Wanga Katimba
Zambia (Org: PATH)Wanga Katimba has over six years of experience in operations and program management working for non-
profit organizations. In 2020, she was awarded a fully funded MBA scholarship by the Scottish government and Heriot-Watt University through their Gender Equality Initiative. She successfully graduated with a Master’s degree in Business Administration in December 2023, complementing her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Northrise University. Currently, Wanga is involved in the Strengthening Oxygen Utilization and Respiratory Ecosystem project with PATH Zambia. This initiative aims to provide all patients, regardless of place of birth, with access to the lifesaving medical oxygen they need and seeks to reduce maternal, child, and overall mortality from hypoxemia-related causes through improved access to high quality oxygen services. Wanga actively participates in technical working groups and civil society coalitions dedicated to implementing the Zambia National Medical Oxygen Strategic Plan (2022 to 2026). In her prior position, she dedicated four years to the Care and Treatment project with ICAP at Columbia University in Zambia. This initiative provided care for HIV-related illnesses and offered mentorship to healthcare workers and community volunteers. Wanga is particularly interested in gender and women’s issues, contributing to the achievement of sustainable development goals, and working for NGO’s that aim to accelerate health equity so all people and communities can thrive. She is passionate about raising awareness and advocating for improved services and management of chronic diseases such as endometriosis in her country of birth, Zambia.
Tibebe Deribe
Ethiopia (Org: Help Age International)Tibebe Deribe is a Program Coordinator at the HelpAge International, Ethiopia country office having more than 10 years of experience in humanitarian response programs. He earned a Diploma in Nursing from Rehoboth Medical College, and a Bachelor of Applied Human Nutrition from Bahir Dar University in 2019. He is a candidate for a master’s degree in project planning and management at Gambela University. In his career, he has been working in different regions of Ethiopia including Amhara, Oromia, South Nation, Nationalities, and Peoples (SNNP) and Gambela. His first employment was as an Assistant Lecturer in a private nursing college. Later he joined a humanitarian organization, Plan International in the year 2011, in the capacity of CMAM supervisor where he worked for 3 years. After that, he joined Action Contre La Faim (ACF), MERLIN, International Medical Corps (IMC), and Save the Children International. He received a variety of training on key program/project management areas, including project management, budget management, staff management, humanitarian accountability, partnerships and report writing, which contributes to his achievement at a different level of his career. He is a well-experienced humanitarian aid working in both host communities and refugee setups, ranging from responding to immediate humanitarian emergencies like disease outbreaks, flood, conflict-affected areas, and other humanitarian programs including health, nutrition, WASH, livestock, agriculture, livelihood, and general protection programs.
Ahmed Abdullah
Iraq (Org: Norwegian Refugee Council)Ahmed Abdullah, a 30-year-old humanitarian professional from Anbar Governorate, Iraq, holds a Master’s degree in Geophysics from Baghdad University, where he excelled as a top performer. With eight years of experience in conflict-affected settings, Ahmed specializes in strategic design and relationship management. Currently serving as a Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Coordinator at NRC, Ahmed oversees MEL plans for multiple projects, designs data collection tools, and conducts capacity-building workshops. Prior roles include Monitoring & Evaluation Officer and Protection Monitoring and Capacity Building Officer, where he demonstrated his expertise in ensuring data accuracy and supporting vulnerable populations. Ahmed is fluent in Arabic, proficient in English, and possesses excellent coordination, communication, and leadership skills. Committed to professional development, he has undergone training in Safe Inclusive Programming and Hostile Environment Awareness. Known for his ability to work under stress and maintain confidentiality, Ahmed is dedicated to making impactful contributions to humanitarian efforts.
Karim Vandi Coker
Sierra Leone (Org: Doctors Without Borders)Karim Vandi Coker is a 31-year-old sociology graduate from Njala University in Sierra Leone. He is currently pursuing a Master of Science degree in Humanitarian Practice at the University of Manchester UK. Karim works as a Health Promoter Supervisor for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Belgium and has over 5 years of experience in Health Promotion, Behavior Change Communication, Child Protection, and Community-based Programming as well as Sexual and Gender-Based Violence. He has worked with Doctors Without Borders (MSF OCA & OCB) and Action Aid International in various capacities, managing Community Health initiatives and educational programs with diverse teams. Karim is an experienced Community Health Advocate with a proven track record in promoting people-centred healthcare and managing integrated community case management, risk communication, and access to healthcare for sexual violence survivors. He is an asset to the MSF-OCB Kenema Hospital Project, where he facilitates community acceptance and participation in health service delivery in collaboration with Community health workers, voluntary blood donors, traditional birth attendants, traditional healers and health development committees. Karim is passionate about empowering communities and women to increase control over their health and improve their well-being. He believes in harnessing community inputs and fostering collective actions to improve the resilience of marginalized groups, pregnant women, girls, and people living with disabilities, especially in health emergencies. Karim has a critical interest in mental health promotion targeting youths to abstain from drug abuse. He believes that the socioeconomic impacts of mental health can be devastating for youth empowerment and national development.
