3rd Class Mickey Leland International Hunger Fellows Profiles

Daniel Abbot

Dan helps to feed one of the projects goats.

Field Placement: Heifer International/ African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF), Homa Bay, Kenya

Dan worked with Heifer International in Homa Bay, an area of Kenya severely impacted by HIV, on a project to provide livelihoods for caregivers and children orphaned by AIDS through livestock and agricultural development. Dan collaborated with the local public health office to provide health training to community groups on topics such as HIV prevention and positive living, safe water and hygiene. Many community group members began treating their drinking water and underwent testing for HIV for the first time following these trainings.

Dan also worked with a Kenyan based international NGO, the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF). AMREF works closely with widows and orphans in Homa. Dan conducted an evaluation of AMREF’s HIV prevention and mitigation activities in the Homa Bay area. He interviewed project staff, partners, and beneficiaries and compiled lessons learned to inform AMREF’s plans for future work in the area.

Policy Placement: Save the Children USA, Washington, D.C.

Dan was a member of both the Public Policy & Advocacy and the HIV units at Save the Children in Washington, D.C.. In this position, he conducted policy research to influence HIV/AIDS related advocacy strategies and developed supporting documents. He also created a series of policy briefs drawing on Save the Children’s experience in HIV/AIDS programming in its field offices. Dan also represented Save the Children within various coalitions addressing HIV/AIDS and Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC).

Education/Experience: Dan received an MPH from Emory University with a focus on Global Environmental Health. He worked with CARE Kenya to conduct field research on access to, and use of safe drinking water in households in rural Kenya. His recommendations contributed to meaningful changes in the distribution of household water treatment products. He has presented findings at large international public health conferences.

Damiana Astudillo

Damiana enjoys the lunar landscape of Uyunis famous salt plain.

Field Placement: PROINPA,Southern Altiplano Region,Bolivia

Damiana is working on the Neglected and Underutilized Species initiative at IPGRI, which seeks to promote crops that are marginally produced and consumed but that have important income earning potential and nutritional value. Specifically, she is conducting a research project on quinoa. Her main task is to assess the actual and potential nutritional contribution of quinoa and its diversity in the quinoa producing households. Damiana is working directly with about 300 quinoa farmers in 12 communities of the Southern Altiplano Region of Bolivia. She has conducted focus group discussions, carried out nutritional surveys, and conducted workshops on quinoa and nutrition.

Policy Placement: IPGRI, Washington, D.C.

Based on requests of the community members that participated in the project, Damiana developed educational material on nutrition as well as a recipe book that focuses on innovative uses of quinoa for use in the communities. In addition, Damiana used the data collected with the farmers to develop policy recommendations that that reconcile the cultural, nutritional and economic needs of the population. Among the proposals she worked on were the development of small holder technology that replicates the traditional processing of the grain, awareness and education programs on nutrition with a focus on the use of native crops, inclusion of quinoa and other native crops in school lunches and other feeding programs, and a general social marketing of quinoa.

Education/Experience: Damiana received a Master in Public Policy and International Development from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. Her work experience includes consulting work for FINCA Peru (a micro credit organization) and the Ministry of Housing and Development in Uruguay, six years of workforce development programming in Syracuse, NY, agricultural research for IFAD and as policy research and environmental lobbying for Clean Water Action. She is fluent in Spanish.

Yodit Beyene

Field and Policy Placement: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

As the Communications Specialist for the Ethiopia Strategy Support Program (ESSP), a collaborative undertaking by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the Ethiopian Development Research Institute (EDRI), Yodit Beyene returned to her home country for the two-year policy and field placement in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In the ESSP effort to overcome the numerous and complex challenges of bridging knowledge and policy to achieve agricultural and rural development in Ethiopia, Yodit’s role was to facilitate effective communications across various national and international audiences. In addition to developing and managing the programs communication strategies, Yodit was involved in conducting research on the landscape of knowledge management in Ethiopia.

