Alumni Directory

Alumni Update:

Meghan is continuing her work in sustainable supply chains, as the Avocado Category Lead at Equal Exchange, a fair trade importing business. She is based in Boston and travels to Mexico and Peru to meet with their small farmer suppliers.

Fellow Bio:

Meghan graduated with degrees in International Relations and Economics. While at Tufts, she expanded upon her academic understanding of international development as a member of BUILD: India, a student-led sustainable development group. Meghan traveled to India twice to plan and implement a community composting toilet project and to conduct research about the role of microenterprises in community development. Since graduating, she has served as a researcher at the Center for Green Buildings and Cities at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She investigates patterns and motivations of the sustainability and transparency of corporate policies. Excited by the intersection of food and agriculture, sustainability, and small business, Meghan is excited to be joining Village Enterprise as a Monitoring and Evaluation Fellow. She is particularly looking forward to being able to work directly with producers and to the challenge of gardening in a new climate!

Alumni Update:

Christine is currently the Quality Improvement and Data for Action Director with NEST360, a consortium working to reduce neonatal mortality in Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, and Malawi. 

Fellow Bio:

Christine (Rice ‘11), originally from Hann. Muenden, Germany, graduated with a degree in Anthropology and minors in Global Health Technologies and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. While at Rice she was president of the Partnership for the Advancement and Immersion of Refugees (PAIR), an organization through which she helped refugee youth adjust to life in Houston and succeed in school. During her summers Christine interned at an AIDS clinic in Lesotho, conducted malaria research in Thailand, and pursued medical anthropology projects in India. She looks forward to working with refugees in Burundi and applying this knowledge to her career as a physician specializing in refugee health. Christine is excited about climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, African wildlife, and new experiences every day.

Thomas Bohnett ‘07 is a Woodrow Wilson School major from Princeton Junction, New Jersey. During his PiAF fellowship year, Thomas will serve as the communications intern for the International Rescue Committee in Kampala, Uganda. He enjoys outdoor sports including hiking, cross-country skiing, and running. He has traveled and worked in southern Africa, India, and Nepal. At Princeton, Thomas was the president of the Princeton Justice Project and a columnist for The Daily Princetonian. He is working hard to learn Swahili.

Victoria graduated from the University of Albany with a degree in Social Welfare. While at UAlbany, she served in the Student Association, Residential Life and as a peer mentor for programs aimed at supporting first-generation students. Since graduating she has served in the non-profit sector working in the areas of education, access and advocacy. Victoria developed a strong passion for work in Africa after she went to Ghana in 2011 and assisted with curriculum development, outreach, youth development and women’s empowerment initiatives. In her free time, Victoria enjoys being outdoors, dancing and spending time with friends and family. While in Kenya, Victoria is looking forward to going on at least one safari, learning how to make a few Kenyan dishes and working with local artisans through her work with Soko!

Ben Boston is driven to develop innovative governance solutions for sub-Saharan Africa. Ben is a native of Connecticut and a recent graduate of Stanford University, where he majored in political science and minored in history. His undergraduate studies focused on politics, governance, and conflict in post-colonial Africa. As a senior, he completed an honors thesis in international security studies, entitled America in East Africa: Security Partnerships, Aid Dependence and Diplomatic Leverage, through Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation under the advising of Professor Jeremy Weinstein. He has worked on US policy towards and communication on Africa while interning in the State Department with the Office of East African Affairs and the Press and Public Diplomacy office at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, and with USAID at the U.S. Mission to the African Union. He also has experience working in American domestic politics, organizing for Elizaebeth Warren in Iowa in 2020 and for Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire in 2016. At Stanford, he organized weekly breakfast donations for a local homeless shelter and served as the Captain, President, and Financial Officer for the Men’s Lacrosse team.

