Fellows

Adriana is a researcher from Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, with eight years of experience in the non-profit and international cooperation sector. She earned a Master ‘s in Communication from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, as well as a B. A. in Sociology from Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Her work has been focused on the development of monitoring and evaluation tools of different types of public policy directed to vulnerable people and groups for nearly a decade. She has knowledge and experience of intercultural communication, particularly in relation to the ethnic and gender approaches for the attention and reparation of conflict victims.

Adriana has developed participatory tools and other research methodologies for the assessment of public policy that broadly fits into development and more specifically into peacebuilding and transitional justice. Through her experience in international aid, especially OIM, MSI, and FAO, where she has worked with topics as varied as rehabilitation and satisfaction measures, climate change, ethnic justice, public health, land restitution and food security, she has engaged with different conflict-affected regions.

Adriana has volunteered as a support link in the Colombian Red Cross during emergency situations, such as floods and earthquakes, in the Caribbean region and is trained in first aid assistance. Through these experiences, she developed strong research and communication skills in widely varied cultural contexts, allowing her to quickly develop rapport while implementing projects on the field. Adriana enjoys focusing on research with communities for peace building and policymaking, and has a passion for advocating for human rights and women empowerment.

Host Organization: American Red Cross

Role at Host Organization: As a Research and Engagement Fellow, Adriana will work under the Knowledge Management Program Manager to conduct and coordinate research and learning activities of the Global Disaster Preparedness Center (GDPC). The fellow will gain hands-on experience in qualitative and quantitative research activities relating to disaster preparedness and cutting-edge technology innovations, as well as knowledge management, information dissemination, and learning outcomes. In addition, the fellow will assist with outreach and engagement with Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies and external partners to help raise the profile of GDPC’s work. An interest in and basic knowledge of disaster preparedness and international humanitarian assistance is essential and experience working in or with the Red Cross is preferred. Our fellows work alongside us as integrated members of the GDPC to carry out professional level work in a supervised atmosphere.

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.

Ahmed is an accomplished development professional with more than five years of experience in the nonprofit sector, and has a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy and sociology from Fourah Bay College (University of Sierra Leone). Like most young Sierra Leonean who envisaged abject poverty and devastation caused by the ten year senseless civil war in Sierra Leone, Ahmed did not confine himself in that situation but rather rose beyond it to make life better for himself and his compatriots mostly in need; some of whom are women and children suffering from sexual and gender based violence, youths whose livelihoods are shattered and pregnant women and mothers in need of sufficient healthcare. Ahmed joined BRAC Sierra Leone as a Young professional in November 2013 and through this appointment, he has been able to provide quality data on development that have been used by BRAC to solve problem of essential healthcare, malnutrition, gender based violence, access to finance etc. As a monitoring manger in BRAC, Ahmed successfully implemented and managed a strong monitoring & evaluation systems of large scale projects for BRAC Sierra Leone. Ahmed also immensely contributed to providing legal aid services to more than 2000 poor and marginalized women and children who suffered various forms of gender based violence, whilst leading BRAC’s human right and legal empowerment team in 2014. During this time, the Ebola Epidemic had broken out so he had to help BRAC management to design a project that caters for the right of quarantined individuals, households and communities badly affected. Ahmed raised around 70,000 (USD) from Trocaire/DFID to provide food and non food items to particularly quarantined households in 50 communities. In addition, Ahmed also facilitated social mobilization activities and psycho social supports to these communities, thereby helping them to deal with the unprecedented crisis.

Host Organization: Sheltering Arms

Role at Host Organization:
Ahmed will be tasked with collecting, compiling, and analyzing programmatic data with a lens towards outcome study, development and implementation. Working in conjunction with QI and programs, Ahmed will develop new ways to capture outcomes with a focus on innovative ways to measure service results and report out on findings.

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.

Alexandra has 9 years of experience in the nonprofit sector. She received a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM) and a Master’s degree in International Cooperation for Development from Ortega y Gasset University Research Institute in Madrid, Spain. She was the Institutional Development Coordinator at Center Prodh – a human rights nonprofit in Mexico – for 8 years. She was also a consultant for AJWS. She has experience in strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation, as well as knowledge on methodologies such as Logical Framework Approach and Theory of Change. She has worked with U.S. private foundations and the EU-Mexico cooperation. Her experiences have provided her with an understanding of the main human rights issues and confirmed her deep commitment with social justice and strengthening of civil society. Alexandra enjoys processes of learning, cultural exchanges, the outside and the arts.

Host Organization: Southwest Economic Solutions

Role at Host Organization: Alexandra will develop, implement, and
evaluate processes that integrate the work of SWES both programmatically and technologically.
Her work will culminate in both the implementation of new programs as well as an actionable
recommendation for integrative practices for the future.

Alier has seven years of experience in the nonprofit sector and obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with Accounting and Finance from Cavendish University Uganda. Alier also holds a Diploma in Social Work and Social Administration from Makerere Institute of Professionals in Kampala, Uganda. While working as a Senior Human Rights Officer (Team Leader) at the South Sudan Human Rights Commission office in Jonglei State, Alier managed to successfully monitor, inspect, advocate for, facilitate, administer and investigate in the field of South Sudanese human rights, with the South Sudan Human Rights Commission for a period of seven years. Alier is the Head of the Commission Office of the Jonglei state. In this position, Alier’s main responsibilities are identifying financial resources, maintaining the commission’s state budget, writing correspondences on behalf of the commission, and representing the commission in various meetings and fora at the state level. Alier is interested in human rights standards training, transitional justice, legal aid, security management, security sector reform, economics and human rights, law enforcement and human rights, and peace-building and prevention work. He is also committed to developing and applying effective early warning, prevention and peace consolidation systems and interventions for local, national, regional and international actors. He is also interested in project management training among the related thematic trainings and Gender mainstreaming. Alier’s motivation is to have the in-depth knowledge and skills to work for more efficient and effective performance in South Sudan.

Host Organization: Community Options, Inc.

Role at Host Organization: In collaboration with the Executive Director and the national office, Alier will identify funding resources and develop relationships with foundations at the local, state and federal levels with the ultimate goal of developing program and employment opportunities.

Ana has seven years of experience in the health sector with nonprofit and international organizations. She started as a volunteer in the AIDS Support and Prevention Group (GAPA) in Brasília, where she worked with fundraising, research, project management, volunteer recruitment and training, program development, and communication. Her three years of experience in this organization include roles as vice director of staff, project coordinator, and communication advisor. She also worked for the Ministry of Health and was responsible for the Brazilian STD and AIDS Program website of the Ministry of Health under an international technical cooperation agreement between Brazil and the World Bank. Most recently she worked as a consultant for the UNDP, where she was in charge of organizing, writing, and editing the content for the web site Rights of Health System Users in Brazil. Ana earned her M.A. in international cooperation from the Complutense University of Madrid-Spain, where she wrote her dissertation on Brazil-Africa cooperation. She also has a post-graduate diploma in politics and management of nonprofit organizations from the University of Brasília-Brazil and has completed extension courses in international affairs, diplomacy and communication and for human rights managers.

Host Organization: Population Action International (PAI)

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.