Mariama graduated from The George Washington University with a degree in International Affairs with a concentration in global public health and a minor in public health. Following graduation, Mariama worked as an Events Associate for POLITICO Live, building targeted guest lists, coordinating social media platforms, and managing video and website production to ensure a lasting digital impact for all summits, series, and panel conversations. Mariama received the “Unsung Hero” award, given to those who embody the values of collaboration, disruption, talent cultivation, and relentless contribution. To remain active in global health, Mariama also worked as a part-time Research Assistant for the World Faiths Development Dialogue and contributed to the country mapping investigation of the religious landscape in Lesotho, Nigeria, and Senegal, formatted field interviews, and researched religious views to universal healthcare. She previously held internships with JBS International’s Disability Services Center and Georgetown University Law Center’s O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law and held on-campus positions as an orientation leader and a resident advisor. A first-generation American with parents from Ireland and Sierra Leone, Mariama grew up in Dallas, TX and is thrilled to have the opportunity to combine her passions of global health and communications at CCBRT!

Rachel, a native of Seattle, graduated from American University with a major in Public Health.  Prior to AU, she was a fellow with Global Citizen Year, where she spent seven months in Ecuador living and working in an indigenous community. As a research assistant her sophomore year, she examined the efficacy of culturally relevant programming among migrant populations in D.C., specifically focusing on recruitment of participants and organizing group meetings in Spanish. Back in Seattle for the summer,  she worked for AmeriCorps as the Outreach Coordinator for SNAP benefits for Pike Place Market Foundation. The following fall semester she spent studying health systems in Nairobi, Kenya while interning at the Center for Rights and Education Awareness, an organization that provides legal services for survivors of gender based violence. Returning to D.C. to finish her junior year she was the Development Intern for the Nothing But Nets campaign at the United Nations Foundations. While at UNF she worked on prospecting corporate and individual donor pipelines, as well as created strategic plans for congressional districts based off of qualitative research. She is excited to be moving back to Nairobi, for her fellowship year with the International Rescue Committee.

Anisha Sehgal, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, graduated from Georgetown University with a B.S. in Global Health. She is committed to working towards the social, political, and economic empowerment of all people and believes in the power of sustainable, high- impact public health initiatives to aid in this objective. Anisha has published research on antibiotic resistance, written blogs on reproductive health policy, and contributed to an accepted grant proposal regarding the inclusion of individuals with disabilities in research activities. As an advocacy intern at Save the Children, Anisha successfully organized an event at the Open Government Partnership Summit in Tbilisi, Georgia. The event brought together civil society organizations and government officials from Kenya and Liberia to discuss and advocate for increased public participation in governance. Most recently, she lived in Tanzania for four months where she interned at the National Institute for Medical Research. While there she designed and conducted a study on the prevalence, drivers, and reproductive health implications of child marriage in Mwanza, Tanzania. Anisha is excited for the opportunity to return to the continent as a Princeton in Africa fellow and looks forward to working for the International Rescue Committee in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Katie graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Economics and a secondary degree in Energy & Environment. During her time at Harvard, Katie pursued her passion for sustainable and inclusive economic growth both internationally and domestically, culminating in a thesis quantifying the political and economic impact of China’s growing presence in Africa. Katie has spent a significant amount of time living in China, with a summer conducting economic research in Beijing for the Harvard-China Project and a fall semester studying at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. Domestically, Katie has explored her interest in the intersection of economic and environmental issues as a Sustainable Finance Intern at the Environmental Defense Fund in Boston, where she led a project to catalyze state level investment in clean energy. On campus, Katie worked as an analyst for the Harvard Consulting on Business and the Environment club, offering data-driven insights and actionable solutions for clients, and also served as a Freshman Outdoor Orientation Program leader. Additionally, Katie was selected as a Young Future Energy Leader to discuss solutions to climate change with a global cohort of students at the 2017 World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi. Katie is deeply grateful for the opportunity to continue to explore her interest in development while working for eleQtra in Mozambique!

Sarah Rooney is a 24-year-old from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who studied Culture and Politics and African Studies at Georgetown University. She took her study of African issues to Tanzania, where she studied Community Development and Women’s Studies for a semester at Ruaha Catholic University in Iringa, and conducted a research project on women’s views towards sexual health education in Ikaning’ombe, Mufindi District. While at Georgetown, she created and managed a Sexual Assault Prevention Education (SAPE) program for the on-campus student-run nonprofit of 400 employees, served as a communications and outreach intern for the Correspondence Department of the Obama Administration, and worked on curricula development and database management while interning for Human Rights Campaign. She received a Community Service Award in 2017 for her work on the SAPE program. Following her graduation in 2017, Sarah became an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer with a small nonprofit called Fair Chance, which provides free capacity building for community-based youth organizations in Washington, DC. At Fair Chance, Sarah conducted outreach and organized workshops for nonprofit Executive Directors. Meanwhile, she volunteered with the community organizing nonprofit, ONE DC, where she organized low-income tenants around a right to decent housing and planned a local artist-focused fundraising event that brought in $125,000 to the organization for the creation of a new community center. In her spare time, Sarah loves to play soccer, paint, listen to music, meditate, and garden. Sarah is a passionate individual who plans to dedicate her life supporting organizations and movements working towards equality and justice.

