Coming from Arcadia, California, Ryan Chavez graduated from Princeton University in 2019 majoring in History with a minor in African Studies. During undergrad, Ryan focused on East African history, spending a summer in Tanzania, learning Kiswahili, and writing his thesis on international relations within the East African Community in the early 1970’s. Outside of academics, Ryan was heavily involved on campus with Princeton International Relations Council, the Princeton Historical Review, and Princeton’s chapter of Sigma Chi. He is an avid music lover and played bass in the band, City in the Clouds. Ryan is excited to return to the continent to work with Rockies in Uganda and happily mix his professional and artistic interests.

After attending the United World College of Southern Africa in Swaziland to complete his final two years of high school, Willem recently graduated from New York University Abu Dhabi with a major in History and three concentrations in Arabic, African Studies and Political Science. Willem strongly advocates for global education as a tool to increase tolerance and cross-cultural understanding in the world. As a former TEDxNYUAD speaker, Willem gave a talk on the “Importance of Being a(G)local Citizen” in which he advocated for a three-step approach to viewing the world that emphasizes one’s awareness of one’s local surroundings, encourages an active effort to engage with the world and promotes an understanding that we are part of something larger than ourselves. As an intern for the Youth Crime Watch of Liberia, Willem spent a summer interning in Liberia where he worked on women’s empowerment and youth literacy projects. In his sophomore year he acted as the Dialogue and Communications intern at Hedayah, the International Center of Excellence for Countering Violent Extremism, in Abu Dhabi. He also interned at the International Law Institute in Washington D.C. during the spring and summer of his junior semester abroad and as a participant in NYU’s honors Global Leadership Scholars program. After his PiAf fellowship, Willem hopes to continue working on issues related to the Middle East, North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Matilde is an International Affairs MA graduate from George Washington University, with a concentration in International Development and regional focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. Before starting her MA, Matilde volunteered in Livingstone, Zambia, assisting in the care and education of vulnerable children. Matilde has worked with a grassroot non-profit organization in the region of Mbeya, Tanzania, supporting the mobile and outreach health program. In DC, Matilde has worked with the Africa divisions at the International Foundation for Electoral System and at Counterpart International providing crucial administrative and technical support on a different of U.S. government programs on democracy and governance assistance. For her MA coursework, she traveled to Durban, South Africa, to conduct field research on language in primary education policy and practice. Matilde worked with the Center for Global Impact at the International Republican Institute on citizen-centered governance programming. Matilde is committed to explore the nexus between international development and humanitarian assistance as she perceives that the current humanitarian crises will require the work of hybrid professionals that can plan for longer-term development strategies while also knowing how to work in fragile environments. She is looking forward to growing professionally with the International Rescue Committee in Dar es Salaam and to continue learning Kiswahili!

Jennifer Bryan, originally from Honolulu, HI, graduated from The George Washington University in 2018 with a B.A. in International Affairs and a concentration in International Development. She speaks fluent French and conversational Arabic, and is passionate about financial markets, regulations, and the role they play in the development of Sub-Saharan Africa. During her time at George Washington, Jennifer studied abroad in Dakar, Senegal and worked at the Global Research and Advocacy Group (GRAG), where she participated in research and field studies in rural Senegal on female genital mutilation. Jennifer also studied abroad in Kigali, Rwanda where she analyzed economic development in post-conflict society. Her passions for business and development lead her to join the World Bank as a Consultant for the Enabling the Business of Agriculture (EBA) project, where she conducted research and assisted in Livestock data collection from 82 countries. After graduation, Jennifer joined Deutsche Bank as a Regulation, Compliance, and Anti-Financial Crime Analyst where she studies regulatory trends, and advises business lines on best practices and risk management. She believes in giving back to communities through public service, and is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. At George Washington, Jennifer volunteered with the Smithsonian National Museum for Natural History, and the African Union. Jennifer aspires to increase her experience in Sub-Saharan African development, in order to use business, finance, and social inclusion to promote sustainable and equitable opportunities in Africa.

The formation of Maame’s concentration, “Sankofa: (Re) Defining the Indigenous Modern City”, is owed to the inspiration her birth city, Accra, provided during her formative years. While at New York University, Maame secured several research grants to conduct two research projects: one on youth employability in Ghana and the other on civic participation in environmental conservation efforts in Nairobi and Dakar. With the findings from her first research project on youth employability, Maame developed a robust curriculum for a Youth Fellowship Program at the UNFPA in Accra, aimed at mentoring national service personnel and equipping them with employable skills such as team building, research, and creative thinking. The Fellowship Program has since been implemented and will be a part of the UNFPA Accra agenda permanently. Maame is currently working toward launching an Africa-based tourism platform, Ibhazi, which is aimed at promoting intra-continental travel and creating conversations surrounding cultural sustainability on the continent. As a Princeton in Africa Fellow at Yalelo in Lusaka, Zambia, Maame is excited to explore the aquaculture industry on the continent and to live on the side of Africa.

