Scholars

Aléré Kouakou is an education development practitioner and an innovator in the phone repair sector. He also graduated with a Master’s degree in Science of Education from ‘’ENS’’ (Institute of Education). After working for over four years in the education sector, he set up his NGO called ALeREAI, which stands for: Aid and Leadership for Rural Education Access Initiative. Currently, he works in civil service as a teacher and is the Country Director of Orion Edutech, an Indian training center. He committed to practicing education development for vulnerable people over the past two years due to two gap academic years in schools and COVID-19. He has been promoting access to vocational training, such as phone repairing courses, on the mission of reshaping quality education in Cote d’Ivoire.

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.

Beni Suryadi is an energy professional with a decade of experience managing research and program relating to energy, power, and climate change in Southeast Asia. As a manager, researcher, and director of studies at the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE), Beni helps the 10 countries in the region to develop and implement their regional and national energy policies in achieving energy accessibility, affordability, energy security, and sustainability goals. Beni is the Project Leader at the ASEAN Climate Change and Energy Project (ACCEPT), the first official integrated project on energy-climate nexus in the region, aiming to study and contribute to the implementation of energy policies for the climate change mitigation strategies. Beni is also a member of the Sustainability Advisory Council of Gojek, Agence française de développement (AFD) Indonesia Advisory Board, Steering Committee of the Global Consortium on Power System Transformation (G-PST), and Non-Resident Fellow of the U.S.’s based think tank; Energy for Growth. Beni is interested in energy poverty, just transition, and sustainable development goals.

Christopher Obasogie has over ten years of experience working with nonprofit organizations in Nigeria. He graduated from university of Benin, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in social work. He began his career as a volunteer counselor in an HIV/AIDS program implemented by FHI 360 and funded by USAID. He currently works in SOS Children’s Villages as a Community and Family Development Officer for vulnerable families. His goal is to support them achieve self-reliance through tailored interventions that will help shape their future.

Fathina Diyanissa is a government employee from Jakarta, Indonesia. She is a design graduate turned public sector hustler with three-year experience in the creative economy, currently employed in the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy as the assistant to the Vice Minister. Fathina graduated with a Design major in Institut Teknologi Bandung and started her professional work as a designer for two years. Her desire to be involved in the creative sector beyond the practicing realm led her to join the Indonesian Agency for Creative Economy, where she specializes in the facilitation and potential development of Intellectual Property Rights in creative industries. Upon the merging of the agency into the Ministry of Tourism of Creative Economy, Fathina joined the assisting team to the Vice Minister, closely working with and reporting to the Vice Minister on strategic programs across the ministry. This gives her a valuable chance to see the helicopter view of the governance of the creative industry, as well as how it intersects with the tourism sector. In her further career in the public sector, Fathina hopes to remain rooted in her creative background, using her opportunities and acquired experiences to advance the ecosystem of the creative industry in Indonesia, particularly in empowering local culture and communities.

Florence Musabyemariya is from Rwanda and holds a Master’s Degree in International Relations obtained from Xiamen University (China), a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work, and a diploma in Nursing. She has been working with Partners In Health Rwanda for more than five years assuming different positions since 2019 with sound experience in leading clinical programs and research with acquired skills in data collection, transcription and coding. She is experienced in non-communicable diseases where she actively contributed to the decentralization and treatment of diabetic, hypertension and asthma from district hospitals to health centers. Moreover, she has extensive training skills as a trainer of trainees on non-communicable diseases. Currently, Florence works as associate director in charge of clinical programs with responsibilities of coordinating programs at the cross-site level offering programmatic implementation, knowledge generation and use and health systems strengthening support to the clinical programs and facilitate communication with various levels of decisions making as well as with all staff, under the supervision of the deputy executive director of Partners In Health Rwanda. She coordinates and supports cross-site requests and opportunities, while in the implementation she tracks and strengthens clinical programs to ensure effectiveness and efficacy. In addition, she catalyzes new initiatives to ensure smooth onboarding and quick execution, leads in communication, project concept notes writing/reviews, partnership management, budget management, as well as overseeing programs progress. She is very passionate about global health issues especially in responding to social determinants of health around rural communities.

Georgina Capetillo has ten years of non-profit experience and holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs from The New School. She earned a graduate certificate in International Conflict Resolution from the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Her undergraduate degree is in political science and philosophy from Howard University. Georgina is currently working for the Jewish Community Center of Staten Island as is part of their COVID-19 response team. Her work consists of bilingual outreach, coordinating PPE, and free meal distribution. Georgina managed membership engagement and growth at International Sites of Conscience, a coalition of over 300 museums, memory initiatives, and historical sites that promote transformative justice in civil societies around the globe. Previously, Georgina worked at 360 Campaign Consulting where her work evaluated data and performed outreach to newly registered voters to inform citizens about the democratic process in the United States. Her academic research at The New School centered on democracy and armed forces in Nicaragua, where she lived for 14 years. Both her research and work experience revolve around political education and community engagement in the democratic process. During her work with several civil society organizations, she focused on the relationship between community wellbeing and active citizenry in politics. As an advocate of evidence based practices, her skill set includes data-driven solutions to social participation for collective welfare.

Grace Namukonde Kayamba is a graduate from the University of Zambia, the National University of Ireland-Galway and the University of Lusaka. She is 43 years old and lives in Lusaka-Zambia. Grace obtained her Bachelor of Arts with Education degree at the University of Zambia in 2005. She later did the Cambridge International Diploma in Project Management with the University of Cambridge-International Examinations in 2009. Grace went on to do further studies at the National University of Ireland-Galway where she studied Gender, Globalisation and Rights and graduated in 2013 with the Second-Class Honours Grade 1. In 2019, Grace graduated with a Master of Science degree in Project Management at the University of Lusaka. Grace joined the Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED) in 2007 as a Program Officer-Education and has been climbing the ladder to Senior Program Officer, Training Manager, Education Manager and currently serving as a Program Manager. As a Program Manager, Grace plans, coordinates, and oversees the implementation of projects in Education and Young Women Empowerment programs. She provides technical support to the Monitoring and Evaluation team on project evaluations and research. Grace sat on the ZANEC Board as Vice Board Secretary and Gender and Equity Chairperson. Grace has over the years managed different donor contracts ensuring that projects are managed as per donor requirements. Grace represents the organization in various stakeholder high level meetings and networks with other Civil Society organizations and government ministries. Before joining CAMFED, she worked with HODI on a UNHCR Refugee Project as a SGBV/HIV/AIDS Coordinator.