Scholars

Alba Giol is from Catalonia. She studied Social Work at the University of Girona. She did her final project about how this profession can contribute to fighting the climate crisis, according to how it affects vulnerable groups. That research helped her focus her professional training on sustainable development. That is how she decide to study for a Master’s degree in Environment, Sustainability and SDGs, which is focused on the UN 2030 Agenda and brings a whole view of sustainability on its three edges. Right now, Alba is doing her Master’s internship with UN Etxea, participating in some projects about environmental education, the climate crisis, and human rights. She has a particular interest in the relationship between the climate crisis, social exclusion, and inequalities. She had not particularly studied the link between these sectors in the university degree and she feels that nowadays it has become part of the base of social change. She also shares the idea that we are now facing a very complex problem, which means we need multidisciplinary solutions. This will lead everyone to be involved and contribute as much as we can, working together as a society and empowering community work, to ensure a better future for the next generations and even for ourselves.

Anya has 5+ years of experience working with small companies and non-profits, and earned a Bachelors of Arts in Religion and Philosophy from Smith College. She currently serves as Corporate Communications Project Manager at MAPS Public Benefit Corporation, an organization focused on addressing unmet needs in the mental health field through the development psychedelic-assisted therapies, where she supports the leadership team with communications and company culture. Prior to her current role, Anya worked as a project manager, marketing research assistant, and ‘chief of staff’ in a variety of industries including: environmental advocacy and wildlife rehabilitation, cybersecurity, entertainment, wellness, and career coaching. Anya also spent a year serving the homeless population through a volunteer program, where she gained a greater understanding of the complexity of addressing poverty and public health, at scale for those who need it most. Throughout these experiences, she developed a greater understanding of the many systemic issues that get in the way of social innovation and development.

Ahmidu Barrie has over ten years of experience in non-profit administration, logistics, and management. Ahmidu earned his first degree in Peace and Conflict Studies at Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone in 2010 and later pursued his post-graduate degree in public administration at the Institute of Public Administration and Management (IPAM). His drive to help his country comes from seeing his parents work very hard to take care of their family, as well as his experience of being abducted and forced to be a child soldier during his country’s civil war. After working with Wellbody Alliance, a local NGO that helped care for amputees and others with war wounds, he knew his life’s work was to help the poorest of the poor. He established the Community Health Worker Program, which brought care to the doorsteps of people living with HIV and TB across Kono District. When Ebola came to Sierra Leone in 2014, Partners In Health began working with Wellbody, and they eventually merged. During this time, as lead Logistician, Ahmidu was tasked with creating Ebola care and treatment centers across two districts. Currently, as Chief Operating Officer for Partners In Health Sierra Leone, Ahmidu is helping shepherd the development of the Maternal Center of Excellence, which aims to improve health outcomes for women in a country with one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world. Ahmidu is eager to learn from the experiences of his colleagues and hopes that sharing his experience in health systems strengthening in low-resource settings will be of use to others. The skills and training that he hopes to acquire will enable him to improve his capacities as a leader and be an even stronger advocate of social justice, health equity, and education.

Esther Mutani is currently working as an Assistant Director of Finance for Heifer International Tanzania since June 2019. In this role she is responsible for coordinating operational planning and budgeting, preparing organizational financial reports, and assisting and maintaining strong internal financial controls. Prior to this, she served as the Senior Finance and Administration Officer for South West Cluster and North East Zone in Heifer Tanzania since January 2008. Thereafter, she worked as a Senior Accountant through May 2019 in the country program’s head office. While serving in various positions, Esther acquired vast experience in working with various donors, such as American Red Cross, Starbucks Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, USAID, EU, MasterCard Foundation, VSF Belgium, and Winrock International. Esther is very passionate about accounting and financial management, and trained and supported the Heifer Tanzania Finance team in this area, especially on the ERP Accounting System. While working with Heifer International, she participated in the co-mentoring program and provided capacity building on the internal review and planning exercises. She also supported the current ERP accounting system with Heifer Uganda, Heifer Kenya, Heifer Zambia, Heifer Malawi, and Heifer Zimbabwe, on-site and remotely. Esther is a strong believer in Heifer International’s mission, which is “to work with communities to end world hunger and poverty and to care for the Earth.”

