Class 14

Rehema is currently a public policy advocate and social change trainer with global-level expertise and experience leading and supporting policy advocacy and communication efforts on a wide range of issues that include; women’s rights, youth leadership and empowerment, and social justice and accountability in different parts of the world. She has worked in various capacities with organizations such as Women Deliver, White Ribbon Alliance, World Learning, and – most recently -Oxfam America at the international level.

Rehema is the Founder of Re!gnite Africa, youth-led and youth-focused nonprofit that has directly worked with over 200 young leaders in Uganda and beyond to enable them to achieve their career development, leadership, and advocacy potential. She has an MA in Sustainable Development from SIT Graduate Institute and a Bachelor in Mass Communication from Makerere University.

During her time as an Atlas Corps Fellow, Rehema served as a Communications Associate with Women Deliver in New York City and supported the organization with online communications and social media management.

Host Organization: Women Deliver

Victoria has five years of experience in public information and project development in the international cooperation and nonprofit sector. Victoria holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communications and Journalism from Universidad de la Sabana, Colombia, and a Master’s degree in Media, Peace and Conflict Studies from the United Nations Mandate University for Peace. Victoria has worked on multiple USAID funded projects and has experience with multilateral organizations and agencies including the Organization of American States (OAS) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). As Communications Officer for USAID’s Access to Justice Program in Colombia, Victoria was responsible for information and outreach activities in four conflict stricken regions where she implemented virtual training courses for justice sector operators on human rights and provided access to justice for vulnerable communities. She interned for UNHCR in Costa Rica during her Master studies. More recently, Victoria participated in the OAS Internship Program in Washington D.C. and volunteered for the International Center on Religion and Democracy (ICRD). In the academic field, Victoria has worked as adjunct professor at Universidad de la Sabana teaching undergraduate students to design communication strategies for local social development projects. He will put a) Put together monthly expense reports

Host Organization: Atlas Corps

Role at Host Organization: Victoria will support the work of the Chief Development & Engagement Officer to raise the profile of the organization to better share the story of Atlas Corps with the purpose of increasing the pool of potential Host Organization and individual candidates and leveraging additional funding opportunities. Victoria will strengthen and practice skills in the implementation, evaluation and expansion of the Atlas Corps external presence as included in our communications and public relations strategy.

Younas Alam Chowdhry has four years of experience in the nonprofit sector. He graduated with honors with his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. He is the founder and director of Laal Theater since 2009, which is a community-oriented street theater group that has trained children and adults from underprivileged communities to highlight social issues through performing arts. He also is part of the Laal cultural movement for social change in Pakistan, which includes band, film, social media, poetry, youth group, and theater. Younas is also a board member and manager at Social Awareness Media and Art Junction (SAMAAJ), a nonprofit serving the Pakistani social sector and working on issue-based projects via communication media. Previously, he worked in the education sector as Student Life Coordinator at Salamat International Campus for Advanced Studies (SICAS) and Teaching Assistant at the School for Social Science and Humanities at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). In 2012, Younas was awarded a prestigious Emerging Leaders of Pakistan fellowship by the Atlantic Council in the United States, and he also worked for the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation in Berlin after being awarded a CCP Fellowship in 2013. Younas also served in the advertising and public relations industry and hopes to utilize the skills gained in the corporate sector to benefit the social sector in Pakistan.

Host Organization : Atlas Corps

Role at Host Organization: Younas Alam Chowdhry has four years of experience in the nonprofit sector. He graduated with honors with his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. He is the founder and director of Laal Theater since 2009, which is a community-oriented street theater group that has trained children and adults from underprivileged communities to highlight social issues through performing arts. He also is part of the Laal cultural movement for social change in Pakistan, which includes band, film, social media, poetry, youth group, and theater. Younas is also a board member and manager at Social Awareness Media and Art Junction (SAMAAJ), a nonprofit serving the Pakistani social sector and working on issue-based projects via communication media. Previously, he worked in the education sector as Student Life Coordinator at Salamat International Campus for Advanced Studies (SICAS) and Teaching Assistant at the School for Social Science and Humanities at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). In 2012, Younas was awarded a prestigious Emerging Leaders of Pakistan fellowship by the Atlantic Council in the United States, and he also worked for the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation in Berlin after being awarded a CCP Fellowship in 2013. Younas also served in the advertising and public relations industry and hopes to utilize the skills gained in the corporate sector to benefit the social sector in Pakistan.

