Class 34

Syed Muhammad Ahsan is the founder and CEO of Roshan Youth Welfare Organization (RYWO). He started his career in the development sector as a social entrepreneur. He has a strong knowledge of operational planning and management of NGO’s. He knows how to oversee the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the organization’s programs, projects, and activities. He is well versed on compliance and hand-holding of small grants of donors. Being a CEO of RYWO he has managed grants of local, national and international organizations. He has implemented, managed and successfully completed several social and development projects funded by USAID, UNDP, The Asia Foundation, Aurat Foundation, DTCE, and others. He has also ensured the maintenance of accurate program and financial records to ensure compliance with organizational and donor guidelines, and he has liaised regularly with donors and implementing partners regarding all program and budgetary issues. Working with the staff and the Board (Finance-Committee) he has prepared and implemented a comprehensive budget and five-year strategic plan of the organization. He has held the key responsibilities of overseeing and management of financial transactions, ensuring adherence to financial policies, budgets, internal controls, and provision of guidance on the development of programs, projects, and grant proposals. He is a board member of the Shah-e-Hamdan Welfare Trust International and the Delton services Private limited and the founder and director of Key to Ability & Knowledge Consultant. In December 2013 he received best social work award of 2013 from Pakistan National Council of Social Welfare Capital Administration & Development Division.

Host Org: United Nations Foundation

Sunga Kufeyani is a Project Management and Communications Professional. She is a Co-Founder and COO of Loving Arms Malawi a local non-profit which works with young people in areas of abuse and education, Loving is committed to victim support and raising awareness on issues of sexual violence to encourage conversations with the hope of encouraging survivors to speak up as well as encouraging girls from marginalized communities both financially and emotionally in staying in school and pursuing their dreams. Sunga is using her blog as a mode of raising awareness by sharing different stories from survivors. She is passionate about advocacy and human rights, she uses her voice to serve and empower women in marginalized communities. Sunga has worked as a National Director for 2ndMilk a US organization that works with vulnerable families in Malawi providing formula and nutrition.

Host Org: Philanthropy University

Role at Philanthropy University: Philanthropy University operates a volunteer program that selects our most engaged and successful learners from the Global South to become “Ambassadors” on the learning platform. As Program Coordinator Sunga will work directly with the Ambassadors to refine the program, grow the scale of impact that Ambassadors have, and escalate general feedback to the Product and Operations team.

Mavra Zehra has over three years of experience in the nonprofit sector and earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Economics from the Lahore University of Management Sciences in Pakistan. While working as a Monitoring and Evaluation Officer with Development Alternatives Incorporated (DAI) for countering violent extremism (CVE) program in Pakistan, she has developed the monitoring and evaluation framework for forty-five small grants running in South Punjab. She was the M&E representative of a four-member core team, which partnered with the District Government of Multan to pioneer a district-wide CVE campaign. Additionally, she was appointed by the USAID-Office of Transition Initiatives to lead the research titled, “Gender & CVE” – programming with women and was the M&E consultant on the first-ever CVE mapping exercise in Pakistan. Previously, Mavra worked with a public trust organization, Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi, where she prepared an assessment and improvement strategies for the low-cost private school sector in Pakistan and contributed to the market research study for the same. Through these experiences, she developed strong research and monitoring and evaluation skills. Her recent assignment with the World Health Organization involved data review, data visualization and data analysis of the Measles SIA campaign that ran across Pakistan for two weeks. Mavra takes a keen interest in projects that value research backed social interventions and which offer room for innovative M&E mechanisms.

Host Org: Transparency & Accountability Initiative

Role at Transparency & Accountability Initiative As the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Fellow, Mavra will help to implement and refine TAI’s internal MEL system and practices.

Kiden Gladys Robert Isaiah is a young female South Sudanese, currently volunteering with Community Empowerment For Rural Development (CEFORD), a local organization providing assistance to the refugees in West Nile region of Uganda. Kiden holds Master of Arts in Sustainable Development Practice from TERI School of Advanced Studies, New Delhi, India. Prior to joining her post-graduation studies, she has five years of work experience in the nonprofit sector and earned a Bachelor’s of Arts in Adult and Community Education from Makerere University in Uganda. Kiden worked with Humanitarian Organizations in South Sudan to coordinate, liaise and promote beneficiaries’ participation in the projects. Her work as Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Peace Building Project Officer, Community Empowerment and Accountability Officer and Community Development Facilitator exposed her to most of the peace, ethics and governance challenges that have ravaged South Sudan as a country. She possesses leadership qualities as witnessed from her community voluntary service, living a sacrificial life to benefit and change the lives of many citizens of South Sudan. Kiden enjoys focusing on the topics of Community Development, Governance, Civic Education, Youth Participation and Community-Led Leadership. She also desires to examine the development, challenges, and success of all aspects towards the creation of a better South Sudan and passionate about being part of the global community of practitioners.

