Fellows

Ankit is a queer feminist activist. He is a member of Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights (YCSRR) and also serves on the Board of Directors. Ankit is passionate about reproductive justice for queer and trans youth, and has worked on a range of issues from Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) and public safety to environment and climate change. He serves on the Advisory Group to The Guttmacher-Lancet Commission on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and the CIVICUS’s Youth Action Taskforce.

Host Organization:  Gay and Lesbian Victory Institute

 Role at Host Organization: As a program manager, Ankit will be working on the international program expanding to other countries including India. He will contribute his knowledge of the situation in India to the program. Overall, he will be supporting Victory’s programs in a range of different countries.

Awais Farooq is a marketing professional with an avid belief in the power of love and empathy to connect with people. Awais has 4 years of experience working in the nonprofit sector. After he earned his MBA, he worked at a Stanford-funded education and leadership startup called Amal Academy, helping fresh graduates be the best versions of themselves through soft skill development and self-discovery. Awais is passionate about and skilled in a wide range of areas, including outreach and marketing, tech management, professional development, curriculum design, program management, and counseling. He cares about working for a cause bigger than himself. Other than Amal Academy, Awais has taken part in Seth Godin’s Marketing Seminar and the altMBA programs to develop better empathy for his team and his approach to work. These experiences have helped him appreciate the exposure that humans can provide each other and have inspired him to become an Atlas Corps Fellow. He enjoys working in education, youth empowerment, and social awareness and has an overwhelming passion for social inclusion. Awais loves humans and hopes to connect with some amazing humans through his Atlas Corps fellowship.

Host Organization: American Red Cross

Role at Host Organization: At the American Red Cross, Awais will serve as the International Response Knowledge Management & Learning Fellow: supporting the Knowledge Management and Learning efforts for response operations and readiness activities to facilitate access to, utilization of, and learning from existing data, evidence, and knowledge generated from past operations both within the American Red Cross and with the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement Partners.

Efe has seven years of professional experience and almost ten years of volunteer experience in civil society. After finalizing his AFS year in Wisconsin in 2004, he started as a volunteer in community based activities in Istanbul, Turkey. As a graduate of Psychology, Bilkent University in 2010, he took civil society field as a profession and worked both in the field and in providing operational support with UN-FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization of United Nations), AFS (American Field Service) Turkey, Violence Stories in Turkey with CRA (Cross Cultural Research Association), LGBT and Human Rights with SPoD (Social Policy, Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Studies Association) and KAOS GL, and Refugee and Asylum Seekers Rights with MdM (Medecins du Monde). As his primary interest in Human and LGBTQ Rights, he has prioritized a gender-based advocacy in the institutions and projects he has worked for. In 2015, he founded Harup, a project space that combines LGBTQ advocacy and arts as a medium. He has worked with several national and international media platforms where his writings and interviews were published. His intention is to be able to combine his passion for arts and culture and human and LGBTQ rights in order to work closely with different advocacy methods while keeping ties with local and global community.

Host Organization: Human Rights Campaign

Fellow Role at Host Organization: Efe will be a member of the HRC’s Global Office assisting with assignments to support programs in HRC Global and the HRC Foundation.

Elton has four years of cumulative experience in the nonprofit sector and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Media and Communication from The University of the West Indies, Mona in Jamaica. Previously, Johnson worked in the Arts providing communication support to numerous fundraisers and initiatives aimed at preserving Jamaica’s arts and culture, and securing scholarships for Jamaica’s next generation of artists. This he achieved over his three years in marketing communications with the Caribbean’s premier arts institution, Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts and the Arts Foundation of Edna Manley College. He has also volunteered extensively in anti-discrimination as a Youth Ambassador for the dynamic Respect Jamaica campaign. Elton’s efforts have been aimed specifically at dismantling gender, class and LGBT discrimination. Simultaneously, he worked as Social Media Consultant with Respect Jamaica, raising awareness of the adverse effects of discrimination on Jamaica’s development using social media tools. With UNICEF Jamaica, he volunteered as a youth advocate with the mandate of increasing youth representation and youth participation in nation building. Elton’s future goals include serving as a global civil servant with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and becoming a documentary filmmaker.

Host Organization: Bread for the City

Role at Host Organization: Elton will participate in departmental meetings and activities respective to their role. He will develop creative content to capture and engage audiences, work directly with clients to help them tell their stories in a variety of mediums, and gain valuable writing, communications, and fundraising experience in a nonprofit setting.

