Originally from New Jersey, Caitlin received her bachelor’s degree in International Studies with a minor in economics. At American, Caitlin led an Alternative Spring Break trip to Kansas, Iowa, and Missouri, during which she directed a group of undergraduate and graduate students to investigate food and labor justice in the American agri-food system. Caitlin’s undergraduate research culminated in her thesis: Identity, Food, and Conflict: How Heterogeneous Cuisine Sustains Violence in Somalia. Upon graduation, Caitlin joined the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a foreign affairs “think tank” in Washington, D.C. Caitlin supported the Project on U.S. Leadership in Development and, in May of 2015, she helped launch the newly-revamped Global Food Security Project. As program manager, Caitlin oversaw all day-to-day logistics of the Global Food Security Project and supported the team’s research on the sustainability and efficiency of U.S. foreign assistance and agricultural development programs. Caitlin is a cat lady and a bookworm at heart, and is excited to eat every piece of delicious seafood she can get her hands on in Dar es Salaam.

Ben grew up in Durango, CO (Go Broncos!) and graduated from American University’s School of Public Affairs with an interdisciplinary degree in Communications, Law, Economics, and Government. During college, Ben interned at several private organizations and government agencies while also working at AU’s Student Veterans Office. During his junior year, Ben studied for eight months in Nairobi, Kenya, and interned with Sisi ni Amani, a local peacebuilding organization that used targeted text messages to monitor violence and encourage peace during the run up to Kenya’s 2013 election. Ben also served as an official election observer at Kenya’s election headquarters during the week of voting. After graduating, Ben worked for the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration and for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. He also served as the president of the Congressional African Staff Association, a bipartisan and bicameral group of congressional staffers who organize events on African issues and promote the continent on Capitol Hill. Ben is very excited to head back to Nairobi, where he hopes to add to the IRC’s incredible work, build on his Swahili, explore more of the continent with other Fellows, and experience another election.

Alumni Update:

In several months Bailey will be moving to Cambodia where she will work as a Nutrition Officer with the World Food Programme. For now, she resides in Washington DC, having just finished a graduate degree in Global Human Development from Georgetown University.

Fellow Bio:

Bailey graduated from American University’s School of International Service in 2016 with a degree in International Studies. She concentrated in International Development and Peace, Global Security, and Conflict Resolution in Africa and earned a minor in Public Health.  While at American University, Bailey served as president of Empower Congo, a student-led organization dedicated to addressing and raising awareness about the conflict in the DR Congo. She held a number of internships during her academic career with organizations ranging from Vital Voices to the Enough Project, the Rockies Venture Club, the Philanthropiece Foundation, and Heshima Kenya. Her passion for development in Africa was strengthened through her experience studying abroad in Nairobi, Kenya. In Kenya, Bailey worked closely with unaccompanied refugee girls through an internship with Heshima Kenya, leading to her senior thesis on UNHCR discourses and programming efforts for unaccompanied refugee children. She also spent a semester in India studying public health spending time in local health facilities. Originally from Colorado, Bailey loves skiing, hiking, biking, and spending time outdoors. She is excited to explore Rwanda, make new friends, learn Kinyarwanda, and gain a deeper understanding of agriculture and malnutrition through her work with GHI.

Anchal graduated from Princeton in 2016 with a B.A. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and a Global Health and Health Policy certificate. Her interests in the health of people, animals, and the environment were fueled by her first visit to the Mpala Research Centre in 2014, where she worked on a Nature Conservancy-funded rangeland rehabilitation and animal health project. She spent half of 2015 at Smithsonian field stations in Panama, conducting independent research on tropical ecosystems. This led up to her senior thesis, which examined the microenvironmental factors determining the distribution of an insect vector of Chagas disease. As an intern at the Indian Institute of Health Management, she researched the long-term sustainability of Human Milk Banks in Rajasthan and helped conduct community surveys to assess the impact of nutritional interventions. At Princeton, she was an editor for the Public Health Review, worked with university administration to improve mental health policies through the Mental Health Initiative, and proposed and led a civic engagement trip through Princeton’s alternative break program. Anchal looks forward to working at the intersections of science, conservation practice and outreach at Mpala this year, and to learning more about the savanna ecosystem, its wildlife and its people.

Aly graduated with a BA in Peace and Conflict Studies and Psychology. She studied abroad in Rwanda and Uganda through SIT’s Post-Genocide Restoration and Peacebuilding Program. To culminate the semester, Aly conducted an independent study project on trans-generational memory and the process of post-genocide storytelling in Rwanda.  Her theses for both Peace and Conflict Studies and Psychology tied back to her research and experience in Rwanda, analyzing collective memory and the psychology of evil, respectively. After graduating from Swarthmore, she interned at the African Community Center of Denver, where she worked on the community outreach team and with students in the Colorado Youth Refugee Scholarship Program. She then served a year as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer at the Meskwaki Food Sovereignty Initiative (MFSI) in Iowa. As the Food and Culture Education Coordinator, she focused on capacity building, developing curriculums and workshops, working in the community gardens, and ensuring that MFSI’s projects respect, preserve, and rebuild the tribe’s traditional beliefs and practices. In her free time, Aly loves playing soccer and hiking and is looking forward to exploring the national parks in the region.

Alumni Update:

Alex works for a business strategy consultancy in NYC, called Gemic, that uses the discipline of anthropology to help companies become more culturally relevant. He has been working there for the past two years.

Fellow Bio:

Alex is from New York City and graduated from Bowdoin College in 2016 with a major in English and a minor in Economics. He spent a semester abroad in Zanzibar, Tanzania, where he lived with a family in Stone Town, learned elementary Kiswahili, and took classes through the University of Dar Es Salaam. He also spent the semester conducting primary research to determine the market size for solar home systems on the island of Zanzibar. Following his semester abroad, Alex was a business development intern at Nautilus Solar Energy, an American solar development company. While at Bowdoin, Alex wrote and acted for Bowdoin’s sketch comedy group, worked as a writing tutor for undergraduates, and was an English teaching assistant for a class of African immigrants. Alex can’t wait to get back to East Africa and looks forward to learning how an international NGO can be successful in delivering vital infrastructure to sub-Saharan Africa.

Throughout his life, Alex has transformed a passion for learning about the world into a globe-spanning academic career. Growing up a geography whiz, Alex lived in four countries prior to moving to Benin and has visited nearly 30. He completed a B.A. at Tufts University, graduating in 2015, and he completed high school in Uppsala, Sweden. He also studied for a year at the Sorbonne in Paris. He speaks French fluently, knows conversational Swedish, and is learning Mandarin. As a student at Tufts, Alex worked for Tufts Telefund, conducted research in Rwanda on civil-military relations with the Alliance Linking Leaders in Education and the Services (ALLIES), and danced with the infamous Tufts Dance Collective. He has previous completed internships at the Center for International Policy and for the U.S. Department of State, and he most recently worked in Shanghai as a private college prep teacher. In his spare time, Alex enjoys watching Liverpool FC matches and trivia games.