Education/Experience: Yodit received an MA in International Development with a focus on International Education and a regional focus on Africa. She served as a Communications Manager for Ethiocorps Inc. and with the Arlington Institute in developing potential projects to collaborate with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).

Brian Bogart

Brian helps to oversee a distribution of rice to needy Cambodian families.

Field and Policy Placement: World Food Program, Kampong Speu/Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Brian was the assistant head of WFP’s Kampong Speu sub-office an area that experienced acute food shortages due to drought over the two harvest seasons prior to his Fellowship placement. Brian was primarily responsible for managing and monitoring activities in the disaster management portfolio, which includes food for work and emergency relief distributions of food aid. His office was responsible for distributing over 1,200 metric tons of rice to 24,000 needy households. Most of Brian’s efforts were concentrated on ensuring that the food gets to the intended beneficiaries so that WFP is able to maintain the support of its donors and local partners.

Education/Experience: Brian has been working in Washington, D.C. for the past several years at the USAID Office of Food for Peace, where he has been involved in research and policy analysis on US international food assistance. Brian received a BA in Political Science from SUNY New Platz, where he spent a semester studying abroad in Ghana. He went on to receive an MA in International Relations from the University of Kent. He is proficient in French and Spanish.

Sylvie Doutriaux

Camels are a very important type of livestock for Mongolian herders in the Gobi region. Sylvie enjoys a ride.

Field Placement: Mercy Corps, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

In the context of USAID and USDA-funded Mercy Corps activities, Sylvie conducted a survey of the Mongolian livestock and meat sub-sector, identifying constraints and opportunities along the value chain in order to determine how Mercy Corps can better support its herder clients. Sylvie also led a team in the design and implementation of a survey to assess herder socio-economic conditions and evaluate the impact of Mercy Corps on the herders and cooperatives it has worked with.

Policy Placement: Mercy Corps, Washington, D.C.

Working in the economic development and food resources units, Sylvie was part of a team that provided the vision and implementation strategy for the MicroMentor program’s first year at Mercy Corps. MicroMentor helps entrepreneurs grow their businesses through mentoring relationships with experienced business professionals. Sylvie also participated in drawing the Mercy Corps food security approach and in upgrading a food security assessment tools website.

Education/Experience: Sylvie holds an MPS in International Agriculture and Rural Development from Cornell University and an MA in Human Geography from the Sorbonne University in Paris. She served as a natural resource management advisor in northern Togo through the Peace Corps and has led field research projects in Venezuela and Vietnam. She is fluent in Spanish and French.

Dalia Emara

Dalia (center) with girls who are back in school after working as maids.

Field Placement: Combating Child Labor through Education Project, Management Systems International, Rabat, Morocco

As an advocacy and policy advisor for project "Adros" –a USDOL funded education project targeting working and at risk children- Dalia was responsible for developing the project’s advocacy initiative on school accountability for students performance. She conducted a contextual analysis focusing on accountability relationships in the Moroccan education system. Dalia also did a rapid assessment on the project’s partnership strategy with local NGOs and proposed recommendation to streamline the project’s interaction with its local partners.

Policy Placement: Management Systems International, Washington, D.C.

Under the general theme of “How can evaluations be more effective in organizations?” Dalia was involved in various monitoring and evaluation projects with MSI. Dalia worked on a paper addressing the topic of evaluation’s effectiveness based on experiences gained throughout the course of the second year with MSI in real world evaluations.

Education/Experience: Dalia did her graduate studies in sustainable international development and Middle East studies from Brandies University and the American university in Cairo respectively. Her master thesis was on the determinants of children’s schooling in Morocco. Prior to being a Leland fellow, she was working for the Africa program with Oxfam America. She also worked in Egypt for a USAID project that aimed at strengthening the institutional capacities of local NGOs through grants, technical assistance and training.

Todd Flower

Todd with key farmer coordinators in the project area.