Gwladys Boukpessi is a passionate young professional originally from Togo, West Africa. Growing up, her mother was a caseworker in the New York City area for African refugees seeking asylum. Witnessing their struggles for a better life made Gwladys want to dedicate her life to improving conditions for people around the world. In 2019, Gwladys graduated from Lehigh University where she earned a Bachelor of Science in environmental engineering with a minor in sustainable development. While at Lehigh, Gwladys was awarded the Dale S. Strohl ’58 Undergraduate Summer Research Grant to study sustainable waste management solutions in Ghana. Her undergraduate career also included research in Kenya on their clean water crisis and interning in Nepal with a local NGO to help improve local waste management. After graduating, Gwladys worked as an Environmental Engineer for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection where she helped to develop and implement air pollution control programs and regulations to improve air quality for NJ residents. In addition, Gwladys also served as an intern and Youth Ambassador for African Hope Committee, an NGO that empowers African immigrants in New York City through health education programs, immigration services, and social service support. Driven by her love for Africa and international development, Gwladys is honored to join the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT as a Research Fellow.

Alumni Update:

Douglas is a Master’s Candidate at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), doing his first year at the SAIS Europe campus in Bologna, Italy. He will be doing his second year in Washington, DC. He studies Energy Resources & the Environment with a special focus on renewable energy technologies and project finance. This summer he will be doing a summer internship at the US development finance agency the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), doing structured finance for energy, infrastructure, financial services and foreign policy priority projects.

Fellow Bio:

Douglas is from Vero Beach, FL and earned his degree in economics and international relations from New College of Florida. Doug moved to Washington, D.C. in 2008 after graduation to pursue a career in international development. He has worked in development in various capacities including international landmine and unexploded ordnance remediation; economic growth and development at the Millennium Challenge Corporation; monitoring and evaluation of development projects with Social Impact; and post-earthquake relief efforts with Destination: Abricots with whom he volunteers. Doug loves to travel—he studied abroad in Italy, traveled to Haiti to deliver earthquake relief aid, and spent three months in Iraq doing work in mine risk education. Doug is excited to be the first PiAf Fellow to work with the innovative Village Enterprise and to explore the culinary and linguistic diversity of Uganda and Kenya.

Alumni Update:

After staying on at at her fellowship organization, CCBRT in Tanzania, for an additional eight months, she moved to Washington, D.C. to work on the East and Southern Africa team at Chemonics in April 2019. She is still exploring how she can apply all she learned at CCBRT to continue serving women and girls, especially the most vulnerable, at home and abroad!

Fellow Bio:

Joelle graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Dual B.A. Program between Columbia University and Sciences Po (Institut d’études politiques de Paris) in May 2016, receiving bachelor’s degrees from both institutions. She studied Sustainable Development at Columbia University, where she was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society and received Departmental Honors. In her senior year, she was granted the Global Fellowship in Sustainable Development to conduct research for her thesis regarding safe water accessibility in arsenic-impacted areas of Bangladesh. During her time in France, she studied Political Science and specialized in the Middle Eastern region. Since graduation, Joelle has worked at Global Health Strategies, an international consulting firm specializing in global health communications and advocacy. Joelle is excited to explore Dar es Salaam next year and practice her Swahili. She is grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the amazing work of CCBRT in promoting maternal health.

Danielle majored in Political Science and Human Rights, with a minor in French. While at Barnard, she held leadership positions in Columbia’s Amnesty International chapter, and interned at Human Rights Watch in the Africa division and the Foundation Relations unit. She studied abroad in Uganda and Rwanda, and spent a summer in Tanzania researching aid projects to refugees and slum-dwellers. After graduating, she spent a year as an education consultant in Ghana helping high school students navigate the international college admissions process and traveling around West Africa. Since then, she has been taking classes in Boston and working for a public health education and advocacy NGO that promotes effective use of antibiotics.

Gabriella graduated from California Polytechnic State University with a major in Agricultural Business, with a minor in Global Politics. Following her undergraduate coursework, she pursued a master’s in international agriculture at Oklahoma State University (OSU). While at OSU, Gabriella conducted comprehensive qualitative interviews with participants in the OSU African Entrepreneurs Fellowship program from Kenya, South Africa, and Uganda, representing various agricultural initiatives, women and youth empowerment organizations, and extension and education efforts. Gabriella’s research resulted in the completion of her master’s degree and thesis: ‘Post-Fellowship Experiences of African Entrepreneurs: Interpreting Impact a Year Later’.  In addition to her graduate coursework and research, Gabriella served as a Noble-Watoto Fellow in Uganda. Gabriella is passionate about agriculture and its impacts on communities around the world. She is thrilled to be a member of the PiAf community!