Rohita graduated with a degree in International Affairs concentrating in African Studies as well as a minor in GIS/Cartography. She spent a summer in Ghana working with a small NGO empowering girls through sports as well as a semester in Rwanda studying post-genocide restoration. While in Rwanda she conducted an independent research project on local methods of conflict mediation by traveling around the country to observe dispute resolution processes. She’s also received the opportunity to intern at a variety of different organizations including All Africa Media, The Woodrow Wilson Center, as well as working on the Mandela Washington Fellowship, the flagship program of President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative. In her spare time, she works with a startup called Africa Talent Management, an organization that aims to connect local African talent with U.S. businesses expanding to Africa. Most recently she’s been working on the Digital and Strategic Communications team at Amnesty International USA designing emails in HTML, managing website content, and just learning more about non-profits in the digital space. Rohita is extremely excited to be going back to Ghana and doing Communications for the Global Shea Alliance.

Regine recently graduated from Mount Holyoke College, majoring in Economics and minoring in Politics. To satisfy her deep interest in Africa, its politics, and its economic systems, she took a plethora of classes in African Studies, in economic development, and in international and nonprofit work. Her connection with the continent and her passion for it is deeply rooted in her social and academic experiences gained from living in an African city. She was born and raised in Accra, Ghana, and she speaks Twi and English fluently. In the past year, she has used her analytic and problem-solving skills by working in Ghana as an equity trading intern with Stanbic Bank. While in college, she also served as the Associate Entrepreneurship Coordinator at Mount Holyoke College and the Public Relations Coordinator for the Debate Society. Regine is excited about the opportunity to work with Imani Development in Malawi, to learn more about international development, and to explore Malawian culture.

Philile graduated with a BA in Global Affairs and French. She speaks French, Intermediate Mandarin Chinese, siSwati and Zulu. She was born and raised in Swaziland, and intends to return to work in education policy or the non-profit sector in southern Africa. Through various fellowships at Yale, she has been able to travel to Paris, Beijing, Shanghai and London for intensive language study and research. She has previously interned for the Alliance Française office in Mbabane, Swaziland where she tutored French students. She has also volunteered as a language and reading tutor in various care centers in Swaziland such as the SOS Children’s Village. She has most recently interned at Africa Health Placements in Johannesburg, South Africa as an Educational Entrepreneurial Project Initiator where she drafted a business model and training program for a new education initiative that was launched at the beginning of 2016. Philile is thrilled to be joining the African School of Economics in Benin where she will be a research assistant, and she looks forward to learning more about Francophone West African culture and speaking lots of French.

Nika recently completed her M.A. in African Studies at Stanford University, where she focused on issues surrounding international development, education, and visual representation in Sub-Saharan Africa. She received a B.A. degree with distinction in International Relations (specializations in Africa and Social Development) and a minor in Creative Writing at Stanford in 2015. She studied in Cape Town during her junior year and worked at a community resource center for people affected by HIV/AIDS in Nyanga. She returned to Nyanga that summer to conduct two independent, community engaged research projects. She created a preliminary monitoring and evaluation report and a photovoice project, which explored the social dynamics of unemployment by giving youth cameras to capture and narrate their experiences. The next summer, she worked at the Baylor Pediatric Aids Initiative in Gaborone, Botswana, extending the regional scope of her photovoice project, which was exhibited at the largest contemporary art gallery in the country. Nika has published articles for the Stanford Daily and for the Los Angeles Times. She enjoys writing nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. Nika is a passionate writer and next year looks forward to improving her Xhosa, telling stories, and advocating for others to have the opportunity to tell theirs.

Alumni Update:

Following her fellowship, Meyris moved back to New York City to work at a policy advocacy organization that champions gender equality. Meyris is currently attending Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), where she is pursuing an MPA in economic and political development with a focus on Africa.

Fellow Bio:

Meyris was born in the Dominican Republic and grew up in New York City. She graduated from Brown University in 2016 with a degree in Political Science and Africana Studies. She further pursued her interest in African politics and histories by spending a semester studying International Politics and Gender Studies at the University of Cape Town. While at Brown, Meyris was a tutor through Brown Refugee Youth Tutoring and Enrichment, a student-led program that partners Brown tutors with students in refugee families living in Providence. She was also a member of Brown UNICEF and served as the club’s secretary for two years. Her passion for international development led her to intern at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), where she worked with the Africa Ebola Unit and the Office of Development Planning. She has also served as a healthcare intern at the Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, an investigative intern at the Rhode Island Commission for Human Rights, and a production intern at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. While living in Tanzania, Meyris is excited to learn about disability and maternal health through her position at CCBRT, experience Tanzanian dances and music, learn Swahili, and maybe even climb Mt. Kilimanjaro.

