and Community Service. She will provide content for LeaderStories.org, a website funded by American Express, created to share the leadership journeys of social purpose leaders who have benefited from our program and will also work closely with the public relations team.

Omitogun Abolaji has more than five years of experience in enterprise building, startups, and social entrepreneurship. He holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Geography from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. He founded Zmcorps a network of young individuals that support several community developmental initiatives by engaging fresh university graduates posted for National service within the Northern state of Zamfara, Nigeria. Through his activities at ZMCORPS, he encouraged and promoted several socio-cultural integrations and developmental activities especially trough fundraising & donations. He leads, contributed and participated to many community development activities including organizing learning programs, sessions for uneducated and fresh graduates, fundraising for sport, dance and drama amongst communities and schools, Skill acquisition, empowerment and training in cosmetics in Zamfara state. In his quest for self-improvement, Abolaji acquired skill and knowledge from several institutions including the African Managers Initiative, Enterprise Development Center (Lagos, Nigeria), Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation University of Ibadan. He is a 2015 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Foundation Alumni. Abolaji Keen interest in business and startup has found him worked with several startups including WAWOOH. While at Wawooh, a fashion tech startup for discovering African fashion designers and promoting trade and investment opportunities in African fashion Industry, we lead and played a pivotal role leading the startup from ideation to execution and in developing successful business strategies. In his spare time, he is a business development and a Start-up coach; and have helped in mentoring and securing over $50,000 in business funding for several startups.

Host Org:Making Cents International

Role at Making Cents International

As the YouthLead Fellow, Abolaji will support the newly launched online platform YouthLead.org, a website to inspire, support, and foster connections among young changemakers around the world. In addition, Abolaji will participate in the planning of the annual YP meeting and contribute to social media and youth outreach.

Adelide has more than five years of experience in the nonprofit sector. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in International Studies (magna cum laude) from Ewha Womans University in Seoul, Korea and a Master’s Degree (summa cum laude) in Public Policy from Korea Development Institute Graduate School of Public Policy and Management. Motivated by driving social change, social enterprise acumen and youth capacity building, Adelide is the Co-Founder and Director of the Nairobi-based nonprofit organization Africa Young Entrepreneurs Support Centre which runs youth social entrepreneurship and leadership training & exchange programs. Adelide has most recently worked as an Atlas Corps Fellow in Australia supporting the design and development of youth and social change programs at the Foundation for Young Australians in Melbourne. Previously, she has worked in both government and non-governmental agencies such as the Global Peace Foundation and the Korea Trade Promotion-Investment Agency where she was actively involved in policy analysis, project management, event planning, research and report writing. Through these experiences, she has developed strong analytical, logical, project management, program design and development skills. Adelide is passionate about high performance in the social sector, social inclusion, education and youth and female empowerment.

Host Organization: RFK Human Rights*

Role at Host Organization: Adelide will develop strategies for expansion, provide support to fellows and nonprofit partners with Fellowship placements, execute and market events for Fellowship programs and fundraising, and build and maintain relationships with nonprofit partners. She will also identify new individual major donors, foundation prospects, and corporate partners.

*Also served with Atlas Corps Australia at the Foundation for Young Australians.

Adriana has eight years of experience working in the for-profit and nonprofit
sectors. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Communications and Advertising
from the San Martin de Porres University in Peru and a Master’s degree in
International Relations from the University of Barcelona in Spain. While
receiving her Master’s, Adriana served at the Public Information Office of the
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in Thailand.
During this training, she created daily content for ESCAP’s digital platforms and social media
campaigns and developed a comprehensive marketing and communications strategy to
increase regional outreach. Prior to that, Adriana worked at Doctors Without Borders, forming
partnerships and raising awareness about the organization. Through AIESEC’s Global
Community Development Program, Adriana interned at a nonprofit organization in Brazil, where
she supported the implementation of various government programs in HIV prevention, LGBT
rights, and social inclusion, and she also coordinated training sessions and conferences for HIV-
positive women. Additionally, Adriana has a strong background in the private sector, where she
worked for four years in the marketing department in the hotel chain Starwood. There, she was
in charge of the annual marketing plan, branding and product development, management of
online and offline campaigns, sales initiatives, and the communication plan for the sustainability
and corporate social responsibility program. The materials she produced during these years
helped to increase Peru’s national brand visibility. Through these experiences, Adriana
developed strong skills in leadership, multicultural teamwork, project and events coordination,
and management. She shifted her career path into the nonprofit sector in search for more
impactful work experiences. Adriana is passionate about poverty alleviation and women’s
empowerment, specifically through the promotion of sustainable tourism practices in developing
countries and their consumption patterns, social systems, and revitalization of local economies.

