Fellows

Awuor Onyuka has over six years of experience in the non-profit sector. She earned a Master of Science in Non-Governmental Organisations and Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and a Bachelor of Science in International Business Administration (Finance) option from the United States International University (USIU) in Kenya. Awuor has most recently worked as a Program Assistant for Aga Khan Foundation’s USAID funded Yetu Initiative, where she supported on capacity building elements such as engaging with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to identify valuable fundraising strategies to mobilize for resources within their community. One of her notable achievement was writing the Bootcamp concept note that led to the development and rollout of multiple successful Yetu CSO Bootcamps. This positively impacted and enhanced the capacity of 36 CSOs in philanthropy. Previously, She has worked in both the private sector and non-governmental agencies such as the Kenya Commercial Bank, USAID-Kenya, RTI International and Eastern Africa Policy Centre where she actively engaged in discussions and monitoring key economic and political reforms, civic education and youth and women’s participation in politics and governance issues. Through these experiences, she has developed strong skills in Program management, report writing, research, monitoring and evaluation, and capacity building. Awuor attributes her interest in economic empowerment to her experience when she served as the Vice-President of the USIU enactus team in Kenya. Awuor has a passion for international development, mainly centered on women, girl and youth empowerment, social entrepreneurship, financial inclusion, economic development, and philanthropy.

Host Organization: Kiva

Role at Kiva: At Kiva, Awuor will help provide support for building the foundation of the Strategic Development and Partnerships team to enable them to fund raise and meet their revenue goals.

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.

Chilochibi Chiziba is a Research, Monitoring and Evaluation (RM&E) enthusiast, Bachelor of Arts Economics with Demography (minor) holder from the University of Zambia. He has worked in RM&E related positions for about 4 years in different organizations including Jhpiego, Concern Worldwide, and the United Nations Economic commission for Africa. While working for these organization, He worked on projects focused on, socioeconomic development, gender based violence, nutrition, HIV/AIDS, maternal and Child Health. Immediately after graduating in 2015, he earned an internship with the United Nations Economic commission for Africa where his work involved supporting the Sub-regional Office for Southern Africa in carrying out policy research, analytical studies and advocacy to promote economic and social development. After completing the six months internship, he joined Concern Worldwide where he supported routine monitoring, impact evaluation and overall learning component of projects to facilitate implementation, performance assessment, identifying appropriate actions for strengthening performance of humanitarian responses and development approaches. From 2016, Chilochibi has been supporting the Zambia Ministry of health in areas including HIV/AIDS, malaria, cervical cancer, reproductive, maternal and child health through data systems and research while working at Akros and Jhpiego. In his capacity, he provided technical capacity building in DHIS2/HMIS data use and analysis at all Ministry of Health levels, including provincial, district, and facility levels and led the design, development and implementation of provincial monitoring, evaluation and research systems. This included the development of RM&E plans; implementation of data management and data use systems.

Host Organization: Solstice

Role at Solstice: Chiliochibi will join a team at Solstice working with two Department of Energy awards to implement a new alternative credit metric, increase energy equity, and grow the solar pie – and stand up some of the first low-income community solar projects in the country.

Elijah has seven years of professional experience in the nonprofit sector. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Renewable Natural Resources Management from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana. Passionate about driving positive social change, Elijah is a Co-Founder and Executive Director of community-based nonprofit organization- Help Change Ghana which works to empower communities to take proactive actions to reduce litter, indiscriminate dumping of waste and undertake beautification projects such as tree planting. His most significant professional accomplishment with this organization is the design and launch of the Community Litter Prevention initiative which trained and developed skills of 300 volunteers through a train the trainer model in 2014. The initiative has since reached over 30,000 individuals in nine communities with information on litter prevention techniques. Additionally, he coordinated conservation education programs in community schools which increased formation of Eco-clubs to ninety-six as at March 2019. Elijah’s efforts have been tremendous in rekindling grassroots support in keeping clean communities and conserving nature. Previously, he worked with the National Disaster Management Organization where he coordinated a team which administered support for flood displaced victims in rural Accra. Also, he volunteered with the Accra Metropolitan Assembly in public cleanup events such as the National Sanitation Initiative. Through these experiences, he has developed skills in project planning and implementation, leadership development, training and capacity building. Elijah has strong desire for leadership development, entrepreneurship and community empowerment.

Host Organization: Keep America Beautiful

Role at Keep America Beautiful: At Keep America Beautiful, Elijah will work with the Programs Director to execute Keep America Beautiful’s signature programs focused on cigarette litter prevention and community beautification. He will execute a grant program, market the programs to their affiliates and a broader audience, help execute an educational campaign and research potential new sponsors.

Hisham has seven years of experience in the nonprofit sector and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing from the Jordan University of Science and Technology in Jordan. Most recently, Hisham worked for International Rescue Committee (IRC) as an Employment Deputy Manager, Managing a team of officers to conduct assessments to vulnerable Syrians and Jordanians and identify their economic needs and provide decent job opportunities to them by matching them with the available open vacancies, the project aims to improve the economic status of the beneficiaries and provide a more sustainable solution and to enable the beneficiaries to work and support themselves financially, Previously Hisham has worked for Community Engagement Project a Global Communities project funded by USAID as a program Manager, managing a big team to identify the needs of local communities afflicted by the Syrian crisis and help them submit proposals that will enable them to receive in kind grants from USAID, Hisham also oversaw the implementation of the project’s activities and intervention and was responsible for engaging governmental and civic organisations as well. At the same time, he engages in volunteer work with local community-based organizations (CBOs) to promote and maintain social peace and a culture of acceptance of others among local communities. . Through these years of experience, he gained strong skills in communication, effective coordination, and leadership. Hisham enjoys focusing on topics of humanitarian relief and development of refugee communities and demonstrated great efforts to improve the welfare and safety of the refugees and to empower refugee women and youth in his country to effectively contribute to restoring peace and development.

