Cohort 01

Mohammed Abusaif has more than 10 years’ experience in the field of practicing and teaching occupational therapy. Mohammed’s Bachelor of Science degree in Occupational Therapy (OT) from Bethlehem University empowered him to become one of the pioneers in occupational therapy and the only occupational therapist in community mental health in his hometown. Through his professional life, Mohammed gained skills and expertise towards developing and promoting the quality of OT services for mental health clients as well as persons with disabilities (PWDs), while serving more than 300 clients through many places and positions. Mohammed was the first professional in his community to develop a guidance protocol for providing OT services for mentally ill clients, which helped other therapists and rehabilitation specialists lead the assessment. The assessment includes four developed checklists and intervention methods that have different types of modalities, including vocational training. This protocol guides the OT treatment process and activities related to rehabilitation plans, health promotion, and self-help. His teaching experience includes working as a practical fieldwork supervisor, in addition to teaching OT modules at two local universities. As a result of his cooperation with a number of human rights activists and professionals, he founded a nonprofit as the Executive Director with the aim of raising community awareness regarding mental health issues, stigma, and clients’ rights.

Kholoud Jwefil is a 25-year-old Palestinian social activist. After Kholoud completed her study in English language and literature, she became involved in social change. Kholoud works as a Program Coordinator at AISHA, a women’s rights organization in her country. In this role, she is responsible for coordinating humanitarian and developmental projects, including projects focusing on women’s rights, gender equality, social justice, mental health, economic empowerment for women, and encouraging men to shift their perspectives and promote women’s rights. Kholoud also has substantial experience in leading advocacy campaigns in her community defending women and children rights through social crises. Kholoud has volunteered for two years in the American corner in Gaza as trainer and group facilitator. In addition to her experiences in the field of coordination and women’s rights, she also has leadership, fundraising and team work, and translation skills.

Faten Juma has more than nine years of experience in the nonprofit sector. Faten has been working with the United Nations for Relief & Work Agency (UNRWA) since 2010. She earned a Bachelor’s degree of Science in Business Administration from Al-Quds Open University in Palestine, and a two-year diploma in Commerce from Gaza Training/Community College. Working with UNRWA as Human Resources Associate has enabled her to contribute significantly in developing the internal policies to ensure strong governance and effective accountability systems. Faten has worked on maintaining positive morale and trust through increasing the engagement and structural communication among employees. While she was working at the Recruitment Office, she made constant efforts in improving the quality of living standards for refugees on infrastructure, educational, health, and humanitarian aid through recommending the most competent employees to ensure delivering best services. Also, she has made many achievements in bridging the gender gap and realizing gender equality principles by her outreaching efforts and powerful networking skills. As an HR professional, her ultimate goal is to contribute in building a thriving and prosperous economy through managing the human capital by establishing an institute for people management and development. Faten has a great eagerness in utilizing her proven knowledge and expertise to benefit her venerable community and has assiduously played a key role in supporting it by sharing innovative ideas and launching initiatives properly while volunteering in community associations. She is well-known for having constructive insights about human resources and keeping abreast with the latest international approaches.

Ibrahim Abdullatief Ashour is a Senior Program Manager at Save Youth Future Society. Ibrahim is valued for his strong strategic, financial, and leadership talents with success in directing a diversified portfolio of community assistance, basic education, economic development, humanitarian relief, and recovery programs. He brings over eight years of experience and a wealth of expertise in strategic planning, program planning and implementation, cross-functional leadership, project management, and operations management. Ibrahim is also skilled in human resources development, resource utilization, organizational development, and financial management. Ibrahim is recognized for his deep understanding of human rights and UN Sustainable development Goals. He brings this knowledge into practice through effective management of SYFS ongoing projects in education and poverty reduction, and by foreseeing potential sectors of support in the labor market to allocate best opportunities for youth development. He contributes to program development, fundraising, communication and reporting to different partners and donors including USAID, CRS, Save the Children, UNICEF, OCHA, EU, UNFPA, and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.

Huma Iqbal has over ten years of experience working in Pakistan’s nonprofit sector, and earned her MA from the University of Karachi with a major in Development Communications. Huma is a public health influencer and employs strategic communications to promote sexual and reproductive health and rights, especially during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on policy reforms for family planning services in Pakistan. Working with the Population Council as an Advocacy Manager, Huma lobbies with parliamentarians for stronger legislation on family planning programs, advocates with religious leaders on championing the cause, and leverages the media’s role to influence policy makers and the masses. In her current role, Huma has helped build a new narrative on population, focusing on the balance between population size and resources and breaking away from more traditional and coercive approaches of limiting family size in the past. Previously, Huma worked with Oxfam where she led public and digital campaigns to end child marriages and sexual violence against girls, boys, and the gender minorities of Pakistan. Huma has acquired influencing and leadership skills to influence high-level stakeholders for policy and programmatic action. She has also acquired campaigning skills for effective public and media engagement. Huma is passionate about empowering people and socially and politically equipping them to break structural inequality and live quality lives. Huma likes to explore digital spaces for innovation and freedom of speech.

Alexander Gunkel is a serial entrepreneur using space technology for social and environmental good. Alexander’s company Space4Good leverages satellite earth observation, geographic information systems, and artificial intelligence to provide geospatial analytics to global impact initiatives for data-driven decision making and increased transparency. The company is active in nature conservation, agriculture, smart cities, disaster relief, and peace and justice. Space4Good provides its insights to clients such as The Red Cross, The World Bank Group, The Carter Center, and The European Commission. Additionally, Alexander co-founded Skytree, which invented a CO2 recycling process to reduce global CO2 emissions, as well as RoadEO which is developing a global road quality monitoring and prediction platform to improve road safety and comfort. He is actively mentoring “Tech4Good” entrepreneurs in university-related incubators as well as accelerators, including in Startupbootcamp and Google LaunchPad. Before starting his entrepreneurial career, Alexander studied mechanical engineering and business administration and worked as a Project Manager at the European Space Agency. He is a Young Transatlantic Innovation Leaders Initiative Fellow of the German Marshall Fund and believes in the power of social entrepreneurship to drive positive societal and economic change.

Selma Mouloudj has six years of experience in the nonprofit sector. Selma earned a Master’s degree in Biology specialized in Protection and Management of Marine Environment from the University of Science and Technology Houari Boumediene in Algeria. She also received a certification in Leadership and Conflict Management from George Mason University. Selma has experience in training engaged youth leaders who are committed to social change by increasing their sense of agency and supporting their civic engagement. Selma is the cofounder of Algerian Youth Voices (AYV), the First English Audio Broadcasting in Algeria that helped her gain valuable experience in digital storytelling, media relations, social media strategy, and corporate communications. Selma enjoys volunteering and is currently serving as the General Secretary for the State Department Alumni Steering Committee in Algeria, working to create an environment where Alumni can work together to bring a positive change. Selma is currently pursuing a career in Corporate & Investment Banking after serving as a Project Coordinator for a nonprofit in Chicago helping to eradicate violence by providing a safe space for youth to express themselves through arts and find support through mentorship. Previously, Selma also served as Project Coordinator for the U.S Treasury & the Algerian Finance Ministry and worked as a Communication Manager for a startup and designed the company’s communication strategy. She worked as an English Instructor for four years and helped hundreds of students develop their English language skills. Selma is passionate about science as well and she won the first prize for her scientific research in 2016 at the International Congress of Marine Biology in Morocco. Through these experiences, she developed strong leadership, communication, strategic planning, and conflict management skills. She believes that investing in youth and women is investing in a sustainable community.

Lisa Indah Wijayani has over seven years of working experience in the nonprofit sector under the areas of social and economic empowerment and environmental sustainability. Upon receiving the British government scholarship, she pursued a Master’s degree in Ecological Economics from the University of Edinburgh. While studying, she took part in field research in South Africa to resolve sustainability and social economic problems in the local community. Previously, Lisa had served at various public institutions to foster policy development in Indonesia and Southeast Asia. Her professional experiences include: Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Consultant at the Asian Development Bank (ADB); Network Manager at the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN); and Officer for Enterprise Development and Stakeholder Engagement at the ASEAN Secretariat. For the last two years, Lisa has been passionate about the issue of green jobs in the deployment of renewable energy and circular economy. Currently, she is leading green economy programs to accelerate low carbon transition at the Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR), a think-tank that undertakes research and advocacy in the fields of energy and environment. She is also a founder of “Kelas Motivasi”, an online platform which provides capacity building for Indonesian youth to study overseas with scholarships, and a co-founder of “Salur Switchers,” which aims to promote sustainable business practices.

