Scholars

Abdul Sammad was born in Multan, Pakistan. He has completed his Bachelor’s degree in Metallurgy & Materials Engineering from Institute of Advanced Materials, BZU, Multan, Pakistan. He has 5 years of experience in oil and gas sector, and community service projects with nonprofit organizations. Passionate about social change, he volunteered as a “Rahbar Mentor” for 4 months in underprivileged areas of Karachi for 4 months. He took on the responsibility to sow the seeds of positivity and inspire youth about the importance of education and creating one’s own destiny without fear. Abdul is also involved with Citizen Foundation as “Baghban Ambassador” to raise funds to support and provide quality education in underprivileged areas of Karachi. He was also part of “Amal Academy”, an education startup funded by Stanford University, which provided him with vocational skills. It was a 3-month fellowship in which he invested 150 hours to develop business skills such as communication, leadership, problem solving and teamwork, etc. Professionally, Abdul works for TUV Rheinland Arabia LLC as a test engineer. Previously, he had also spent two years working for Bureau Veritas Pakistan, a global company that provides a range of sustainability services and solutions. He is interested in bringing about social change in the areas of health, education and sustainable development for the people of Pakistan in line with the UN 2030 agenda.

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.

Aneel Shahzad served in the world’s leading organizations, including; VSO International, DAI Global LLC., Muslim Hands UK, Muslim Aid UK, Government of Pakistan, and others. Mr. Aneel Shahzad holds a Master’s degree in Demography focusing on development programs and result-oriented Monitoring & Evaluation of nonprofit programs. He is trained in proposal writing and fundraising for nonprofits and business start-ups. His professional experience includes education, minority groups, youth services, community advocacy, outreach, women’s rights, services, peace, family development, and various programming initiatives. He has completed grant applications, including foundation and corporate requests of over 10 million USD. He has designed concept notes, and RFPs and developed complete proposals on community development for clients from the US, UK, and other regions. He seeks to facilitate start-ups and nonprofits with strong plans to advance their communities for their development and building future.

Anna Goltermann has two years of experience in the non-profit, government, and legal sectors. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University. Currently, Anna works for the Center for International Private Enterprise as a Program Associate for Europe and Eurasia. Anna’s work focuses on facilitating cohesion in a rapidly growing department, supporting projects in Europe and Eurasia that promote healthy economic environments, and assisting the Regional Director with a wide-range of programmatic responsibilities on a global scale. Anna’s interests involve promoting women’s economic empowerment, advancing human rights and civil liberties in Europe and Eurasia, and conducting research on regional political trends. Prior to her experience at CIPE, Anna received a Fulbright-Hays Scholarship to study in an intensive language immersion program in Moscow, Russia where she gained proficiency in Russian and participated in cross-cultural exchanges with Russian university students. During her time at George Washington University, Anna interned at Capitol Hill with Congress-member Karen Bass and worked for the Institute of European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies. With these experiences, Anna cultivated a strong skill set in research, project management, and interpersonal communication.

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.

Astari Raihanah currently lives in Sarmi Regency, Papua Province, Indonesia. She earned her Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Economics of Statistics from the Institute of Statistics (Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Statistik Jakarta). Since then, she works as a Statistician for the Indonesian Government in the Statistics of Sarmi Regency Office, where she is actively involved in the economics and trade-related surveys and censuses conducted by the Indonesian Government. She also has experience in statistics-related conferences in Malaysia and Thailand. During her experiences in these conferences, she learned Bayesian Data Analysis and R programming as a new tool for data analysis in official statistics. In her meantime, she also volunteered for local communities by teaching basic skills such as reading, writing, and basic math for underprivileged young children from remote areas in Papua.

Bayu Ramadhan Putra has years of experience in both the private sector and government, which all of which are related to finance, economics, and education. After graduating, Bayu gained experience in marketing and sales at Prime Blue International, LLC then Corporate Banking at KEB Hana Bank, specializing in analysis and feasibility on Indonesian corporate accounts. With the knowledge and experience, he decided to serve in the government where he is currently posted at the Ministry of Trade of The Republic of Indonesia. Bayu’s previous proved to be influential in government work, utilizing it in helping to formulate regulations, increase Indonesia’s trade balance, enhance international trade cooperation, maintain stability in the domestic market especially on basic goods, and elevate local small to medium enterprises to be financially feasible and export worthy. For over the last two years, Bayu has seen first-hand the importance of how information on trade regulation and the economy is evenly spread in the country, also how education plays a huge part in shaping the economy. From previously working with multi-national companies to serving in the interests of the economy of all classes, it was obvious that the level of education and access to information influenced people’s ethics, determination, and mindset. This experience, together with organizational and social activities throughout high school and university, developed Bayu’s passion for fair trade, education, and the development of society, determined to continue working and studying in order to best serve the economy.

Belete Hiruy Kellil has over ten years of experience in the nonprofit sector in Africa. He earned his master’s degree in Development Evaluation and Management from the University of Antwerp and a bachelor’s degree in Educational Psychology from Addis Ababa University. Belete is an International Certified Project Manager and a Fellow of the American Academy of Project Management. During his tenure as the Regional Partnerships Advisor at SOS Children’s Villages International in the Eastern and Southern Africa region, Belete significantly improved grant procurement, management, partnership building and donor relations in country offices in Mozambique, Uganda, Ghana, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and Ethiopia. Previously, Belete established and managed Handicap International’s monitoring and evaluation systems in Ethiopia. He has extensive work experience with multiple donors in both development programming and emergency response. He is a board member of a nonprofit organization working with refugees and displaced populations, and a founding member of a local nonprofit organization working on peace building and conflict resolution in Ethiopia. Through these experiences, Belete has gained solid skills in leadership, coaching and mentoring, project management, M&E, donor engagement, and grant management. Additionally, Belete enjoys focusing on youth development and innovation.