Scholars

Abdalrahim Abuwarda earned a Bachelor’s of Arts in English Literature and focused his studies on literary works and translation. Abdalrahim found links between the literary works, development, management, and leadership. Then, to empower the Palestine’s youth, he led a project with Pal-Think, a non-profit organization, that aimed to raise awareness among youth on democracy and entrepreneurship. The project included conducting lectures, launching art exhibitions, and carrying out workshops. Abdalrahim facilitated 25 events and each event targeted 25 Palestinians from different backgrounds. Abdalrahim used his experience at Pal-Think to engage in one of his proudest endeavors, co-founding Al-Frarabi for Multilingual Services. As the co-founder and co-director of Al-Farabi, he translated, edited, and proofread many English-to-Arabic texts. He contributed to the translation of two books in human development: Read Artists Do Not Starve and Steal Like an Artist. Mr. Abuwarda managed interns, new employees, and college students. Moreover, he moved to occupying a position as a social worker at Almajd Association for Development. He was responsible for 350 cases including orphans, people with special needs, and needy families. He wrote up assessments, which met specified standards and timescales. He made decisions about the best course of action for the beneficiaries. Most recently, Abdalrahim managed to work as a Social Media (Freelancing) Mentor at Gaza Sky Geeks (Mercy Corps). He managed to train four cohorts on how to use social media platforms to get job opportunities. The results of the 240 participants were promising as over 54% of them managed to obtain paid opportunities, both short and long term.

Current Organization: Social Worker at Almajd Association for Development

Aboud J. Al Ifranji has five years of experience in the nonprofit sector and three years of experience in the UNRWA education sector. A.J. earned a Bachelor’s of Teaching English Language from Al Azhar University in Gaza, Palestine. While working as an English teacher in different UNRWA schools, he helped improve his students’ academic achievement in English in prep schools. While working as a Project Coordinator in Japanese Campaign for the Children of Palestine, he helped improve the quality of education in local government schools across different areas in Gaza, Palestine. Through these experiences, he developed strong project coordination, planning, monitoring, implementation, reporting, and evaluation skills. A.J. also honed his abilities to work with computerized and office programs, use cameras for video recording and editing, and facilitate different types of trainings, workshops, and meetings, especially for teachers and school staff members. A.J. is also deeply skilled in translating oral and written English to Arabic, researching, working under pressure, multitasking, and leading teams. Throughout his career, A.J. has developed a wide variety of communication skills, along with best practices in data collection, validation, summary, and analysis. A.J. enjoys focusing on topics of education development, cultural variety, sports, animation, movies, and music, and has a strong passion for self development and youth empowerment.

Current Organization: Project Coordinator at Campaign for the Children of Palestine (CCP Japan)

Abubakar Kagermanov has six years of experience in the nonprofit sector and two years of work in university. Abubakar graduated from Grozny State Oil Technical University in Russia. During his second year of studies, he realized his goal of working to solve social problems in the local community. He couldn’t leave the university, as his parents were paying tuition fees and they had their own expectations. But it didn’t stop him from volunteering at local NGOs and creating his own social projects focused around conflict management, peacebuilding, communication, and human rights. After graduating from university, he started to work as an Assistant Director of the local NGO “Youth the Future.” In 2017 Abubakar received a scholarship for his Master of Arts on Theory and Technology of Social Work at Chechen State University.To this day, he is continuing his research on the topic: Socialization of Children with Disabilities in the Chechen Republic. He also created a project on socialization of children with disabilities and is still engaged in the project as a volunteer. For the last five years, the project helped more than 220 children and involved more than 150 volunteers. Since 2013, Abubakar participated in different long term programs and has won grants to support his local activities and projects. For the last two years, he has worked at the Chechen State University. Thanks to this job, he was able to attract young people’s attention to certain social problems, create new workshops, and facilitate sessions for the students to improve their soft skills and find creative solutions for complex social issues.

Current Organization: CEO at Ardom.lab

Ako Eyo Oku is a young leader with extensive experience in broadcast media and public service. Ako has worked for the Nigerian Television Authority for nine years, where she has served three different regions and over 200 Nigerian communities with enlightening, educational, and entertaining TV programs. Ako is committed to community development and advocacy for social change. She has been an active leader in several organizations, including the Child Rights Club, Rotaract Club, MDGs/SDGs Mass Awareness Group, Strategy and Innovation for Development Initiative, and the Young African Leadership Initiative. She founded the Global Learning Community Program, a community of practice that encourages worldwide learning at the local level via MOOCs and GLAMs. In 2019, Ako participated in the US government-sponsored Mandela Washington Fellowship, where she received training on Leadership in Public Management at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Ako is a Commonwealth+ Open Source Leader, a World Pulse Ambassador, and an African Changemaker. Ako belongs to Chatham House, TED, Creative Commons, and Wikimedia communities.