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!

MK graduated from Ursinus College in 2015 with a degree in environmental studies and biology and minors in peace and social justice and applied ethics. At Ursinus, MK was a part of the Bonner Leader Program, through which she worked very closely with several community-focused environmental organizations. MK also had the opportunity to conduct ecology research in Costa Rica, volunteer in Jamaica, and study abroad in Cape Town, South Africa during her college career. Upon returning from Cape Town, MK interned with the Institute on Science and Global Policy (ISGP). While at ISGP, MK helped plan and facilitate an international conference at Cornell University titled Food Safety, Security, and Defense: Focus on Food and the Environment, which allowed her to connect her interests and gain experience in the field of international aid and agricultural development. After graduating, MK moved to Hong Kong where she worked as a Visiting Service-Learning Tutor at Lingnan University’s Office of Service-Learning. MK is beyond excited to continue working with students in an academic setting through her fellowship with The Rwanda School Project and to share her passion for agriculture and environmental sustainability.

While originally from the Netherlands, Liselot spent majority of her life living in different cities across America and now calls Baton Rouge, Louisiana, home. She graduated in May 2016 from Georgetown University, where she majored in International Health. While at Georgetown, she was a volunteer and community outreach intern for DC SCORES, a health-policy research intern at the Population Reference Bureau (PRB), and a volunteer in the DC community as a tutor and teaching assistant. During her senior fall semester, Liselot was a researcher at the National Institute of Medical Research in Dar es Salaam, completing her senior thesis on anemia and its risk factors in children under the age of two in rural Tanzania. Throughout college, Liselot was also a member of the varsity tennis team. When not playing tennis, her summer experiences included being an ambassador and a high school teacher in Zanzibar for America’s Unofficial Ambassadors, a fitness fundraising intern at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and a neurology nursing assistant at a hospital in Amsterdam. She is looking forward to discovering a new part of Africa, continuing to work in the public health sphere, meeting new people, and hopefully using her fluency in Dutch to learn some Afrikaans.

Lauren grew up in Plymouth, MN. She was granted a leadership award to attend Colorado College, where she earned a B.A. in International Political Economy with minors in African and Asian Studies in December 2015. Following a semester in China becoming proficient in Mandarin and studying 20th century history and art, she spent the summer of 2014 trekking through the Annapurna region of Nepal investigating sustainability, religion, and the consequences of outmigration for Tibetan refugees. Lauren then traveled to Uganda, where she spent the fall semester studying Luganda and issues of East African development. During this time, she conducted an internship with the Uganda Red Cross Society at the Mungula Refugee Settlement and carried out independent research which culminated in a published report: “Agency of the South Sudanese: Compensating for Health Care in Mungula Refugee Settlement.” Lauren then spent the summer of 2015 traveling around Turkey, Greece, Hungary, Austria, and Germany to conduct research for her thesis, which analyzed market failures in the international provision of protection for Syrian refugees. Following graduation, Lauren worked in Minneapolis as a refugee resettlement assistant at the International Institute of Minnesota. She will spend the summer of 2016 developing extracurricular activities at the Highland Boarding School for Tibetan refugees in Dhunche, Nepal on a Kathryn W. Davis Projects for Peace Grant. Lauren is thrilled to have the opportunity to continue refugee work within Uganda as a Grants Fellow with the International Rescue Committee. She can’t wait to dust off her Luganda and explore all of the incredible hikes, dance clubs and whitewater rafting the region has to offer!

Alumni Update:

Kevin is currently a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategist with Justice Informed where his work focuses on providing strategic guidance and consulting services to organizations looking to operationalize DEI outside of publishing commitments and statements. Kevin currently resides in Chicago where has lived since the end of his fellowship in June 2017.

Fellow Bio:

Hailing from a small suburb outside of Dayton, OH, Kevin graduated from Northwestern University where he majored in Philosophy and Economics, with a minor in Legal Studies. While at Northwestern, he spent his time helping organize and run Northwestern’s Global Engagement Summit. This summit brings together student delegates from all across the world who have social change projects. Their time together allows them to workshop their projects and to work with CEOs and mentors from non-profits and social enterprises and reconnect with their passion for social change. In addition to his work with social change projects, Kevin visits Burundi often, visiting his family and gaining a greater appreciation for his cultural roots. Last summer, Kevin, motivated by his experiences in Burundi, was able to attend a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees conference centered on international refugee aid. He took the recommendations and observations from international NGOs back with him to campus and worked closely with Northwestern’s Center for Forced Migration Studies to develop new programs to assess refugee stability in the greater Chicagoland area. While having never officially taught before, Kevin is incredibly humbled and excited to spend his next year in Botswana at Maru-a-Pula as a history teacher.