Nishtha graduated from Emerson College with an M.A. in Communication Management with a specialization in Political Communication in 2018. Born and raised in New Delhi, India, she also holds an undergraduate degree in Journalism from Wilson College, University of Mumbai, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Journalism from Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. A former journalist, Nishtha worked with one of the largest English newspapers in India. During this time, she reported on education, politics and LGBTQ+ rights. As she collaborated with activists and community members for news stories, she discovered her passion for social advocacy and community engagement. Since then she has worked with nonprofits and advocacy centers to help further their vision. Most notably, she worked as a program associate with the Elma Lewis Center for Civic Engagement, Learning and Research, where she gained experience in community outreach and building a grassroots movement. She also worked with Boston Partners in Education as their program coordinator for Power Lunch, a reading enrichment program for students in Boston Public Schools. In 2020, she was selected as a Social Entrepreneurship Fellow by ProFellow, a US-based social enterprise, where she learnt about the mechanics of building and sustaining a social enterprise. In the future, she hopes to get an academic understanding of community development and social justice practices, and eventually start her own social enterprise focused around connecting community-based organizations from developing countries. In her free time, Nishtha likes to bake, watch world cinema, and explore museums.

Tim Offei-Addo, a Ghanaian-American raised in the Boston area, graduated from Amherst College with a degree in Environmental Studies. At Amherst Tim served as the Co-President of Remnant, the Black Christian fellowship, where he focused on creating a space where students could grapple with issues at the intersection of faith and race. He also served as Co-President of the Kidney Disease Screening and Prevention Club and organized free kidney screenings for underserved populations in the Amherst Area. These experiences helped significantly during his internship with the Ghanaian Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA). While shadowing government officials Tim noticed the important role community organizations played in MOFA and NGO partnerships. He returned to Ghana to conduct research for his undergraduate thesis, analyzing the cultural competency of Ghana’s National Climate Smart Agriculture Action Plan. Upon its completion he presented his thesis at the Harvard Club to the Amherst College Trustees and distinguished guests. Since graduating Tim has pursued his passions as a Policy Analyst for Climate Scorecard: a non-profit initiative that seeks to strengthen emission reduction pledges to the Paris Agreement and an Apprentice Gleaner at Boston Area Gleaners an organization that harvest surplus farm crops and donates them to Food Banks. Tim enjoys farming, cooking, watching soccer and listening to music in his free time.

Folakemi was born and raised in Nigeria. She graduated from the University of Georgia in 2019 with degrees in international affairs and French, subsequently working with the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in Washington D.C. As the program assistant on NDI’s Cote d’Ivoire programs, she supported the development and in-country implementation of democratic governance and social cohesion programs. Before her time at NDI, she monitored the implementation of the cluster munition treaty as an intern with the Arms Division of Human Rights Watch; conducted research on food security policy in the Sahel as a Carl Vinson Institute Undergraduate Fellow; and studied abroad at Sciences Po, Paris. Building upon her academic and professional experiences, she hopes to further her understanding of the scope and challenges of sustainable humanitarian and development programs during her fellowship with IRC Somalia. In her free time, Folakemi enjoys experimental cooking and exploring new literary works.

Isaac Kim is a recent graduate of Georgetown University with a major in International Politics and a certificate in African Studies. Originally from Northbrook, Illinois, Isaac focused his undergraduate education on the human impacts of environmental change and policy. Previously, Isaac worked as an external relations intern at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the Multi-Country Office of Washington, DC, supporting the external relations team’s engagement with US government officials to sustain support for UNHCR’s humanitarian work. Additionally, he has interned at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, worked as a community development intern at the Lalibela Game Reserve in South Africa, and helped organize the Georgetown Africa Business Conference. In his free time, Isaac enjoys singing choral music and working as a camp counselor at Lac du Bois, a French language immersion camp.

Marco Kull, who is half-Swiss and half-Croatian, graduated from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service in 2018 with a degree in International Political Economy and a certificate in Australian, New Zealand, and Pacific Studies. Born in Switzerland, but having spent his childhood living in a number of countries, his studies at Georgetown naturally gravitated towards putting political economy in a global context, eventually focusing on using firm-level data to quantify, compare, and contrast private sector conditions and trajectories across states. During his studies, he spent time working with the Swiss mission to Cuba, as a trainee public markets Portfolio Manager at Bank Julius Baer in Geneva, and as a waiter at restaurants in Peru and Chile; after graduating, he joined UBS’ New York office as an Investment Banking Analyst, where he spent two years working on a variety of M&A and Capital Markets transactions as part of the bank’s Global Consumer Products & Retail coverage team. Fascinated by the ongoing development of private sectors across Africa and the diversity of economic, social, and political opportunity that it presents, Marco’s goal is to build a nuanced understanding of the circumstances and structures shaping that process, and start a career working in and with Africa.

