Leah graduated from Northwestern University in June 2019 with a double major in Journalism and International Studies. In the spring of 2019, Leah was a reporter for Pacific Standard, a California-¬based news organization that focuses on social and environmental justice issues. Previously, Leah completed a journalism project about environmental justice issues in Panama. During the summer of 2018, Leah interned in La Pista, Guatemala, consulting for a community organization on environmental challenges in La Pista. At the end of the internship, Leah and her teammates created a trash collection program in collaboration with the local government to reduce the burning, burying, and littering of inorganic trash. Leah and a teammate returned to La Pista in December with a research grant to conduct independent research on the impact and sustainability of the trash management program. For fun, Leah served as the co-director of the radio station’s media team at Northwestern, which involved photographing, interviewing, and writing about underrepresented music. Leah ultimately hopes to pursue a career in environmental law and policy with an emphasis on human rights.

Avdeep Dhillon graduated from University of California, Berkeley, with a degree in Political Economy and a concentration in Economic Development. In her last semester, she worked for Kiva as an Impact Investing Intern in their Direct to Social Enterprise portfolio to help social enterprises around the world access capital to grow their businesses. In her time at Berkeley, Avdeep founded Development Solutions Organization at Berkeley, through which, she helped Basic Needs, an International mental health NGO,  improve their impact measurement and evaluation. Avdeep also founded a course on Networking at the School of Information of Berkeley, started to give first generation college students the resources to build their own professional networks. Born and raised in Punjab, India, she has lived, worked and studied in Panama, Dominican Republic, Washington D.C., San Francisco and London. She is really excited to add Nairobi to the list through PiAf, where she will be working with Population Services International to develop a PSI Social Enterprise in East Africa.

Sanjeev graduated from Duke University with a degree in Political Science. His time at Duke was defined by his work in the field of forced migration and human rights. He conducted field research with Iraqi and Syrian refugees in Jordan, led a youth mentoring program for resettled refugees in Durham, North Carolina, and led a project to create an online platform to share data and analysis on global migration. His senior thesis focused on the origins of the Rohingya conflict in Myanmar. Sanjeev has a diverse array of experiences working internationally. He conducted research into war crime trials for the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network in Serbia, studied the impacts of drought on marginalized populations in rural India for UNDP, and provided legal support to the Statelessness Section at UNHCR headquarters. After graduation, Sanjeev was selected as a Hart Leadership Fellow by Duke and was placed at the Issara Institute in Bangkok, Thailand, where he provided support to a number of research projects focused on eliminating human trafficking and forced labour among migrant workers in global supply chains. He is an avid reader, a complete history nerd, a huge soccer fan and a photography enthusiast. He is looking forward to learning more about working with displaced populations through his time at IRC Tanzania.

Alumni Update:

Beverly is currently freelancing with lifestyle magazines, where her most recent assignment focuses on the arts in West Africa. She’s based on the East Coast.

Fellow Bio:

Beverly Danquah graduated from St. John’s University where she studied communications with a concentration in journalism and a triple minor in business, legal studies and international studies. At St. John’s, Beverly made the Dean’s List every year and was the student commencement speaker. Born and raised in the Bronx, Beverly’s interest in journalism and travel began when she studied abroad in Italy, Ireland and France on the U.S. Dept. of State Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarship, where she studied international relations with a focus in migration. While abroad, Beverly visited a total of 14 countries.

Beverly has had internships with: Moda Operandi as a fashion copywriter, the New York City Council’s Press Office, CNN’s Reliable Sources with Brian Stelter in production, ABC News’s Nightline in production, MSNBC as a digital editor, Saturday Night Live as a writer’s researcher and MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show in production. While at MSNBC, Beverly curated MSNBC’s daytime and primetime programming through social posts and was on the frontlines of producing compelling videos to show audiences what the journey was like for immigrants after they crossed the southern U.S. border.

She is an alumna of the New York Times Student Journalism Institute and served as peer mentor of about 12 students in undergrad. Beverly’s talk show at the Manhattan Neighborhood Network received a Public Media Award for Most Educational Youth Talk Show. She is a freelance event producer at the Apollo Theater, more recently assisting with production on the Apollo’s AFRICA NOW Jesus & Jollof Live Event.

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.