Sook Hee has five years of experience in the nonprofit sector, and earned a Master’s of Development studies from the University of Ghana in Ghana and a Master’s of Economics in Middle East and Africa areas of studies from the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul. While working as a Director and Founder of Make Africa Better which is based in Korea and Ghana, she helped women and communities in northern Ghana to improve quality of life through an income generation project. At the same time, Sook Hee gave lectures about “Africa and Sustainable development” and “Africa and NGOs” at the Hankuk University of Foreign studies. Previously, she has worked as a research assistant in several research institutions including AFDB and Korea Legislation Research Institute. Through these experiences, she has developed balanced aspects of Africa development. Sook Hee enjoys focusing on the issues of poverty alleviation through income generation and education program, and has a strong passion for marginalized people in Africa.

Host Organization: Global Campaign for Education

Role at Host Organization: Sook Hee will work the with Director on researching potential funders and writing grant proposals to foundations. She will also assist with the development and functioning of a GCE-US Youth Advisory Group to enable the organization to more effectively engage the next generation of advocates for Education For All.

Smiti has close to ten years of experience in the nonprofit sector in India and holds a Masters degree in Social Work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India. Smiti is currently working with VOICE 4 Girls as a business development officer, helping them streamline their organizational policies and financial strategies. During her time as a student social worker/counselor with Muskaan, she was individually handling cases of children battling mental stress, as a result of parents seeking separation. Previously, she worked with People’s Association of Training and Health, where she designed and conceptualized a program on preventive health and education for adolescent girls and older women of the community in Mumbai, India. Smiti has volunteering experience with organizations such as Rotary International, FIAPO, CARE India, Freindicos, World School Network, Goonj, Janarth Adivasi Vikas Sanstha, and IDA on projects relating to the thematic areas of health and environment. Her strengths include volunteer management, human resource management, event coordination, planning, listening and interpretation skills. Along with focus on mental health, Smiti also enjoys working with children, in the areas of health and education. She has a strong passion for rescue and rehabilitation of animals. In future Smiti sees herself working in the area of health and education.

Host Organization : Nike Foundation

Role at Host Organization: Smiti will help the Nike Foundation use her Investment Fund intelligently to take the Girl Effect to scale. Smiti will help manage a portfolio of grant relationships that deliver maximize return on investment, capture and distill learning, and inspire large-scale initiatives for girls.

Saket Mishra earned a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Mumbai in 2007. He has seven years of experience in healthcare marketing as a Creative Director, designing strategy, concept and ideas for pharmaceutical brands and campaigns. Looking to engage in more fulfilling work, he took a sabbatical in 2009 to set up his own nonprofit that launched Maid in India. The project has been a success, raising over $15,000 in grant money, changed 250 lives and reached 1000 households. The project is making revenue of over $10 million and working towards training and employing 1000 maids by 2015. He also helped Online Buddies, a LGBT dating site to launch in India, by helping with strategic partnerships and designing their offline marketing strategy. Saket is a skilled community mobilizer and uses his marketing background creatively to launch grassroots awareness campaigns that engage end users and brings them to the program. Along with strong program management skills and social marketing, Saket is interested and involved in advocacy for labor rights and women’s employment and health.

Host Organization: Massachusetts General Hospital

Role at Host Organization: Saket is joining Partners HealthCare, Center for Connected Health in Boston. The Center is working on technology-based programs to revolutionize the delivery of healthcare and public health efforts in the US. As a fellow, Saket will be executing research pilots for new delivery programs in areas of chronic disease management, cancer care etc. Also, he will contribute to user interface design, and design strategy for new LGBT-based projects, as well as project manage existing projects for their design philosophy.

Paul has five years of experience in the charitable organization and nonprofit sector, and has earned a Bachelor’s of Education, Diploma in Education, and Certificate in Teacher Education from both the University of Nkumba as well as the Kyambogo University in Uganda. Paul worked as a Project Manager with Good Neighbors International South Sudan, in implementing Community Development Program and in collaboration with the local authorities. As a Project Officer with War Child Holland, Paul also implemented a Connecting Teaching project under DUTCH & UNICEF. Paul trained government officials to build their capacity on education management and planning, particularly with computer usage to develop wide research skills in teaching profession. Paul has executed his expertise in teacher training, HIV/AIDs Awareness, entrepreneurship skills, life skills/lifesaving messages, and capacity building. Paul led the implementation of small business management and vocational skills training among youth through planning, coordination, and implementation. Through these experiences, Paul developed strong project coordination, implementation and monitoring skills. Paul enjoys focusing on the topics of Peace education, human rights, children’s rights, gender sensitivity, conflict resolution and management, and has a strong passion for youth and women empowerment, specifically children who are termed as wealth earners in society.

