Scholars

Abenezer is a Human Resource Professional with almost ten years of experience in the nonprofit sector. Abenezer earned a Bachelor of Art in Public Administration and Development Management from Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. While working as a Senior Human Resource Officer with CARE International in Ethiopia, he helped the organization to recruit, train, and retain a high performing workforce and implemented gender equality program in recruitment to increase female employees in the organization. Previously, Abenezer worked as a HR & Admin Manager with International Rescue Committee Ethiopia program under USAID and other donors funded programs. Through these experiences, he has developed strong people management skills, communication skills, and created welcoming workplaces for employees, where they can strive to do their best. Abenezer enjoys focusing on the topics of economic development, democracy, and human rights and has a strong passion of reading books.

Host Organization: Panorama Global

Role at Host Organization: As a Talent Acquisition Fellow, Abenezer will help Panorama Global source, identify, screen, and hire individuals for a broad range of roles across the organization affiliates. The Fellow’s role includes: inputting the overall hiring strategy of the organization to ensure the teams consist of a diverse set of qualified individuals; ensuring the staffing needs of the company are being met, with a long-term talent strategy in mind; and devising and implementing sourcing strategies to build pipelines of potential applicants, such as employer branding initiatives.

Abie is a humanitarian worker whose work focuses on migrant protection and supporting the sexual and gender minority community around the world. In 2019, he founded BRANI, a virtual safe space for Indonesians that encourages discussion and provides information on SOGIESC-related issues. Abie has previously worked with diverse organizations, such as Amnesty International, Project Hope 4 Kids, and International Organization for Migration. He has experience in program management and providing direct assistance to vulnerable groups such as asylum seekers, refugees, and victims of human trafficking both in Indonesia and abroad. Abie earned a Master’s degree in Theology from Uppsala University in Sweden and a Master’s degree in International Humanitarian Action from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Abie holds a Bachelor’s degree in Law from Universitas Gadjah Mada. Abie aims to bolster BRANI by learning about effective online campaigns and how to reach those without Internet access. He also wants to gain insight into the unintended negative consequences of outreach campaigns, including backlash, confusion, and desensitization. Abie now focuses on acquiring skills in organizational management, leadership, fundraising and grant-writing, marketing and communications, and strategic planning.

Host Organization: Princeton in Asia

Role at Host Organization: As a Programs Fellow, Abie will develop relationships with host countries and organizations; improve tools for evaluating new and renewing partnerships for Princeton in Asia; and implement equitable, inclusive best practices in recruitment, application, review, and fellow support in partnership with PiA staff and Board of Trustees committees.

Adriana is a researcher from Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, with eight years of experience in the non-profit and international cooperation sector. She earned a Master ‘s in Communication from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, as well as a B. A. in Sociology from Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Her work has been focused on the development of monitoring and evaluation tools of different types of public policy directed to vulnerable people and groups for nearly a decade. She has knowledge and experience of intercultural communication, particularly in relation to the ethnic and gender approaches for the attention and reparation of conflict victims.

Adriana has developed participatory tools and other research methodologies for the assessment of public policy that broadly fits into development and more specifically into peacebuilding and transitional justice. Through her experience in international aid, especially OIM, MSI, and FAO, where she has worked with topics as varied as rehabilitation and satisfaction measures, climate change, ethnic justice, public health, land restitution and food security, she has engaged with different conflict-affected regions.

Adriana has volunteered as a support link in the Colombian Red Cross during emergency situations, such as floods and earthquakes, in the Caribbean region and is trained in first aid assistance. Through these experiences, she developed strong research and communication skills in widely varied cultural contexts, allowing her to quickly develop rapport while implementing projects on the field. Adriana enjoys focusing on research with communities for peace building and policymaking, and has a passion for advocating for human rights and women empowerment.