Afroza Mahzabeen Anannya
Bangladesh (Org: Norwegian Refugee Council)Afroza Mahzabeen Anannya has seven years of experience in the field of climate and environment in the humanitarian and development sector and earned her MSc degree in International Environmental Studies from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. As a technical professional at the Norwegian Refugee Council, she focused on capacity building of national and regional centers working with Climate and weather information and bringing scientific and indigenous community knowledge together to build climate resilience. Afroza is passionate about tackling climate change issues and is highly motivated to drive solution-oriented work to tackle the climate crisis the world is facing at present. As Thematic Manager for Climate Services, Afroza has collaborated with various organizations in different continents, undertaken several field missions, and led several climate change-related projects. Throughout her experience in past years, she has developed program and project management skills as well as operational skills to bring research and operational aspects together.
Samuel Asare-Danquah
Ghana (Org: CAMFED)Samuel Asare-Danquah is a Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) specialist with a diverse background in Monitoring and Evaluation, Accounting and Finance, Marketing, and Energy Economics. He has a varied career history in monitoring and evaluation, research, market research account management, and consulting. With two Master’s degrees in Energy Economics and Accounting and Finance from prestigious institutions in Ghana, Samuel has continually sought to enhance his knowledge and expertise in the field. He also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Monitoring and Evaluation from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) and a Postgraduate Diploma in Professional Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM – UK) with a Chartered Marketer status and a member of CIM-UK. With over fifteen years of experience working with multinational institutions, Samuel is a passionate MERL professional and strategist. His career journey has seen him grow from an M&E officer at CAMFED Ghana to his current role as Head of MERL, where he provides strategic guidance, ensures the functional integration of MERL activities into program design, and oversees the implementation of cross-team projects. Prior to his role at CAMFED, Samuel also worked as a market research executive at Kantar Ghana, where he managed key accounts such as BAT, Diageo, MTN, and Coca Cola. A natural leader, Samuel has successfully led diverse teams of professionals on various projects, showcasing his ability to drive performance and deliver results.
Victor Ayara
Nigeria (Org: Norwegian Refugee Council)Victor Ayara is a lawyer with diverse experiences spanning from private, public and the humanitarian sector. With more than six years experience in humanitarian and development world, he has worked in several contexts assisting conflict and displacement affected population access and enjoy their rights with the view to achieving durable solutions. Considering the centrality of land in conflicts and displacement in both emergency and development context, Victor has proficiently utilized his lawyering skills to assist conflict and displacement affected people claim and exercise their housing, land and property rights, as well as their legal and civil identity rights by providing appropriate information, counseling and facilitating legal assistance to them. He has been a field staff with firsthand experience providing humanitarian relief under diverse portfolio of donor funding from German, UK, Swiss, and Norwegian government projects. With vigor passion and competence, Victor has now advanced into the mid-management position as the Information Counseling and Legal Assistance (ICLA) Coordinator, positioning him as the head and the leader of his team and department. He is presently charged with the task of coordinating the affairs of his team towards achieving his overall organizational objective of rights respected and people protected. Victor enjoys adventure, reading and has fulfillment in exhibition of true leadership and seeing smiles on people’s faces.
Bupe Mulenga Kabamba
Zambia (Org: PATH)Bupe Mulenga Kabamba holds a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Lusaka, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in demography with economics from the University of Zambia. She has ten years of experience in research and evaluation. She currently works as Research and Learning specialist on a malaria project helping to generate data for decision making to end malaria. Previously, while working as a Research Associate at the American Institutes for Research she contributed to understanding how making data easier for communities to understand can empower them to participate in decision making. Before this she had worked in the agriculture sector contributing to research aimed at improving post-harvest practices among small scale farmers and getting them the right seed varieties for food security. Her career started out at the Zambian chapter of a global standard called the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative advocating for disclosure of remittances of mining companies to the government and receipts of the government from mining companies. Given her experience in diverse sectors Bupe believes in and is passionate about the application of data-driven and evidence based, sector wide approaches in any intervention as a holistic remedy if people’s lives are to be improved. A feminist, she believes in including women’s and local voices and lived experiences in every space and at all levels.