Lame is a Social Impact Communications Consultant with six years of experience in the nonprofit sector, and earned an honors degree in Professional Design (Visual Communication), and a diploma in Graphic design from Limkokwing University of Creative Technology, in Botswana. Most recently, Lame worked with Our Solid Roots Association, as a communications consultant, managing the nonprofits internal creative projects including its branding, illustrations and publications. In 2019, he worked with (LEGABIBO) Lesbians Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana as a communications specialist, and designed the Visual brand identity, and the marketing materials for an LGBTQI+ advocacy campaign dubbed “beyond the rainbow.” The campaign was a first of its kind in the country, and its events lead to the government’s decision to decriminalize same sex relationships in Botswana. As the Founder of (WAW) “Who Are We Organization”, a youth arts and sports nonprofit, he developed and led an adolescent-youth sexual, and reproductive health rights workshop to bridge the gap between parent –child communication on issues of Sex and Sexual reproductive health which led to the setup of a youth friendly clinic, improving access to Sexual Reproductive Health services for youth in the community. Lame is passionate about using visual storytelling to advocate and create visibility for marginalized communities, and also hosts an indigenous language promotion podcast called “Ipelele Ngwao”, which focuses on preserving the diverse intangible heritage in Botswana. Through these experiences, Lame has gained strong project planning, storytelling, and campaign management skills.

Host Organization: Open Contracting Partnership

Role at Host Organization: As a Digital Strategist and Content Fellow, Lame will leverage all digital channels—social media, the website, newsletters and email campaigns—to engage existing and new audiences. Lame will also write, edit, and produce original OCP content that is compelling, smart, and clear. The Fellow will also manage OCP’s website and coordinate the day-to-day communication stream including social media. Lastly, Lame will help educate editors and journalists around the world as to why the trillion-dollar world of contracting and procurement matters so much for public integrity, markets, and development.

Tafadzwa has six years of experience in the nonprofit sector. He holds an MSc International Relations degree from the University of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe, and a BSc in Media and Society Studies from the Midlands State University in Zimbabwe. He is a YALI Regional Leadership Center Southern Africa alumnus. Tafadzwa is an Operations Manager at Bayethe Development Institute, an SRHR and economic empowerment organization in Zimbabwe. He is a transformational leader and social change agent who believes in turning his vision into reality through strategic alliances and coordinated action. He is responsible for initiating and developing clear, concise proposals, grant writing, and implementing fundraising activities, donor cultivation, and stewardship. He has managed to raise US$ 800,000 from 2017 to date on advancement of SRHR access for young people, economic empowerment of LBTQI people, and child rights programming. He researches, writes, and edits time-sensitive program documents, budgets, activity reports, and cultivates relationships, including communicating with relevant local partners, stakeholders, and donors. Among the various duties in this portfolio is working in concert with the finance and administration team to oversee grant management, draft budgets, and disbursement of funds, including monitoring budgets and expenditures. Tafadzwa worked for the Zimbabwe National Council for the Welfare of Children (ZNCWC), a child rights coordinating and umbrella body in Zimbabwe as an Advocacy and Communications Officer. He organized and coordinated child rights actors and led successful advocacy and lobbying activities, chief among them establishment of the Parliament Caucus on Child Rights in 2020.

Host Organization: One to World

Role at Host Organization: As a Fundraising Fellow, Tafadzwa will help implement strategies to meet the organization’s annual fundraising goals, working closely with One To World’s Executive Director, Director of Development, consultants, and Board of Directors. The Fellow will support all functions of the Development department, including gift processing, management of donor data, special events planning and execution, cultivation and stewardship of donors, and private grant prospecting, writing, and reporting. Tafadzwa is a vital piece of a small team that generates revenue to support the organization’s direct services for K-12 youth and international scholars, and will contribute to meeting a fundraising goal of almost $1 million a year.

Willy has seven years of experience as an environmental activist, specialist in communication for development and social change (C4D), and researcher on inequalities and information poverty. He obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications and Marketing and a Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science, both at the University of Havana (UH). He also completed a Master’s in Latin American Studies at University College London. He has worked as an advocacy and actor articulation specialist, a C4D officer in international campaigns and projects, and has also been a researcher and data analyst. In addition, Willy has extensive experience in causes such as climate change, land degradation, ecosystem conservation, disaster risk management, and clean energy. Willy is very interested in continuing to work on environmental problems, especially climate change, which strongly affects small island states like his country.

Host Organization: Generation

Role at Host Organization: As the External Relations Fellow, Willy will shadow external relations meetings and activities and begin to play a key supporter role in external relations planning and research. The Fellow will develop expertise in the various tools and measures for these activities. Willy will also work closely with senior staff to develop and execute external communications plans, develop writing skills in creating external content, and shepherd external opportunities (media and/or event) to fruition. The Fellow will understand the global/affiliate model Generation uses, and develop toolkits that can support affiliate communications.