Elise is from Brookfield, VT and majored in International Politics with a concentration in International Security and a Certificate in African Studies while she attended Georgetown University. During her time at Georgetown, Elise had the opportunity to study abroad in Paris, France and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. She loved both experiences, especially exploring new cultures and getting to use French and Swahili. In Tanzania, she interned for Chipua Institute for Social Transformation, and when she returned to the U.S. she worked at the Woodrow Wilson Center in their Africa Program and Project on Leadership and Building State Capacity. In her free time, Elise likes listening to music, hiking, laughing, learning new languages, and adventuring. She cannot wait for the opportunity to explore a new culture in Ethiopia, eat delicious food, learn Amharic, and meet amazing new people.

Alumni Update:

Following her fellowship, Eliza headed to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, where she’s working as a consultant for WFP’s Purchase for Progress initiative. The project aims to leverage WFP’s purchasing power to develop farmers’ organizations and allow smallholders to access formal markets; she is primarily working on developing country-level strategy for the post-pilot phase, which starts this year.

Fellow Bio:

Eliza is originally from Brattleboro, VT and graduated with a degree in Romance Languages and Environmental Studies and a minor in Chemistry. She has a passion for all things food; her senior honors project evaluated food hub development in Vermont and Maine, and her final French project included cooking a 6-course meal for her class. Eliza speaks both French and Italian; last year, she studied abroad in Toulouse, France, and this year she worked as a teaching assistant for introductory Italian students. During her time at Bowdoin, she also co-founded a volunteer group, served on a student grant-making committee, and worked in the study abroad office. Her summers were spent in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and Portland, Maine, where she worked for water and food-focused non-profits, respectively. In Senegal, Eliza hopes to learn some Wolof and discover the regional cuisine offerings.

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.

 

 

David is a History and French major from Delray Beach, FL. At Duke, he served as a coordinator for Camp Kesem North Carolina, a non-profit summer camp for kids with a parent affected by cancer, and volunteered as a counselor. David also participated in Mock Trial and the Duke Microfinance Leadership Initiative, though which he worked for a rural lending co-operative in Nkokonjeru, Uganda. After studying abroad in Paris, David interned in Cape Town, South Africa where he researched peer-education HIV/AIDS and health programs in prisons. In Ethiopia, David is looking forward to learning a bit of Amharic, trekking on the highlands, and drinking far too much coffee.

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.

Alumni Update:

After her fellowship, Dana began a Master’s of Education program in Education, Culture and Society at The University of Pennsylvania. She also works part-time at West Philadelphia High School as a college counselor. She will complete her master’s this summer and relocate to begin a PhD at The University of Michigan in Educational Studies with a focus on Foundations of Education and Policy. She plans to study how African-American secondary students conceptualize and contest dynamics of race and class in school reform. One distant day, she hopes to make this work comparative with the South African context. All of this is undoubtedly inspired by her time at Equal Education!

Fellow Bio:

Dana is originally from Allen, Texas. At Northwestern, she majored in African American Studies with a minor in Anthropology.  While an undergraduate, she studied abroad in Ghana where she conducted independent research on notions of diaspora among Ghanaian repatriates. Since graduation, Dana has worked at Urban Prep Charter Academy for Young Men in Chicago, IL as an Urban Prep Fellow where she served as a teacher and student advocate. She has also worked with the South Side Health and Vitality Studies at The University of Chicago as a Research Coordinator where she supported healthy living and community development projects. While living in Cape Town, Dana is excited to start learning  Xhosa and to frequent live music spots.

Alumni Update:

Dan is currently working with ACDI/VOCA as part of the Mickey Leland International Hunger Fellows Program. He worked on the Feed the Future Tanzania NAFAKA Cereals Market System Development project during his first year as a Leland Fellow and is now part of ACDI/VOCA’s Market Systems team in Washington DC.

Fellow Bio:

Dan graduated with a degree in Political Economy, and is originally from Dallas, TX. During his time at Georgetown, he studied abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina, interned for an economic think tank and a sustainable development consulting firm, and led trips as an outdoor guide. Since graduating, Dan has worked in international development for two organizations including a recent position backstopping agricultural development projects around the world for a non-profit called CNFA. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, kayaking, playing and watching sports, and reading. While in Ghana next year, Dan looks forward to expanding on his agricultural development experience, learning some of the Akan language and exploring Ghana’s cultural and natural landmarks.  

Alumni Update:

Christiana is currently a first-year Ph.D. student in the Political Science department at Stanford University, where she studies identity formation and public goods provision with a focus on the Global South.

Fellow Bio:

Christiana is a Woodrow Wilson School major from San Antonio, Texas. At Princeton, she was a writer and blogger for American Foreign Policy magazine, an Outdoor Action leader, and a member of Terrace Club. She earned a certificate in Near Eastern Studies, and studied Arabic for four years. During her time at Princeton, Christiana worked at Human Rights First in New York City, and studied abroad in Egypt, Turkey, and Jordan. In Rwanda, Christiana looks forward to learning Kinyarwandan (and possibly French), meeting new friends, and traveling a bit throughout the region.

Caitlin is originally from Eugene, Oregon but has spent the past five years in the bay area at Stanford. She majored in African history and did an M.A. in African studies. Both of these focused specifically on the African Great Lakes region, so she’s excited to spend some quality time in the region for the next year. During her undergrad she wrote a thesis on land conflict and historical memory in North Kivu, DRC, and worked on more short-term projects in Kampala and Bujumbura. At Stanford, she studied abroad at Oxford and was part of Stanford STAND, a human rights related group on campus. She’s excited to spend next year learning all the things you can’t get from sitting in a classroom, and using (and improving) her French.

Beverley was a Political Science and French double-major at Wellesley College and is originally from Lagos, Nigeria (by way of London, England). While an undergraduate she interned in Cape Town, South Africa for an NGO promoting discussions around democracy, and also interned at the Research Center of the National Parliament of East Timor. After graduation she went to law school, spending the next three years at George Washington University studying international law and participating in the law school’s international human rights clinic. She loves languages, travel, and food, and can’t wait to learn Amharic, travel throughout Ethiopia and eat lots of injera!