Fellows

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.

Angela possesses four years of experience in both the nonprofit sector and media space. Currently, she is the Chief Operating Officer at Jela’s Development Initiatives (JDI) where she supervises project implementation, organizational operations and communications. She manages diverse teams to provide access to clean water as well as sanitation and hygiene facilities, mental healthcare, voluntary blood donors through an artificial intelligence called J  Match and promotes youth empowerment through volunteering. Most recently, she co-designed and implemented advocacy campaigns on mental health inclusion for PWDs and voluntary blood donation. She is also a writer and solutions journalist, whose work has explored maternal mortality, anti-corruption, climate change, mental health and food security, amongst other themes. As a World Literacy Foundation Ambassador (2020), she raised awareness on how illiteracy affects daily life by curating 112 ‘literacy stories’ which she shared on social media. Previously, she worked as Media and Communications Officer at Skills Outside School Foundation (SOSF) focusing on securing relevant partnerships and creating publicity for the Foundation’s work in life skill education through digital media and production of media materials. In the time she worked with SOSF, she raised the organization’s profile by increasing social media followership by over 80% and initiated partnership discussions with various organizations. She is certified by the University of California through Philanthropy University in developing Advocacy campaigns. Angela is most interested in improving inclusion in education, good governance and mental healthcare.

Host Organization: Medici Road

Role at Host Organization: As a Communications Analyst Fellow, Angela will assist in shaping, and executing, the audience engagement strategy and she will lead digital storytelling efforts for the organization. The Fellow will work side-by-side with senior staff to gain practical experience learning how to turn data and stories into infographics. Angela will also learn how to use software like Adobe InDesign and Photoshop and practice storytelling and community engagement skills with diverse stakeholder groups including residents and peer organizations.

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.

Ankur has an entrepreneurial mindset with a blend of corporate culture (Processes) and startup experience (Result-oriented). He is passionate about analytics and creativity, with an expertise in understanding and managing the integration of marketing, sales, operations, customer service and analytics in order to create effective, meaningful and result-oriented business strategies. As a communications specialist, Ankur takes utmost care in the finer points of both oral and written communication. He finds it incredibly fulfilling to build excellent, high performing teams–individually, we can’t always be at our best but when camaraderie persists, a team can go far. Good teamwork makes every journey better. Ankur also loves to pursue innovation. And while he enjoys connecting the dots across seemingly unrelated information, his MBA has also refined his pragmatic business knowledge to implement explorative growth ideas.

Host Organization: American India Foundation

Role at Host Organization: At American India Foundation, Ankur will be serving as the Executive Assistant Fellow to Chief Executive Officer. In this role, he will act as a key partner to the Chief Executive Officer, helping to brainstorm and identify solutions to challenges faced by the organization. He will develop relationship building skills while managing interactions with external volunteer bodies and board members, and also manage a variety of program design, resource mobilization, marketing, and communication projects across the US and India.

Asma Razaq has been working in both print and electronic media for the last six years. At present, she is working as a Reporter in Samaa Tv, Pakistan’s top news channel. At Samaa, her primary responsibilities include: the coverage of economic affairs including the Federal Board of Revenue, the Ministry of Finance, financial institutions, foreign investment and assistance to Pakistan, the Privatization Commission, and health issues. Earlier, she worked for Abbtak news channel for two years. She was also working in an English Daily ‘Business Recorder;’ the biggest financial daily in Pakistan, and the first such publication in the Muslim world. She worked for Daily Business Recorder for five years. One of Asma’s articles was included among the top stories of a New York-based website ‘www.tobacco.org;’ her stories exposed a pharmaceutical company that was selling an anti-hepatitis injection without conducting human tests. Asma’s news articles on health issues put pressure on the government to form a Drug Regulatory Authority (DRA) in Pakistan. Recently, her news package titled ‘IMF and Pakistan’ was widely appreciated and got national recognition, as well. Asma has worked with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as a Coordinator. She had been nominated by the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan for the reporting tour on Global Food Security in the year 2011. She had also been selected as a participant of US-Pak Journalist Exchange Program-2014 by the East-West Center in Hawaii. During the program, she was selected as a guest in ‘Global Journalist,’ a popular radio program in Columbia.

Host Organization: Universities Allied for Essential Medicine

Role at Host Organization: “As the Media and Communications Fellow, Asma Razaq will support the creative development and implementation of a media and communications strategy for UAEM North America. This involves implementing the interactive new website design so it is usable to share media and foster communication work in building a more effective and efficient internal communication strategy.

“

Boluwatife Michael-Biyi is an International Development Professional with over 7 years of experience working with nonprofits, local and international organizations such as the African Union, identifying and leveraging partnerships and contract opportunities, delivering sustained results, and managing projects from idea to impact. Bolu’ specializes in social innovation, a passion that is driven by his belief that business should be used as a force for good. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Covenant University, Nigeria where he also served as the President of the Student’ Union, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Law from Swansea University in the United Kingdom. Bolu’ is passionate about Impact and Learning, he thrives on initiating conversations that change mindsets and open up new possibilities. He also enjoys focusing on the thematic areas of civic engagement, education, and public health.

Host Organization: Steelcase Inc.

Role at Host Organization: At Steelcase Inc, Bolu’ will be serving as the Steelcase Social Innovation Fellow with a focus on Global Learning Community management. He will accomplish several strategic outcomes, including: fast-tracking the process of uncovering previously hidden opportunities for the adoption of new practices across the community​, increasing the number of total connections between previously disconnected partners, and strengthening the adaptive capacity of participating individuals and organizations to accelerate their personal and professional growth.

Chewe Fredrick Mulenga is a Chevening scholar with over 9 years of experience in business development, project management, advocacy, brand management and programme development. He is passionate about mental health and work regarding Gender and Women issues. He is a member of the African youth Entrepreneurship Society and was Zambia’s representative to the Tokyo International conference on African Development-TICAD. Chewe holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Zambia and a Master of Science Degree in Management and International Business from Leeds Business School in the UK.

Host Organization: Promundo

Role at Promundo: At Promundo, Chewe will will be part of a dynamic team and support a wide range of research, program, and advocacy activities related to related to gender and masculinities. Working across\nsectors – health, violence prevention, economic empowerment – Chewe will participate in the development and implementation of gender transformative programming, conduct desk research and qualitative and quantitative analyses as appropriate, and work to effectively disseminate Promundo’s work through written materials, presentations, and partnership building.

Chimezie Anueyiagu has five years experience in the public health sector. While working as a health education/risk communication officer with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), He led the development of risk communications strategies/plans, messages; engagement of key stakeholders and communities; and supporting research around social and behavioural change communication. He played a key role in Nigeria’s COVID-19 response by coordinating public communications throughout the pandemic. He has played a similar role for Lassa fever response, working across the 36 States in Nigeria. Chimezie holds a degree in Education Economics and is a member of the West Africa Social Science Epidemic Response Network (WASSERN). He is also a fellow of the Social Science in Humanitarian Action Platform, and a member of the Institute for Humanitarian Studies and Social Development (IHSD). Chimezie has attended Public Health conferences and professional courses across Africa and Europe.

Host Organization: American Red Cross

Role at Host Organization: At American Red Cross, Chimezie will be serving as the Knowledge Management & Learning Fellow. Chimezie will be sitting with the Quality, Data and Learning team at ISD/ARC Headquarters and will be responsible for supporting the Knowledge Management and Learning efforts of the department. He will help 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 RCRC Movement Partners