Lydia, a Public Health major from Skidmore College, is an enthusiastic and passionate young lady motivated by her need to serve. She has experience in project development and implementation through her Davis Project for Peace. With $10,000, she was able to develop and implement workshop sessions aimed at expecting parents and provided them with baby items for completion of sessions. Each session discussed topics from antenatal care, birth preparedness, and birth plans. Her independent undergraduate research sought to examine the factors that determine women’s choices during childbirth. She also has academic research experience conducted in multiple countries. During those times, she mostly explored healthcare and how one’s community and culture affects access, quality and cost. This developed her qualitative research skills with minimal resources. Lydia has also been able to develop and strengthen her monitoring and evaluation of projects skill via her work with various local NGOs.  She will be spending her year of the fellowship in Liberia working for Last Mile Health.

Alumni Update:

Joanna is working as an M&E Officer at Healthy Learners managing data systems and analytics/reporting. She lives in Lusaka, Zambia where she first arrived through her PiAf fellowship in 2019. 

Fellow Bio:

Joanna graduated from Calvin University with Honors in Economics with a minor in International Development Studies. Her curiosity about the world and the systems that shape people’s lives grew throughout her childhood and high school years spent in Michigan, Eritrea, and Ethiopia, as well as her experiences volunteering at the U.S. Embassy of Ethiopia, the African Women’s Entrepreneurship Program, and Hope Microfinance in Ethiopia. During her undergraduate career, she studied equity, access, and inclusion in the classroom and through interning at Inclusive Performance Strategies, organizing campus-wide programming on the Multicultural Student Advisory Board, and attending the Justice Studies Semester Program in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Prior to her Princeton in Africa fellowship, Joanna worked as a Research Specialist at the Center for Social Research where she collaborated with nonprofit, academic, and public-sector organizations on research projects involving data analytics, GIS mapping, community listening sessions, and database management. Here, she learned the power of data-based decisions and participatory research. Joanna is thankful for the opportunity to join the Monitoring and Evaluation team at Healthy Kids/Brighter Future and live in Lusaka! She looks forward to exploring new places through her favorite ways: being outdoors, dancing, and discovering cuisines.

Ornella Baganizi graduated from American University with a degree in International Studies focusing on Global Inequality and Development and a regional focus in Sub-Saharan Africa. Her family is from Rwanda, but she was born in Quebec, Canada, and speaks fluent French. As a child, Ornella spent a few years living in Bamako, Mali. She has interned for Voice of America in the Central Africa Division, where she assisted in the production of two live radio shows. She also interned for the Office of Senator Chuck Schumer. She was a 2017 Boren Scholarship recipient to study Swahili in Tanzania. She also studied abroad in Kenya and interned at a community-based radio station in the Kivuli Center for at-risk youth. Her senior year of college, Ornella organized and led an Alternative Break trip to Arusha, Tanzania, which focused on the legacy of Pan-Africanism and the rights of marginalized communities. Ornella is passionate about youth development through artistic expression. She is excited to return to Tanzania as a Princeton in Africa Fellow at Mainsprings and looks forward to be working with young women.

Zuwaina, a native of Wadi Halfa, Sudan, graduated from Columbia University with a triple degree in Economics, Political Science, and African Studies. During her time at Columbia, her passion for social justice and inclusion led her to several leadership positions in the African Students’ Association, the Columbia Admissions office, and more student organizations, earning her the Kings’ College Leadership Award for Inclusion & Diversity. Her love for Law and Policy-making, stemming from her own experiences of injustice in Sudan, led her to research experiences at Columbia Law School and the World Policy Institute. She also spent time at Weitz & Luxenberg, a law firm based in New York City specializing in mass tort cases. Recognizing that Education was her greatest privilege, she also spent time working with Abwab, a nonprofit organization based in Sudan which provides undergraduate students with mentorship opportunities in Khartoum, as well as Audre, a new program in which Columbia students and faculty lead workshops for Harlem fifth graders once a week. Zuwaina is driven by her love for Africa and its people, and will be joining Equal Education in Johannesburg, South Africa, in August of 2019, where she will be working in education reform, law and policy.

Diane Arthur, Ghanaian-American raised in Michigan, graduated from Northwestern University with a major in Human Development and Psychological Services and received a Certificate in Civic Engagement. At Northwestern, she served as Community Engagement Chair of the African Students Association, where she focused on bridging the gap between African students and the larger Chicago African community. She demonstrated a commitment to coaching and mentoring other students towards international exchange and exposure by co-leading the Buffett Institute for Global Studies Fellowship Advisory Board. Her time off-campus included an international development internship in Udaipur, India, where she developed a life skills education curriculum. Diane then spent one academic year studying at the University of Ghana, exploring social work and political science from the Ghanaian perspective. During her final year of university, she interned for Upwardly Global, where she mentored underemployed and unemployed immigrants and refugees towards professional success in the US. Subsequently, she interned with EngageBetween, a boutique multicultural diversity and inclusion consultancy, where she helped to build and facilitate cultural competency workshops. After working as a Change Management Consultant at IT consulting firm Capgemini, she went on to facilitate international internships for study abroad provider, Institute for the International Education of Students (IES) Abroad. These experiences solidified her commitment to working with individuals and communities to pull down employment barriers through higher education, and to see this realized on the African continent. A few of her favorite things include jewelry, blueberry cake donuts, and biking!