Joan Wuya holds a master’s degree in law and diplomacy from the University of Jos in Nigeria and a Certificate in Strategic Human Resource Management from the University of Cape Town in South Africa. She is an experienced human resources professional who has dedicated most of her life after graduating from the university to working in the nonprofit sector. She is an expert in human resources and culture and has a strong understanding of labor laws, compliance issues and benefit plans. She successfully implements process improvement and staff development initiatives to drive achievement of organizational goals. She is an empathetic coach and mentor, helping her team and organization achieve set goals and strategic action plans through staff development parameters. Her current role as HR & Admin Coordinator is to support the growth and infrastructure that will enable IRC Nigeria’s country program to manage its strategic action plan. She also provides technical support and capacity building to the HR team in the field offices in Northeast Nigeria. Joan Wuya’s primary motivation is to build a highly effective, strategic HR function that ensures IRC Nigeria’s country program has the structure, culture, and talent needed to effectively deliver HR services, so that the teams she works with are adequately equipped to support the displaced and vulnerable communities and individuals in Nigeria.

Kate Hibbert brings five years of experience in the nonprofit sector to her Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy program at the Fletcher School at Tufts University. She previously held various roles at Global Village Project (GVP) in Decatur, GA, U.S., the only tuition-free middle school dedicated to serving newcomer refugee girls in the United States. As Development and Data Projects Specialist, she managed major campaigns and events for the development team and data projects across departments. As Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Leadership Circle co-facilitator, she convened a team to drive forward workplace and communications projects to achieve organizational goals. At the Coalition for Refugee Serving Agencies, she represented GVP at monthly meetings, supported World Refugee Day event planning, and coordinated data collection on the Annual Report committee. In a volunteering capacity, Kate serves on the board of directors for International Education Peace Volunteers, in addition to facilitating intercultural discussions and events and serving as the budding organization’s LinkedIn community manager. Her language skills in French, Spanish, and Arabic were gained through her B.A. in World Languages from Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana. Through her nonprofit experience, she has developed strengths in project management, organizational and peer leadership, and cross-functional collaboration. Kate hopes to strengthen DEI, peacebuilding, and conflict resolution efforts in her career in international relations and public service.

Lishu Gang has four years of professional experience at the intersection of technology, media, and politics. Currently, Lishu is a project manager at a data science startup working on products that help liberal-progressive political parties and organizations better control their media narratives. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences from Minerva Schools at KGI in a six-country global rotation program. Most recently, she completed a Master’s degree in Nationalism Studies from Central European University in Austria and Hungary, with a focus on migration and refugee studies and the Israel-Palestine conflict. While volunteering for the Alumni Relations Office and the Student Recruitment Office at CEU, Lishu contributed to various projects in event planning and operations, media production, and marketing and communications. Previously, she worked at an NGO to promote effective implementation of youth social change programs in Kenya, during which she researched the informal sector innovation gap and helped design a curriculum on systems-thinking. She also led several marketing projects and website development for two ed-tech startups in Berlin and San Francisco. Additionally, Lishu volunteered as a community-building assistant on diversity and inclusion at her undergraduate university. Through these experiences, she developed a diverse skill set of research and policy analysis, project coordination, and media production. She enjoys exploring innovative solutions to address complex political, social, and cultural problems.

Megan McKinley hails from Ohio, United States of America, and has been living internationally since 2013. For her Undergraduate studies, she attended Long Island University’s Global College where her education took her out of the classroom and into the field of ten countries across five continents. Additionally, she holds a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification through the world-leading Project Management Institute. Megan believes that the best education is through experience and thus has made it her mission to work in organizations which break down barriers and provide alternative education opportunities to marginalized communities. Professionally, she has worked at Global Leadership Adventures, Guild Education, and is currently serving as a Banyan Impact Fellow in Chennai, India where she partners with Playquity, an early-phase NGO which focuses on providing gender equity programming in rural areas. Throughout her professional career, Megan has worked as a Program Manager, Education Coach, Advisor, and Project Lead. Through these experiences, she has realized she works best in diverse environments where she has the opportunity to collaborate with others and contribute her adaptability and organization. Megan is a firm believer that through daily choices, individuals hold the power to change the world.