Host Organization: Abt Associates

Role at Abt Associates: At Abt Associates, Hisham will will support the SHOPS (Sustaining Health Outcomes through the Private Sector) Plus project by working with the private sector on family planning, child health, and HIV interventions. He will also support the implementation of technical activities and assist with writing technical project reports.

Karam Yaaqba is a senior software solution provider with 8 years of experience in developing cutting edge software for a leading healthcare provider in the United States. In 2014, Karam earned a scholarship to continue his study in the U.K., and he obtained his master’s degree in Robotics from the University of Birmingham – UK. He worked with STRANDS – a European Robotics project – during his thesis. In 2011, he earned his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Technology from the Arab American University – Palestine, graduating with honors. In 2011, Karam started working as a Software Developer with iConnect – a custom software solutions provider based in Chicago, IL, U.S. through their R&D branch in Ramallah, Palestine-. In 2015, he rejoined iConnect as a Senior software Developer, to help iConnect utilize AI/ML on their healthcare solutions. Karam’s year at the U.K. was a life changing point. During that year, Karam learned how to organize his time, how to set and achieve goals. Karam had his first experience in leading a group of people. In iConnect, he learned discipline, and he tightened his grasp on problem solving skills. Karam is interested in helping to microfinance small projects in order to empower small owners’ and their communities, he is also searching for a better understanding of human rights, because he lives in diverse country.

Host Organization: Microsoft

Role at Microsoft: At Microsoft, Karam will will support the Cloud Solution Architecture team to drive the deployment of Airband partner workloads into Azure and increase their consumption of the platform by providing deployment guidance, supporting development of the partners’ cloud adoption model, and providing appropriate recommendations to overcome blockers for Airband partners.

Meriem is an open-minded, friendly and resourceful engineer in Computer Science who graduated from the Algerian National School of Computer Science in 2015. She has 3 years of solid experience and diverse capabilities in IT project management, Information System management and governance using agile and lean thinking, and Business Analysis. While working as an IT Project Management, she was heavily involved in redesigning the postal services’ Information System in Algeria by assisting experts in mapping business, app\nand technology processes using SIPOC, TOGAF & COBIT; requirements gathering and planning; elaborating IT strategical plans taking client’s needs into account; and supporting the client in his upstream thinking (writing specifications, change management) and downstream thinking (training).\nMeriem has a clear, logical mind with a practical approach to problem solving and a drive to see things through to completion. She is eager to learn, enjoy overcoming challenges, and have a genuine interest in Information Systems, enterprise architecture and evolving technologies. Meriem is also an active member in her neighborhood NGO and has always been engaged in working on how effectively we can educate people about their rights and obligations as democratic citizens, and how to develop citizens’ skills to work with one another\nto solve common problems, to debate public issues, and express their views. Within her NGO network, Meriem organize and participate in events related to youth education and women empowerment using her strong academic background and professional experience to ground her work. She is also part of various networks of women leaders from MENA regions that promote peace and discovering inner qualities to revolutionize and face nowadays hostile communities; to improve schools, the government, the environment and whatever her society needs to create and sustain an environment in which everyone can thrive.

Host Organization: boodleAI

Role at boodleAI: At boodleAI, Meriem will support the software development team by assisting in the identification of incoming features that are valuable to the business and their clients, gathering and analyzing high level requirements, tracking sprint progress and elevating risks to management, creating and maintaining project documentation, defining and executing test scenarios, and participating in all Agile ceremonies.

Rabecca Makhuwira is a professional and seasoned development practitioner specializing with over five years’ experience working in the non-profit sector. During her career, Rabecca has worked with three International Non-Governmental Organisations in various roles, including in monitoring and evaluation, project management, volunteering, proposal development, developing Monitoring and Evaluation systems, conducting research studies and reporting. Rabecca is also an entrepreneur in the Agriculture sector. Recently, Rabecca was working for Action Aid as Monitoring and Evaluation officer in a consortium of five non-governmental organisations. Rabecca also volunteers for Center for Women and Girls Empowerment (CEWOGE) as a Programs Director. She is very passionate about girls and women empowerment and investing in children as she believes the future of Africa lies on it. Some of the leadership roles Rabecca holds in her community include, developing effective social protection systems, motivational speaking, leadership training’s facilitation, adult literacy teaching and fundraising for needy female students. For the past two years Rabecca has impacted girl’s education by sharing her stories, encouraging female students’ dropouts to go back to school and providing scholastic materials to needy students. She is also a Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI) alumni, a program for Southern African Leaders and graduated with a certificate in public management by University of South Africa which has enhanced her authentic and transformative leadership. Through these experiences, Rabecca has been equipped with the necessary technical and leadership skills that has necessitated her to effectively deliver.

Host Organization: BronxWorks

Role at BronxWorks: With BronxWorks, Rabecca will to help strengthen the program’s effectiveness, with respect to tracking retention. This added investment in time and effort will help to increase their use metrics to track the follow-up of the income of the program participants continued employment, job promotion, increased wages and need for public supports (i.e. public assistance, transportation, childcare, etc.).