Host Organization: American Red Cross

Role at Host Organization: As a Research and Engagement Fellow, Adriana will work under the Knowledge Management Program Manager to conduct and coordinate research and learning activities of the Global Disaster Preparedness Center (GDPC). The fellow will gain hands-on experience in qualitative and quantitative research activities relating to disaster preparedness and cutting-edge technology innovations, as well as knowledge management, information dissemination, and learning outcomes. In addition, the fellow will assist with outreach and engagement with Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies and external partners to help raise the profile of GDPC’s work. An interest in and basic knowledge of disaster preparedness and international humanitarian assistance is essential and experience working in or with the Red Cross is preferred. Our fellows work alongside us as integrated members of the GDPC to carry out professional level work in a supervised atmosphere.

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.

Bisan Abu Harb completed her Bachelor’s degree in business administration at the Islamic University of Gaza. She completed several short courses for professional development, including leadership, reporting, gender and crisis management. While working as a UDOC assistant at Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) under the Emergency Relief Program, she helped improve living conditions to enable non-refugees internally displaced by the 2014 Gaza conflict to return home. Previously, Bisan worked at MAAN Development Center as a team leader in the UNMAS funded project “Risk Education ERW Awareness”. In addition, she worked as a team leader in the same organization in another project namely “Promoting Conflict Preparedness and Protection in Gaza Strip”. She also worked as a project assistant for the project “Supporting women leadership in Gaza Strip” where her success story started as she got to know well all the non-profit organizations working in this field and contributed significantly in strengthening the human security of women in vulnerable areas. Bisan has volunteered in many programs and organizations as she believes in community participation. During her professional career, she developed strong project management skills, networking and communication skills, and event planning skills. Bisan is interested in focusing on gender issues and has a strong passion for helping IDPs and refugees survive. She is interested in various things such as art, photography, humanitarian work and most importantly making a difference in people’s lives.

Ekene Ibekwe has four years of experience in the non-profit sector. He completed a Non-profit Leadership and Management program and earned a Bachelor of Science in Food Science and Technology from Imo State University in Nigeria. While working as a Team Head at Best Nurture Academy in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, he led the team to provide quality education for over 350 children in rural communities at little or no cost. He inspired his team to develop learning curricula and community engagement strategies that encouraged young people to seek education and stay away from the vices that consumed the community. Ekene has collaborated with non-profits to provide educational services to the underprivileged children in neglected rural communities. This was to make education accessible to rural community children and give them hope for a better and brighter tomorrow. Ekene promotes moral and literacy awareness through his programs. As a peer health educator, Ekene has trained teenagers on HIV/AIDS and adolescent reproductive health. He has empowered young people through peer education programs to become peer educators, thereby multiplying the effect of knowledge transferred. Through these experiences, Ekene has developed strong project management, curriculum development, stakeholder and community engagement, communication, and leadership development 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.

Katerina Downward has committed her professional life to defending human rights, with extensive experience in the fields of humanitarian response, a proven track record as a leader supporting refugee livelihoods, and a longstanding commitment to social justice. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and obtained a Master’s degree in Human Rights, graduating with distinction, from the London School of Economics. She joined METAdrasi as a Project Manager in the education department. In that capacity, she set up three schools for refugee children on the frontier islands of Lesvos and Chios where most refugee arrivals through Greece’s sea borders occur. She was then promoted to Head of the Education and Integration department where in addition to her sustained project management responsibilities, she now leads a team of 60 educators and oversees the implementation of all education programs for refugees and migrants across the country, serving more than 3000 people annually. She was recently nominated to take on additional responsibilities, helming the program for the certification of survivors of torture and building capacity amongst frontline workers in identifying possible survivors. Previously, she worked at an education nonprofit in New York partnering with under-resourced schools to implement curricular materials on social-issue documentaries as a way of engendering civic engagement and human rights literacy. During her formative and academic years, she volunteered at human rights and civil society organizations across four continents and interned at the Washington Peace Centre and Amnesty International.