Host Organization: Meridian International Center

Role at Host Organization: Adriana will develop strategic communications
plans, manage social media efforts, prepare graphic materials, support the monthly newsletter,
manage the database, prepare the app for the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI)
opening and summit, and collect program impact stories.

Agha Mohsin Ali has been working in the development sector since 2006 with National & International organizations including NRDP, WWOP, Youth in Action, UNDP, BBSA, CPEA Network and SEHER on different management positions. He earned a Master’s in International Relations from the University of Balochistan, Quetta Pakistan. While working with the National Rural Development Programme (NRDP) Pakistan in Islamabad as Manager, Program Planning and Partnership Development, he led overall fundraising, resource mobilization, program research, planning, and program development processes. During 10 years of experience he implemented, coordinated, and developed partnerships with major donor agencies like USAID, DFID, UK-aid, UNICEF, USAID, CIDA, UNICEF, UNDP, USIP and IOM. Agha has had in-depth experience in child rights, education, and youth empowerment in Pakistan. He worked to protect children from abuse, neglect, and exploitation as well as to provide access to education through establishment of child-friendly spaces and temporary learning centers in flood affected areas. He has provided child protection actors opportunity to interact, share their experiences and avoid any duplication of resources through the CPEA Network and 12 larger projects on education, child rights, democracy and nutrition. Over this period, he has developed skills in monitoring and evaluation, program development, program implementation, proposal writing and resource mobilization. He has also written different articles and blogs on child rights and education in different news sites like ARY Blogs, Hamari Web, Duniya News and The Nations News. Agha also participated in different national and international forums like the World Youth Conference, 2010 in Leon City, Mexico, where he was as a delegate.

Host Organization: Creative Associates International

 Role at Host Organization: Agha will be assisting project staff with the development of an indicator database for a new evaluation project with the ExxonMobil Foundation. This project will be assessing the progress of client grantees in women’s economic empowerment on outcome indicators.

Aida Merabet has over ten years working experience with different nonprofits and corporations in the fields of business empowerment for women and youth educational programs in Algeria. She earned an MBA in Management Marketing from ESG Paris. Aida is the Founder of the social enterprise “Power Harmony Solution.” Previously, Aida worked as the Middle East Partnership (MEPI) Alumni Local Chapter Coordinator, where she strengthened commitment to civic activism, thus creating an environment where alumni can work together to bring positive change to the region. She helped empower young people to work for their economic success as an Education & Training Officer at Injaz El Djazair. As a Hub Manager for the Middle East and North Africa Business Women Network (MENABWN), she was responsible for leading and managing a program to support business women in Algeria. She has also served as an Algerian Country Officer Alwane-Algeria, with Women’s campaign International, an initiative that seeks to empower Algerian women to hold decision-making positions and to enhance their leadership roles so that they can become role models for the region. She also enjoys volunteering, whether it be as the Under Secretary General for Algeria’s national Model United Nations conference or as the Algeria Country Coordinator for the World Peace Initiative Foundation’s Project Peace In and Peace Out (PIPO).

Host Organization: Atlas Corps | American Express

Role at Host Organization: Aida will support the overall strengthening of leadership development in the nonprofit sector through a partnership with American Express. In her role, Aida will help to expand the American Express Leadership Academy franchise. Building on the American Express role in supporting best-in-class leadership practices and capacity building, she will coordinate and grow the alumni network; manage and coordinate the global Alumni Summit, help develop and improve communication and dissemination of best practices and provide overall project support for the Leaderstories.org website.