Current Organization: Senior Broadcast Officer at Nigerian Television Authority

Almamoon Almashaqba has seven years of experience in the nonprofit sector and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems from Al Albyt University in Jordan. Almamoon worked as a Technical Youth Assistant with a youth capacity building project for community engagement in Jordan under the Norwegian Refugee Council program. In this role, he helped increase the accessibility of the labor market for youth by building their capacity and mitigating local market employment challenges. He provided a set of systematic training for Jordanian and Syrian youth aged between 16 and 26 years old, including: positive thinking, employment skills, and communication skills. Previously, Almamoon worked as a Protection Case Manager with the International Catholic Migration Commission to assist the most vulnerable people in the community. Through these experiences, he developed solid knowledge and experience in project life cycle management, program development planning, setting indicators, implementing, and monitoring and evaluation. Almamoon worked with the International Rescue Committee in the Child Protection Program based in refugee camps in Jordan as a Child Protection Case Worker in unaccompanied and separated children to provide protection and make reunification with their families. Almamoon enjoys focusing on the topics of protection and livelihoods. Almamoon has a strong passion for youth empowerment.

Current Organization: FE at AVSI

Ariane Umuringa is a social entrepreneur, facilitator, and professional coach. Ariane co-founded Starlight, an EdTech initiative that makes fun educational STEM materials to inspire and engage young people across Africa. After starting her career in educational technology, facilitation, project development, and management, Ariane has nearly 5 years of experience in working with start-ups, nonprofits, and international organizations. This includes work in designing programs, coaching, hosting in-person and online international events, community development, and coordination. She has driven leadership development programs for youth and has served as the Country Ambassador for Youth Opportunities since 2018. Through her role at Starlight, Ariane is responsible for leading the STEM Products Development Team and developing curriculums for both students and training of trainers (ToT). She is the winner of the World Bank and Wharton University’s 2018 Ideas for Action award.

Current Organization: Co-founder at Starlight

Benjamin Shako has over three years of experience in the social change sector and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Sciences from the University of Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. While working as the Communications Chair for the Union for Democracy and Social Progress/Youth League in Congo, Benjamin helped establish and maintain the strategic direction of the organization, develop communication plans and messages for various youth league activities, and raise awareness about the league platform as a networking hub for youths. Benjamin is also a Thought For Food (TFF) Ambassador, where he raises the reputation of the food and agriculture industry to create a sustainable food system nationally and globally. Previously, Benjamin worked with a community-based organization, where he conducted an awareness campaign on Ebola prevention and ending child marriage in Congo. Benjamin has volunteered for several nonprofits, including the YALI Regional Leadership Center East Africa, the Center to Support Marginalized and Exploited Youth, International Youth Fellowship, and AIESEC in support of Sustainable Development Goals 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 13, and 16. Through these experiences, he developed strong communication, planning, volunteer management, and advocacy skills. Benjamin deeply values empathy, team work, and global collaboration. In the future, Benjamin plans to serve in an elected position to effectively promote solutions to address the social issues facing his country. He enjoys focusing on the topics of leadership, marketing, governance, and agriculture, and has a strong passion for youth and community development.

Current Organization: Communications Chair at Union for Democracy and Social Progress/Youth League

Chibuonu Obiageli Ezennabike is a public health professional with nine years of experience in the nonprofit sector. Chibuonu earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Microbiology from Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Uli in the Anambra State of Nigeria. While working as the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer with Caritas Nigeria on the 4GATES Project, a CDC-funded HIV/AIDS program, she helped improve the PMTCT program monitoring and evaluation by designing reporting tools, building capacity of facility staff, and ensuring data quality in Eastern Nigeria. She also championed the monitoring and evaluation activities of the Pediatric and Adolescent Program and FLAGSHIP Program in Delta State and ensured consistent availability of data for tracking project progress. Previously, Chibuonu worked with a community-based organization to plan and implement community outreach events and a health fair and to promote health education. In this role, she was also responsible for research and monitoring and evaluation of Nigeria’s Epilepsy Care Advancement Program. Chibuonu volunteered as a data entry clerk for Realizing Interdisciplinary System of Excellence Global Health Initiative U.S, (RISE GHI) in Nigeria. Chibuonu enjoys focusing on adolescence, gender, and maternal and child health and has a strong passion for research. She is very optimistic that efficient and effective use of data in research and public health interventions will ensure sustainability and improvement of health systems in Africa.

Current Organization: Monitoring and Evaluation Officer at Caritas Nigeria