Jasmine Rogers
United Kingdom (Org: CAMFED)Jasmine Rogers is an experienced member of CAMFED International’s Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Team. Based in Cambridge, UK, Jasmine joined CAMFED in 2018. In her role as MEL manager, Jasmine works to evaluate the impact of the organisation’s programmes, translating data and insights into valuable learning and providing technical and coordination support to CAMFED’s MEL teams in Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Jasmine holds an MA in Environment, Development and Policy from the University of Sussex, where she explored gendered socio-political relationships between environmental and developmental challenges in low-income countries and a BA in Geography from Durham University. With seven years of experience in the nonprofit sector, Jasmine is committed to the promotion of community-based grassroots social change concerning gender equality, agriculture and climate change, and the transformative power of inclusive education.
Mónica Llaguno
Ecuador (Org: Casa Alianza)Mónica Llaguno, an accomplished program evaluation and research practitioner from Ecuador, brings over eight years of experience in international children and youth-focused programming. Serving as the Associate Vice-President of Research, Evaluation, and Learning at Covenant House International (Casa Alianza) she has spearheaded the development of a regional monitoring and evaluation framework in Latin America, impacting over 7,000 children annually. Mónica oversees the outcomes of programs addressing diverse socioeconomic issues, including homelessness, food insecurity, human trafficking, and gender-based violence. Fluent in Spanish, she has played a pivotal role in facilitating efficient communication strategies and knowledge management efforts, fostering a shared understanding of effective program models. Beyond Covenant House (Casa Alianza), Mónica has contributed to global initiatives at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), influenced legislation as a Public Policy Consultant for a former New York City Council, and secured funding to expand a school feeding program in Ethiopia. Mónica holds a Master’s Degree in International Affairs from The New School and a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Augustana University, both with notable scholarships.
Timsur Iliya
Nigeria (Org: SOS Children’s Villages)Timsur Christopher Iliya is a seasoned social worker and conflict management specialist with over a decade of dedicated service in championing the welfare and empowerment of vulnerable populations, particularly orphans and children facing crises. With extensive experience in process and program development, child protection, and transformative peacebuilding, he serves as the Case Management Officer at SOS Children’s Village Programme Ogun, where he plays a pivotal role in implementing gate-keeping procedures, ensuring the fulfillment of basic needs, and providing comprehensive support to caregivers. His leadership and management skills have proven instrumental in optimizing resources and achieving organizational objectives effectively. His commitment to social justice is evident in his prior role as a Class Teacher, where he fostered a conducive learning environment while actively combating child abuse and exploitation. Passionate about child protection, case management, psychosocial support, and community development, Timsur actively engages in initiatives promoting family strengthening, holistic development, and gender equality. Grounded in academic excellence, he holds a Bachelor’s Degree in History and International Studies from the esteemed University of Jos, Nigeria, complemented by a Master’s Degree in Conflict Management and Peace Studies, enhancing his expertise in fostering positive change and spearheading sustainable peacebuilding endeavors within communities. Timsur’s unwavering commitment to uplifting the marginalized through strategic interventions and tireless advocacy for social change reflects his vision of building resilient and inclusive societies, where every individual can thrive and flourish.
Siddharth Narendran
India (Org: Aravind Eye Care System)Dr. Siddharth Narendran is a distinguished medical professional and researcher currently serving as a Medical Officer at Aravind Eye Hospital, Coimbatore, and a Faculty member at Aravind Medical Research Foundation. His educational journey began with earning an MBBS and MS in Ophthalmology from Dr. MGR University and Aravind Eye Hospital. Driven by a passion for advanced research, Dr. Siddharth pursued a postdoctoral fellowship in Ocular Immunology and Genetics under the guidance of Dr. Jayakrishna Ambati at the University of Virginia. Dr. Siddharth’s exceptional work has been acknowledged through numerous awards, including the AIOS-HOYA Young Researcher Award, the JM Pahwa award from VRSI, the Col Rangachari Award from AIOS, and the American Academy of Ophthalmology Best Paper Award in 2023. Notably, he was the first Indian recipient of the Resident and Fellow Research Award by the Association of University Professors in Ophthalmology. In addition to his academic achievements, Dr. Siddharth holds patents related to the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and CRISPR-based diagnostics, showcasing his innovative approach to tackling complex medical challenges. Dr. Siddharth’s primary aim is to develop and strengthen the research capacity and capabilities in India, enabling the country to effectively study and address its own unique problems in the field of ophthalmology. By fostering a robust research ecosystem, he hopes to empower Indian scientists and medical professionals to find solutions tailored to the needs of the Indian population, ultimately improving eye care and overall health outcomes in the country.