Rachel graduated from American University with a BA in International Studies and focused her studies on sustainable international development and African regional studies. While studying abroad in Nairobi, she interned with SAVO, where she worked on project design, grant-writing, survey administration, and site visits in Kibera. Rachel also studied in Morocco and interned at Transparence, Maroc. Upon her return to the United States, Rachel interned with Roots of Development, an NGO that empowers people in Lagonave, Haiti, to direct their own development, then worked with the organization as the monitoring and evaluation coordinator, where she developed project’s M&E and impact assessment strategies. Prior to the Princeton in Africa fellowship, she worked with the Tahrir Institute of Middle East Policy as the projects and communications assistant. Rachel looks forward to learning about social and economic development in West Africa and supporting the capacity-building of aspiring Beninese thinkers as a Projects Coordinator at the African School of Economics.

Alumni Update:

Jillian is currently a project coordinator at The Ohio State University College of Nursing, where she manages an NIH-funded project seeking to reduce cardiovascular disease risk in young black adults through a culturally and environmentally tailored mobile health program. She recently completed a Certificate in Public Management and began her MPH where she will focus on global health and health policy.

Fellow Bio:

Jillian, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, graduated from the University of Virginia with a dual degree in Global Development Studies and English Literature. While at UVa, Jillian was a member of the University Guide Service, a Rotunda Student Ambassador, and the Head Manager for the Varsity Women’s Volleyball Team. Since 2016 she has led an action-based research project investigating the use of public health models in alleviating youth violence in a township outside of Cape Town, South Africa. She and her research partner are currently writing a paper suggesting a complimentary use of contagious and chronic disease models in conceiving of youth violence in order to design effective and sustainable community-based programs to combat consequences and implications of youth violence. For this work, Jillian and her team were recipients of a Davis Projects for Peace Award, multiple UVa research grants and awards, and were participants in the Clinton Global Initiative University conference in 2017. Through her internships, Jillian has developed a passion for using data storytelling to empower traditionally marginalized populations, while also creating layered narratives of impactful work for both donor and internal facing communications. Jillian is excited to explore the global development field and all that Tanzania has to offer in her role on the External Affairs team at CCBRT.

Ellie graduated from the College of William and Mary, where she studied Public Policy and Africana Studies. At William and Mary, Ellie volunteered with adults with developmental disabilities at the Arc of Greater Williamsburg, and mentored recently-arrived migrant students adjusting to the local middle school.  Her experience in East Africa began when she spent a summer traveling in Uganda before college. She then returned to serve as an Education and Communications Intern for the Maendeleo Foundation, a social enterprise providing digital literacy and entrepreneurial skills training to clients in Mukono, Uganda. In this role, she produced external communications and contributed to grants-based funding applications for the Foundation.  Ellie’s undergraduate research was executed in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where she spent four months conducting ethnographic fieldwork with Maasai labor migrants. Her honors thesis explores the social networks that arise to mitigate the risks of both voluntary migration and forced displacement for pastoralist populations in Tanzania. In preparing for her research and during her time in Dar, Ellie honed her Kiswahili skills and developed her interest in the effects of national-level public health and economic policy making on marginalized communities in Tanzania.

Michal graduated from American University’s School of International Service, focusing on governance and identity in Africa. At American, Michal was a founding member and Inaugural Gala Director for No Lost Generation, a student-led refugee advocacy initiative partnered with the State Department, where she raised $4,000 benefitting children’s education in Kenyan refugee camps. Throughout her undergraduate career, Michal developed her finance and research related skill sets with various organizations including the State Department, Peace Corps, International Rescue Committee and Search for Common Ground. Michal expanded her academic background in African affairs by studying abroad at the United States International University – Africa (Nairobi) and the School of Oriental and African Studies (London). She interned with the Center of Domestic Training and Development in Nairobi, an organization serving vulnerable women and girls, and was a volunteer for SOAS’ Annual African Development Forum. After graduating early in December 2018, Michal was a full-time Finance Fellow at a political consulting firm in Washington D.C., where she supported research and fundraising alongside business development initiatives. As an Eritrean-American, Michal is excited to return to the continent and work with BIPAI Swaziland and Eswatini’s Ministry of Health to increase access to health care for marginalized peoples.

Alumni Update:

Joaquin currently works for the New Zealand government’s export promotion and business development agency, accelerating New Zealand exporters’ journey to bigger, better, faster growth in international markets.

Fellow Bio:

Joaquín is a recent graduate from Georgetown University where he majored in Finance and International Business. His career path and interest for both business and international development have led him to varied professional experiences, from interning at Google helping content creators monetize their websites and apps to spending a summer in Nicaragua optimizing donor data strategies for an education nonprofit. Most recently, he worked at Citibank’s Government Affairs team at the intersection of public policy, financial inclusion and financial technology regulation in Latin America. While at Georgetown, he actively led the Georgetown Global Consulting student organization providing pro-bono consulting services to microfinance institutions and NGOs across the globe. Joaquin will earn a MicroMasters certificate in Data, Economics and Development Policy from MITx before embarking on his PiAf fellowship year with the West African Rice Company (WARC) social enterprise as a Junior Consultant in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Joaquín is originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina.