Scholars

Adedapo Sijuwade is a social worker with over seven years of experience in humanitarian services, project management & community development. Adedapo has a degree in Sociology and professional courses in humanitarian works. He is particularly attracted to the quest of creating and enabling a safe environment for vulnerable groups. He believes in timely and collective action in response to the plights of marginalized groups, orphans, and vulnerable children to overcome their unpleasant situations through quality intervention, community engagement, and advocacy. He shares the vision of protecting the dignity of human lives and hopes for a just society for all with an emphasis on enhancing the quality of human existence. Adedapo is a social reformer, who is proactive about addressing social issues. His understanding of social issues, such as gender inequality, poverty, child rights, climate change, resulted in numerous achievements among the communities where he worked. He has been involved in various initiatives in his quest to improve the quality of life among vulnerable children to increase school enrollment and retention among teenage girls to avoid teenage pregnancy.

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.

Allison Coady is a Senior Development Officer at Partners In Health Canada. Allison served as the Interim Director of Major Gifts at Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières-USA (MSF-USA). She joined MSF-USA as the Development Officer for Foundations, responsible for managing strategic relationships with US-based foundation donors. She has extensive international experience working on the ground in 13 African countries in the field of human rights. Prior to working at Doctors Without Borders, Allison was based in South Africa representing Canada’s International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development (Rights & Democracy) and served as Programs Manager for the Denis Hurley Peace Institute (DHPI) in Pretoria. During her time with Rights & Democracy, Allison implemented projects aimed at strengthening the capacity of civil society organizations in their efforts to document human rights violations and protect the rights of Zimbabwean asylum seekers. At DHPI, Allison coordinated conflict management, good governance, and constitution-making training programs for local leaders in Ethiopia, South Sudan, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe. Allison is a member of the associate board of ALIMA (the Alliance for International Medical Action). She holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Pretoria and a Bachelor of Arts from Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada.

Amana Parveen has developed extensive industry knowledge and academic experience in the social impact sector through her involvement over the last three years. She is a Political Science honors graduate from the University of Delhi, India. Along with her Bachelor’s degree, she completed a diploma in Women Empowerment and Development. She also holds certifications in Human Rights and Legal Literacy. She has worked in a diverse range of impact environments, including education, livelihoods, fundraising, relief, communications, corporate engagement, and advocacy. As part of her currently Fellowship with the American India Foundation, she is developing a communications and branding strategy along with other deliverables for a European Union funded project on the revival of livelihoods for the indigenous and marginalized women artisans across India with Fair Trade Forum – India. Previously, she has worked on a project named “Let’s Reach Out Kerala,” which aimed to offer psychosocial support to guest workers stranded in and outside the state of Kerala, India, during the first phase of the pandemic. After that, she went on to work on a vaccination project to provide Covid-19 vaccines to 200 guest worker families in Delhi-NCR, India. Through her various experiences, Amana acquired considerable skills, such as project management, communications, graphic designing, development of concept notes, collaboration, and research. Amana is a self-motivated and passionate individual who envisions an empathy-driven world.

Ashley Benedict was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Creative Writing from Grand Valley State University. As an undergraduate, she acted as an ambassador for the Center for Women and Gender Equity, worked as a peer educator to provide on-campus presentations for sexual assault prevention, and led student volunteer trips to nonprofits throughout the U.S. Upon graduation, Ashley joined AmeriCorps NCCC as a Team Leader and cultivated skills working in a variety of fields, including disaster recovery, veteran support, community outreach, and addressing food insecurity. She then moved on to work as an AmeriCorps VISTA with the Iowa Disaster Human Resource Council in Des Moines, Iowa, where she built up the organization’s capacity by conducting qualitative and quantitative data collection projects to inform and create a revitalized organizational strategic plan. Her most recent position included working as Logistics Coordinator for an international disaster relief organization, All Hands and Hearts, in response to Hurricane Ida in Louisiana, the North Complex Fire in Northern California, and flooding in Kentucky. Ashley acted as a liaison between All Hands and Hearts and community members, acquired homeowner cases, and managed quality data input, collection, and auditing for each program. Her experience has helped her strengthen skills in communication, facilitation, data collection and analysis, and community engagement. With a background in psychology, she finds that it has helped inform her work by providing more understanding and compassion when working with communities that have undergone emotional duress.

Bashar Timraz has eight years of experience in the nonprofit and government sectors. Bashar earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administrations from Al-Quds Open University in Palestine. Bashar has diverse work experience in administration, coordination, security, reporting, and project management. In his current role as Operations Coordinator in the Field Security and Risk Management at the United Nations for Relief & Work Agency (UNRWA), he provides emergency response to around 13,000 staff members working in 300 UNRWA installations, guarantees a safe work environment for the UNRWA employees, follows up and reports all security incidents as needed, and organizes and maintains security files on all issues related to assessments, security plans, and more. Through his work with UNRWA, Bashar works with staff from different backgrounds, experiences, and working styles. Thus, he has developed strong communication, teamwork, risk-management and problem-solving skills. Previously, Bashar worked at the Ministry of Detainees and Ex-detainees Affairs in the projects and planning department, and was responsible for preparing the Ministry’s projects, operational plans, and reports. Working with the government has enabled him to develop report writing skills, strategic thinking, and communication skills, along with the ability to organize media events. Bashar is particularly looking to challenge himself and learn new things focusing on the topics of humanitarian, operations, and economic development.

Benny Katta is a Scholar of “Rural Economy and Digital Tools” with a study on Digital Agriculture, Rural Economy and Social Development. He has 17 years of professional experience in program management and project implementation on rural & social-economic development, corporate social responsibility projects, sustainable livelihood, women empowerment, digital agriculture, capacity building, and commercializing the FPOs. He is a good strategic planner, conflict manager, and social impact player. He has displayed skills in decision making, critical thinking, and demonstrated persuasive communications, team management, and leadership skills. He was recognized with the “Sitara Award” for setting up a benchmark for clean finance handling by Tata Group for DFID Project.

Bikash has 20 years of experience in the humanitarian and development sector with significant achievements in leading large scale multi-country humanitarian response programs, developing/institutionalizing humanitarian policies and strategies, leading organizational and community-centered Emergency Preparedness Plans, mainstreaming DRR, climate resilience, Comprehensive Safe School programs, and linking relief, rehabilitation and development (LRRD). He has led and supported more than 70 emergencies in several countries across the globe with Action Aid, LWS, CARE, ADRA, Tdh, and HelpAge International, as a humanitarian focal person and commendable technical experience in cash-based programs, nutrition, protection, education, WASH in emergencies, and food security & livelihoods in emergencies. Bikash has facilitated more than 100 training on various areas. He is a seasoned professional with expertise in PCM such as needs assessment, proposal development, log frame & budget preparation, monitoring and evaluation. Bikash currently working with HelpAge International as Emergency Response Manager. The key responsibilities are coordinating and managing the Global Emergency Fund (GEF) and supporting country offices, partners, and network members for humanitarian crisis response. Bikash received a Bachelor’s degree in Law from Utkal University in Odisha, a Master’s degree in History, and a Master’s degree in Social Work from the Utkal University of Culture in Odisha.