Host Organization : Meridian International Center

Role at Host Organization: Paul will be supporting The Pan African Youth Leadership Exchange Program (PAYLEP) and The Business and Entrepreneurship Exchange Program (BEEP). Paul will help develop concepts for emerging leader programs for professionals, entrepreneurs and, youth, research and develop innovative U.S.-based and in-country short term educational programs, write proposals and explore funding options and further develop programming opportunities for countries of interest such as Pakistan.

Patricia has ten years of experience in the nonprofit sector, and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Sociology from the University of Nairobi. She is currently pursuing her Masters degree in International Studies at the University of Nairobi. Patricia presently works as the Programs and Communications Officer for the Social Protection Actors Forum, a coalition of Non-State Actors committed to support social protection in Kenya through the promotion of citizen’s engagement in the development, implementation and evaluation of social protection interventions. She is responsible for the delivery of public engagement and communications needs of the organization. Previously, Patricia worked with Grassroots Alliance for Community Education, an international nonprofit organization building the capacity of grassroots community based organizations to implement self-determined high impact and sustainable initiatives for better health and development. She worked directly with diverse grassroots organizations in implementing PEPFAR funded HIV/AID programs, sustainable income generation activities, and promotion of early childhood development education. Patricia is a self-motivated individual with a ‘can do’ approach and is passionate about empowering people with knowledge and skills that allow people to make informed choices.

Host Organization: Global Press Institute

Role at Host Organization: Patricia will lead Global Press Institute’s regional operations in East Africa. Jennifer will work with GPI reporters and editors across 4 countries in East Africa to train, story coach, fact check and copy edit feature news stories for publication on the Global Press Journal. Jennifer will be responsible for managing workflow, assigning deadlines, providing educational feedback on all stories and tracking reporter development.

Nixon Andu is a South Sudan national with two years of experience working with Justice Africa Sudan in Uganda and Kenya. During the Comprehensive Peace Agreement negotiations in Kenya, Justice Africa Sudan partnered with civil society to promote their collective, principled and legitimate presence, voicing citizens’ concerns towards the signing of the peace agreement. Nixon holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Stockholm University and a Master’s degree in Political science from Uppsala University, majoring in military and non-military security threats. Nixon has also just completed a Master’s degree in Holocaust and Genocide Studies from Uppsala University. Nixon is involved in research projects across Africa in areas such as hydro-politics and the conflict of the River Nile. His current project is titled “Emerging Military/Non-Military Security Threats in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

Host Organization : US Holocaust Memorial Museum

Role at Host Organization: Nixon will be placed at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Center for the Prevention of Genocide. Nixon’s primary project will apply the lessons of the Holocaust and other genocides to a contemporary at-risk situation, such as South Sudan, with the intention of producing a high quality research paper or policy brief providing this analysis. The particular project will be determined in consultation between the selected fellow and CPG staff.

Narayan has eight years of experience in the nonprofit sector, and holds a Master’s degree in Sociology from Tribhuwan University. Narayan is currently working on the Accountability Lab Nepal project, which has been operational through the Nepal Economic Forum (NEA). As a Nepal Country Representative for the Accountability Lab, he led the development of several innovative tools for accountability, including: a Right To Information Tool Kit for investigative journalists; ‘Bolaun, an online network for Nepalese to resolve accountability issues; and Nalibeli, a wiki-tools website to crowd-source information on higher education and public services in Nepal. He is a founding member of the South Asia Representative for Global Youth Anti-Corruption Network (GYAC). Narayan also founded the social activism group Citizen Action, and served as Executive Director for Youth Initiative, in Nepal. While working for Handicap International, he developed a national strategy for sustainable service delivery for people with disabilities. He also represented the World Bank Institute (WBI) as Youth Ambassador in an international anti-corruption conference, and was a co-winner of the 2012 Global Changemakers Community Action Project for the BUJORN initiatives to promote youth participation in anti-corruption across education, health and local governance in Bulgaria, Jordan, and Nepal. He played a key role in mobilizing youth across sectors to campaign for the National Youth Policy, youth participation in the Constituent Assembly Election, and continued dialogue to promote youth issues in the constitution of Nepal. Through these experiences and many additional conferences and training sessions, Narayan developed strong leadership skills, extensive knowledge of anti-corruption and youth issues, and the ability to effectively advocate on a national and international level. He is passionate about working with young people and civil society to create social change.

