Fellows

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.

Aditi has three years of experience in the nonprofit sector and two years experience in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in India. She completed her Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature from Delhi University followed by Master’s in Social Work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences. She interned with two nonprofit organizations in Mumbai, namely Society for Nutrition, Education, and Health Action (SNEHA) for reducing maternal and neonatal deaths, followed by work with Muskaan where she actively counseled children of parents undergoing divorce. Aditi has worked with Save the Children, India as an Institutional Partnership Officer where she was responsible for strategizing inflow of funds from active donors, such as DFID, European Union, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. These donations were used to run programs for reproductive, maternal, new born, child, and adolescent health (RMNCH+A) across fourteen states in India. Previously, as a global graduate of Rio Tinto, Aditi worked in one of the most rural areas of India. She spent two years as a social analyst assessing the needs of people through various on-ground surveys and pre-feasibility studies. She also initiated an innovative project of education through tablet games for children under the influence of drugs. Her major achievements include designing and implementing a multi-year adult education and skill-building program for 315 workers of the company to boost local employment and development.

Host Organization: ChildFund International

Role at Host Organization: Aditi will support ChildFund’s Advocacy team in conducting research and policy briefs, providing operational support, analysis, support to National Offices, and contribute to raising ChildFund’s profile among US government actors and key decision makers.

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.

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.

Anna has nine years of nonprofit experience with different NGOs in Armenia and earned her Bachelor’s degree in Finances from Economics and Law University of Stepanavan, Armenia. While working as an Operations Manager at the Full Life NGO, she actively participated in projects focused on advocating for human rights and equal opportunities for people with disabilities, promoting principles of inclusive education within the USAID-funded “Strengthening DPO’s for Greater Outreach” project, and developing new projects and fundraising strategies. She was awarded with the Letter of Acknowledgement from the Governor of Lori Region for her efforts. Anna has worked at the Stepanavan Area Development Program regional office of World Vision Armenia as an accountant and volunteered with local environmental non-profits. In 2007 and 2008 she worked as an interpreter-assistant with international observers of OSCE at the parliament and presidential elections in Armenia. As a volunteer advisor she participates in pre-arrival orientations with students of the “Golden Bridge” Georgian-American Exchange Visitor Center. Through these experiences, Anna developed attention to detail, flexibility in cross-cultural communication, as well as strong skills in developing project proposals, budgeting, accounting and project coordination. Anna has a strong passion for human rights, equal opportunity, and gender issues. Above all, she champions sustainable development and social responsibility.

Host Organization: Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota

Ann has over five years of experience in the nonprofit sector. She earned her Diploma in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of the Philippines and received a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science at the University of Santo Tomas. Formerly, Ann was the Policy Officer of NGO Forum in ADB. The Forum is an independent network of over 250 civil society organizations in Asia based in Manila, Philippines. The network champions the rights of local communities adversely affected by the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) large scale infrastructure projects and policies. As the Policy Officer, Ann had the opportunity to be involved in the safeguards evaluation process of the Bank, and to work with its local partner, CSOs to institute affected communities in filing complaints for ADB’s Accountability Mechanism. Prior to joining the Forum, her inclination to local governance and development work led her to join the Leagues of Cities of the Philippines for three years as Junior Program Officer. LCP is the mandated organization of all cities in the country that tackles local governance agenda at the forefront of the country’s national development. As the Junior Program Officer, she was able to handle projects on improving the state of maternal health in the country, like its governance and making cities resilient among others. Through these experiences she had developed strong skills on project management and policy advocacy. Therefore, Ann is interested to further work directly with local communities, be immersed on issues of local governance, human rights, urban planning and advocacy targeting international financial institutions.

Host Organization: International Accountability Project

 Role at Host Organization: Annabel will serve as the IAP Smitu Kothari Fellow. The Smitu Kohtari Fellowship is a unique work and learning opportunity for young advocates created in honor of IAP founding board member Smitu Kothari. The aim of the Smitu Kothari Fellowship is an opportunity to continue growth within the movement for global justice and to strengthen their abilities as activists, critical thinkers and change-makers.