Dara Bernstein is a young professional with experience in international development program monitoring and evaluation. She is passionate about connecting innovative solutions to poverty at the household level with macroeconomic growth strategies. Since graduating from Brown University in 2018 with a degree in Economics and French Studies, Dara has worked as a program associate in the international division of Mathematica, a policy research institute. In this role, she contributes to research in an array of fields, including energy, financial services, secondary education, and workforce development, primarily in West Africa and Morocco. She sees promise in initiatives aimed at improving the skills and capacity of women and youth in developing communities, such as micro-lending to women, strengthening family planning systems, and improving education and workforce development programs. Dara is continually refining her quantitative and qualitative research skills, which are complemented by her proficiency in French and Stata programming. She also has extensive experience in project management and budgeting for large-scale international projects funded by the Millennium Challenge Corporation and the Gates Foundation. Dara is looking forward to her role as a Junior Consultant/MEAL Fellow with the West African Rice Company (WARC) team in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Trina Swanson, from Iowa, studied Medical Anthropology at Princeton University, and earned certificates in African Studies and Global Health. She also studied Kiswahili, and spent two summers in Tanzania, continuing her Kiswahili studies and interning at a health center. These summers, she also volunteered as an English teacher at a local market, and then at a shelter for homeless girls and their children. Her senior thesis was an ethnography of maternal healthcare for Tanzanian girls and women under age 21. She conducted interviews with health care providers, young mothers, and their families, traveling throughout Arusha and the surrounding villages and holding many adorable infants. Trina spent a prior summer interning in development at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. During her third year of university, she helped PiAf out on the backend as an intern, so she is excited to now be a fellow herself. On campus, she was also involved in Matriculate, a college access non-profit, and she rode weekly overnight shifts with Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad as a licensed EMT. Since leaving Princeton, Trina has been volunteering at her local district health center on the Covid-19 response and doing research for the JUST data lab at Princeton to build a “Pandemic Portal” on the intersection of race and COVID-19. Trina has a passion for social justice, and hopes to attend medical school and devote her career to global health. She also loves to play violin, watch musicals, and make homemade hot fudge.

Dhruvi is a graduate of NYU Abu Dhabi, where she studied Civil Engineering with a concentration in Urbanization and developed an interest to work at the intersection of policy and sustainable development. Her field experience working in Dharavi, Mumbai with local potters on mitigating air-pollution through the design of a retrofitted chimney highlighted the importance of developing cost-beneficial and need-based solutions at a local level. She has formed a strong understanding of global efforts geared towards environmental conservation through conducting research with NYU Langone and Yale University on mapping waste disposal pathways across the United States, with a specific focus on New York. Her senior capstone project highlights the rising need to better manage global waste, working to design an effective and sustainable system applying waste-to-energy technologies in Abu Dhabi. She is interested in transportation networks and spent last summer working at the New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Here, she worked on a wide range of projects from advancing congestion pricing to building out proposals for MTA’s organizational reform. By combining her experience with community-led initiatives to city-level projects, she is determined to build a career at the intersection of sustainable development, infrastructure, technology, and the environment. As an Indian-Kenyan, born and raised in Nairobi she is looking forward to developing her monitoring and evaluation skills in the context of her home country Kenya.

Emily is a recent college graduate interested in human rights and social justice. She previously worked with the Central and West Africa program at the National Democratic Institute, supporting portfolios in Nigeria and Sierra Leone, and with the Humanitarian Agenda program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. She also completed an internship with Innovations for Poverty Action in Tanzania and a fellowship with the Open Impact Institute in Uganda. She is excited to learn more about Sierra Leone and migration justice through her fellowship with IRC. Outside of work, Emily volunteers with RAINN to support survivors of sexual violence. She graduated from the College of William and Mary in 2019 with a degree in International Relations.

Michelle graduated from Connecticut College majoring in International Relations with minors in French and Global Islamic Studies. While in college, she studied abroad in Kigali, Rwanda. She also interned with Fondation Artisans de la Paix et du Développement au Rwanda, a grassroots development organization, where she helped manage the distribution of 2,000 energy-saving stoves. Michelle concluded her college career by writing an honors thesis on the role of UN Peacekeeping Operations leadership in shaping organizational culture to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse. After college, Michelle worked as a program assistant at the Social Science Research Council where she helped administer international fellowships for PhD candidates, contributing to grants management, report writing, data analysis, and communications. Outside of work she takes Kiswahili lessons and completed Population Works Africa’s e-learning platform on decolonizing development. Michelle is excited to work with the Kupona Foundation and learn more about community-based healthcare programs in Tanzania.