Shamima Omwayi is a vibrant young Kenyan woman with a strong passion for humanitarian affairs, notably in the areas of community development, human rights, and peace and sustainability. Shamima holds a Bachelor’s of Commerce Degree in Finance and a Diploma in Accountancy from Technical University of Kenya. Shamima helped revive a community-based charitable organization, Villa Teag Children’s Home, where she has been volunteering for close to seven years providing administrative support. She has contributed immensely overall to the welfare of the homeless children. Previously, Shamima has volunteered as a facilitator for several organizations, including Global Communities in partnership with USAID and Hope World Wide. She also facilitated for Plan International in the areas of women and youth empowerment and peace and security under the Kenya Tuna Uwezo program, leading to an award as a champion of peace efforts in Nairobi City. By actively engaging in community work, she has developed skills in community organization and action, planning and implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and humanitarian communication. Her goal is to network on social entrepreneurship while focusing on the role of women in sustainable economic development. When Shamima is not ironing out community issues, she is expanding her knowledge on various subjects. During her free time, she engages her social media followers on current affairs. Shamima is currently working on a project proposal for Young Mothers Innovator Entrepreneurs.

Victoria Schor has earned a Bachelor’s degree in Law from PUC São Paulo in Brazil, an LLM in European and Global Law from Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona in Spain, and an MA in Human Rights from the Universität Wien in Austria. She is now pursuing two specializations from PUC Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil: one in Criminal Law and Criminology and the other in Sociology, History and Philosophy. She previously worked as a conciliator, where she conducted conciliation sessions between parties in order to reach agreements. She has also worked with human rights research, with a focus on human rights defenders, how nonviolent civil rights movements can shape international human rights law, and how individuals can engage with international organisations. She is currently part of Article 20 Network, where she provides legal assistance to protesters regarding the right to peaceful assembly and cases of the violations of human rights, including situations of police brutality. She is also part of People’s Planet Project, where she works with indigenous communities and environmental lawyers in the protection of the environment and human rights. Victoria focuses her studies on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, specifically on the rights of minorities, and the connection between human rights and the environment.

Lukman Baihaqi Alfakihuddin completed his Master’s degree in Environmental Resource Management at Florida Institute of Technology (2016-2017). Inspired by his research in 2017, Lukman’s action with the Plastic Action Network addressed the massive and unforeseen expansion of plastic garbage which overwhelmed local and national governments. Through his work, he measured two different approaches to this problem: including creating a support network in universities to adopt a watershed-beach ecosystem, then comparing the outcomes generated and challenges detected against a privatized, professional plastic garbage reclamation unit. Lukman found that the two approaches complement each other. Lukman has inspired innovation in the Plastic Action Network by joining with college programs and planning outreach events for participants to clean the water catchment areas that feed into rivers and the sea. The Plastic Action Network has planned events, including cleanups, seminars, music events, and contests, to reward the community members who participate. Lukman has also mobilized social media campaigns to enhance the image of the youth finding solutions to plastic garbage and environmental degradation. Lukman is deeply passionate about the environment and plastics reduction due to the large impact that plastics production has on climate change. Plastics are often created using energy from fossil fuels, which results in billions of tons of carbon pollution every year.

Victor Rujano Bautista is a Venezuelan lawyer passionate about environmental law and social entrepreneurship. Based in Maracaibo city, Victor is the current director of CIMAS (@cimasorg), a nonprofit organization aiming to promote and defend Indigenous People’s rights and the right to a safe environment in Venezuela. Victor is also the founder of GENTE QUE EMPRENDE (@gentequeemprende), an educational initiative by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs in Venezuela, to foster best practices and tools specially addressed to overcome the vast challenges of the actual context in the country. In 2017, he was chosen to participate in the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI) Professional Fellowship Program, which connects top business and social entrepreneurs from the Americas. As a YLAI Alumni, he became a member of the Board of Directors of the State Alumni Venezuela, Chapter Zulia. Through his involvement on the Board of Directors, he joined forces with other Venezuelan professionals to promote impactful activities related to human rights, environment, education, culture, and entrepreneurship, and to strengthen the friendship ties between the United States of America and Venezuela. Victor is also a Delegate of the Youth Congress for Sustainable Americas, a network of leaders working on sustainability projects in the western hemisphere.