Host Org: Street Sense Media

Role at Street Sense Media: As a Vendor Manager, Gladys oversees the sales department – a Monday through Friday, 9am–5pm operation where vendors purchase newspapers from Street Sense as independent contractors and then sell those newspapers to the public. The Vendor Manager also works closely with the SW to identify and support the delivery of case management.

Gladys is the Madeline Turin Memorial Fellow. The Atlas Corps: Madeline Turin Memorial, established in loving memory of Madeline Turin (1987-2017), supports this promising young leader from South Sudan as an Atlas Corps Fellow in the United States. Madeline truly wanted to affect change and to help people. Madeline’s passion for South Sudan was forged when she was assigned to a project in Juba, South Sudan, where she worked work side-by-side with the people of South Sudan, helping them build their capacity to govern and grow their economy. While South Sudan could never be considered an “easy assignment,” Madeline embraced the opportunity to help build the world’s newest country, and have an impact in a place that truly needed assistance. She was tireless in her commitment to developing the capabilities of her South Sudanese colleagues—one of whom became the very first Atlas Corps Fellow from South Sudan to the United States.

Chris is a public health practitioner with six years of experience in community and public health and development. As a Public Health Officer with Pro-Health International Nigeria, under the CDC-funded Global Health Security Agenda program, he has contributed to strengthening the public health emergency preparedness system in three international airports and two land crossings in Nigeria. His work includes advocacy and technical assistance to the public health institution in Nigeria on Global Health Security, implementation of the International Health Regulations at the points of entry and prevention, detection and response to disease outbreaks within the country. Prior to taking on the role of Public Health Officer, he worked as a Program Officer for four years in the same organization, where he designed, planned and coordinated medical interventions in rural communities in 20 states across Nigeria. Chris has also worked with a community-based organization to engage stakeholders and raise funds for the implementation of rural medical outreaches in Nigeria. He currently also serves as knowledge management and communications expert with Pro-Health, where he manages the organization’s website and social media platforms and leads the development of various knowledge and communication products. As a medical laboratory scientist, he worked with a USAID-funded hospital in the treatment, management, and care of rural dwellers living with HIV/AIDs and Tuberculosis. Through these experiences, he has developed strong capacity building, leadership development, fund-raising and project management skills. Chris has a deep-seated interest in community health and social empowerment.

Host Org: Susan G Komen

Role at Susan G Komen: As the Breast Cancer Fellow, Chris will provide support to Komen’s Global and National Capital Region (NCR) Programs. This includes assisting with the maintenance of a website for the NCR Program and developing an external communication plan.

Omitogun Abolaji has more than five years of experience in enterprise building, startups, and social entrepreneurship. He holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Geography from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. He founded Zmcorps a network of young individuals that support several community developmental initiatives by engaging fresh university graduates posted for National service within the Northern state of Zamfara, Nigeria. Through his activities at ZMCORPS, he encouraged and promoted several socio-cultural integrations and developmental activities especially trough fundraising & donations. He leads, contributed and participated to many community development activities including organizing learning programs, sessions for uneducated and fresh graduates, fundraising for sport, dance and drama amongst communities and schools, Skill acquisition, empowerment and training in cosmetics in Zamfara state. In his quest for self-improvement, Abolaji acquired skill and knowledge from several institutions including the African Managers Initiative, Enterprise Development Center (Lagos, Nigeria), Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation University of Ibadan. He is a 2015 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Foundation Alumni. Abolaji Keen interest in business and startup has found him worked with several startups including WAWOOH. While at Wawooh, a fashion tech startup for discovering African fashion designers and promoting trade and investment opportunities in African fashion Industry, we lead and played a pivotal role leading the startup from ideation to execution and in developing successful business strategies. In his spare time, he is a business development and a Start-up coach; and have helped in mentoring and securing over $50,000 in business funding for several startups.

Host Org: Making Cents International

Role at Making Cents International: As the YouthLead Fellow, Abolaji will support the newly launched online platform YouthLead.org, a website to inspire, support, and foster connections among young changemakers around the world. In addition, Abolaji will participate in the planning of the annual YP meeting and contribute to social media and youth outreach.