Scholars

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.

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.

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.

Hana Jasem possesses more than seven years of progressive experience working in universities and with NGOs. Hana’s professional history includes positions such as a Lecturer and Project Coordinator as well as an Undergraduate Students Mentor at University of Bedfordshire. She also worked at Juhoud for community and rural development as Project Coordinator. In this role, she was responsible for coordinating project sponsorship by the U.S. General Consulate. Hana’s professional experience at the university level has developed her skills in planning, training, and mentoring, along with providing workshops, advice, and support to students. In addition, studying at University of Bedfordshire was a remarkable experience to broaden her vision and understanding of project and business management, as well as celebrating diversity by working and teaching students from all over the world. Her supervisor during postgraduate study relied on her research, time management, communication, interpersonal, and organizational skills. Hana has always wanted to be in a place where she can be part of the solution through her innovation and positive impact. She is passionate about developing the leadership expertise that is necessary to make a difference by applying and developing leadership skills.

Mbivnjo Etheldreda Leinyuy has four years of experience in the nonprofit sector. Mbivnjo earned a Master of Science in Public Health and Health Promotion from Bangor University in the United Kingdom, as well as a Master of Science in Nursing Education and a Bachelor of Nursing Science from the University of Buea in Cameroon. Mbivnjo currently serves as the Development and Fundraising Officer for the Association for Community Awareness, where she raises funds through farm projects and manages online volunteers for website content and grant proposal writing. As a World Literacy Foundation Ambassador, she explored the global illiteracy problem and gained skills on how to advocate and fundraise for literacy-promoting initiatives. Through the Young African Leaders Initiative, she gained insight into Africa’s development challenges and led a project on improving the use of emails for education and business. Mbivnjo volunteers at the Health Research Foundation Buea as the project manager for a pilot birth defect registry in the Southwest Region of Cameroon. She is also designing parts of a sexual and reproductive health manual for a nonprofit called Teams4U. Previously, Mbivnjo supported disadvantaged people from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) backgrounds with employment as a Volunteer Mentor for the nonprofit Change Grow Live, supported by the European Fund through the Welsh Government. Mbivnjo has excellent volunteer management, teaching, and research skills and is interested in human resource management, volunteerism, project management, fundraising initiatives, disease prevention, and health promotion.

Musah Mohammed Amin is a development practitioner with over 10 years of experience who promotes socio-economic development among impoverished communities in Ghana. Musah currently coordinates Nolbed Foundation’s pre-college gap-year program to bridge the gap between exceptional students and quality higher education. Since 2016, he has led the charge in identifying, recruiting, training, and guiding over 30 students from poor households in Ghana to secure placements and full-ride scholarships into globally renowned universities in the US, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Musah also helped over 100 pupils from basic public schools secure placement into Class-A high schools through Nolbed’s ancillary program. He volunteers business development support services to over 10 groups of small and medium-sized enterprises and community-based organizations in Ghana. Musah successfully completed his Master of Philosophy and conducted research on local-level social and economic development planning. Musah served as an Assistant District Development Planning Officer during his National Service at Atwima-Kwanwoma District Assembly in Ashanti, Ghana, where he helped prepare an Analytical Development Profile report for the District. Musah is passionate about promoting research-based youth development relative to human capital development initiatives.

Nedaa AlAbadla has two years of experience in the nonprofit sector, and earned a Bachelor’s of English Literature from Al Azhar University in Gaza. While working as an Admission Officer for Doctors Without Borders, Nedaa organized the flow of the trauma and burn patients and supplied equipment in the clinics of the MSF. Previously, Nedaa worked with the humanitarian sector and civil society organizations for about three years to advance community development and promote human rights. Nedaa has volunteered as a peer educator on women’s rights and leadership for several civil society organizations in Gaza. She also volunteered to help elderly people and orphans, as well. Nedaa produces human-interest stories that elucidate humanitarian issues in Gaza. Most recently, she worked for the Mideast Group in Gaza. In this role, she served as a link between the private sector and civil society organizations through the fundraising unit, and was responsible for internal and external communication related to improving community services in Gaza. Nedaa has gained valuable experience in war reporting, digital storytelling, and international relations. She strongly believes in the power of strong communications and storytelling to show the real image in order to support vulnerable communities. Through these experiences, Nedaa developed project coordination and writing skills. She enjoys focusing on the topics of women and gender advocacy, and has a deep passion for women’s empowerment.

Nzube Okonkwo is a social entrepreneur with over six years of experience in the youth development sector. Nzube founded Evolve Incubator Africa, an organization that leverages technology, peer-to-peer learning, and coaching to support and promote economically disadvantaged talent and business leaders. He serves as a Youth Development Consultant for several NGOs and a coach for two State Government-led youth empowerment programs in Nigeria. He holds a Business Development Certification from the Enterprise Development Centre at Pan Atlantic University and a Nonprofit Leadership Management Certification from the Lagos Business School. Nzube is a Tony Elumelu Fellow and received $10,000 to start his social enterprise. He is also a 2018 Young African Leadership Initiative Fellow, a Tosin Anibaba Memorial Fund Top 50 Nigerian Entrepreneurs, and a Youth Delegate to the African SDGs. Nzube recently led his organization to rank in the ACT Foundation’s 2020 list of Top 10 Change Making Organizations in Africa. He has helped budding entrepreneurs raise over $200,000 in seed funding and wrote “Entrepreneur’s Guide for Starters and Startups,” a book that teaches budding entrepreneurs how to kickstart a business.