Host Organization : Accountability Lab

Role at Host Organization: Narayan Adhikari will provide wide-ranging support to the Accountability Lab’s organizational development, internal operations, program management, and outreach from its main office in Washington DC. He will specifically assist with research, blogging, financial management, grant writing, and social media.

Naledi earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Economics from the University of Botswana. She has two years of work experience in a think tank, the Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis (BIDPA), where she works in the Macroeconomics, Forecasting and Planning Unit. At BIDPA she has gained experience working with development partners like the African Development Bank on the Botswana Country Assistance Evaluation project and the African Capacity Building Foundation on the Africa Capacity Indicators project. She has been published in different journals, notably Rand/Pula Exchange Rate Volatility in Botswana, on the impact of exchange rate volatility on Botswana’s imports and what drives private savings in Botswana. She is a part of the team that writes the annual BIDPA Budget Brief. Previously, Naledi worked as a graduate teaching assistant at the University of Botswana, providing teaching assistance in the form of mentoring and tutorial sessions to undergraduate students. She has also worked as an intern at the Public Enterprises Evaluation and Privatization Agency (PEEPA). At PEEPA she was involved in a number of projects including public enterprise performance review and an outsourcing project for the Institute for Health Sciences. She also did analysis and interpretation of public policy, regulations and laws that impact on public sector reforms, business and economic analysis of projects for advice on privatization and related activities. Naledi has aslo worked as a freelance research consultant. In 2009 she was awarded the Barclays-Mogae Scholarship for graduate studies

Host Organization : Urban Institute

Role at Host Organization: Naledi will contribute to the expansion of Urban Institute’s program on urban service delivery – investigating the constraints on more effective, efficient and accountable delivery of essential services in the worlds rapidly-growing urban areas. This will involve helping collect and analyze data produced by UI’s several local and international partners, reporting on results and convening workshops of key actors in particular sectors such as health, education or solid waste. Naledi will work with partner think tanks and local consultants to build on-going capacity for this stream of research and support UI and these partners in funding requests for on-going work.

Myounghwa Hwang has seven years of experience in the nonprofit sector in South Korea. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Political Science from Ewha Womans University, South Korea. She has worked for Save the Children Korea as a marketing manager. Myounghwa has been in charge of marketing and fundraising through the pilot testing of acquisition channels and campaigns. She has planned more than 15 projects to engage people to be actively involved with the activities of Save the Children. With her dedicated commitments, Save the Children has grown more than 30%. She was awarded the most outstanding staff member in 2012 and promoted to manager in the shortest possible term, becoming the youngest manager in the process. Before Save the Children, she worked for two and half year in the Hope Institute, a civically engaged think-tank. She was in charge of running a platform, called “Social Invention Ideas”, for citizens to propose any ideas to change society for the better. Myounghwa, as a trained qualitative researcher and planner, undertook a multi-country research project, suggesting innovative and differentiated Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) programs to corporations including Samsung. She did an internship in the Office of the President of the Republic of Korea, working in the office of the Domestic Press Team. She is a member of Korea Women’s Political Solidarity and Empowerment (KWPS) and Internet Alternative News Media, Pressian. She co-founded an education scholarship for youth, “Vitsol”, in 2008. Through the scholarship, around 15 students received support to graduate from high school. She is an avid reader and loves drawing. She is also a television critic. She earned an award for this and a critique was published in a book funded by the Foundation for Broadcasting Culture in 2009.

Host Organization : Save the Children

Role at Host Organization: Myounghwa will provide account management support to existing global sponsorship partners (SC Italy & SC Korea) and will support the cultivation of new business through prospective Members. Myounghwa will also be responsible for supporting the management of the Child Guardian product (including Member relationships and marketing) and for supporting the development of a global marketing strategy to increase coordination among partners and improve operations, marketing and knowledge sharing.