Field Placement: Save the Children, Kampala, Uganda

While working with Save the Children’s food security program in the Nakasongola district of Uganda, Todd created an agricultural marketing program to increase farmers’ income by establishing marketing groups, connecting those groups to viable market value chains, and providing training to farmers in marketing skills. Todd also established a model homestead program which provided farmers with training in skills such as beekeeping and fruit tree grafting to diversify and intensify agricultural production.

Education/Experience: Todd received an MS in Agricultural Economics from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon from 2000-2002 as an agroforestry extension agent working with the local community to improve soil fertility and diversify income generation strategies.

Lilia Gerberg

Policy Placement: USAID/FFP and Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator, State Department, Washington, D.C.

The Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET) works within USAID’s Office of Food for Peace to provide analyses for food security responses in emergencies. Lilia worked on a project to assist decision-makers—both within USAID and its external partners—to improve responses in emergency situations. In January 2006, Lilia rotated to the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator of the US State Department, where she helped to craft a strategy to address the nutritional requirements of people receiving care and treatment for HIV/AIDS.

Field Placement: Helen Keller International, Dakar, Senegal

Lilia spent the second year of the Fellowship with Helen Keller International (HKI) to strengthen its capacity in nutrition and HIV/AIDS programming in Senegal, and in other priority country programs in Africa. She worked with the program coordinators and stakeholders to strengthen the monitoring and evaluation component of the program, with a particular focus on identifying quantitative and qualitative measures of impact.

Education/Experience: Lilia received a M.A. in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University. Lilia has also worked as the Acting Political Officer for South Sudan of the U.S. State Department in the summer of 2004 and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Zambia between 1999-2001 working on water, sanitation and hygiene education.

Peter Giampaoli

Peter with the staff of the Uganda Land Alliance.

Field Placement: Uganda Land Alliance, Kampala, Uganda

As a member of the staff of Uganda Land Alliance, Peter did research, policy analysis, advocacy, and programme administration work during his year at the ULA Secretariat. He assisted in the development of ULA’s current five-year strategic plan, administered the implementation of a two-year collaborative research project funded by the Belgian Survival Fund, and participated in consultations on the draft National Land Policy.

Policy Placement: International Land Coalition, Rome, Italy

During his year focusing on land tenure policy, Peter worked at the ILC Secretariat. He coordinated the formulation of a strategy to support members and partners in their efforts to strengthen forest tenure, participated in the development of a new strategic framework for ILC, assisted in the oversight and coordination of activities in Africa, and helped develop programme monitoring and evaluation methods.

Education/Experience: Peter received a BS in Wildlife from Humboldt State University, and a MS in Forest Resources from Oregon State University. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Uganda from 1994-1996 and has worked extensively in community service and natural resources positions in the U.S., including supervision of AmeriCorps education and service programmes in Northern California communities. Peter speaks some Lhukonzo, Luganda, Russian and Italian.

Michaela Hackner

Michaela enjoys chatting with children in the community.

Field Placement: Pact WORTH Center for Gender and Women’s Empowerment, Phnom Penh, Cambodia/ Nairobi, Kenya

Michaela worked on Pact’s WORTH initiative, a unique women’s program that aims to combat trafficking through self-empowerment, micro-enterprise development and literacy and numeracy training. The program targets women of all ages in the areas most affected by trafficking.

In Cambodia (July 2005 – March 2006), Michaela worked closely with the local WORTH staff to monitor and evaluate program activities and to produce success stories, newsletters and other communication tools to publicize the program and its beneficiaries.

In Kenya (April 2006 – December 2006), Michaela supported the six WORTH programs operating in Africa through technical assistance and program support, the training of trainers, the development of training materials, and monitoring and evaluation techniques and methodologies. Through a joint project between the WORTH center and Pact, Inc., Michaela also collected global success stories and managed the development of a worldwide WORTH website that profiles the women involved in WORTH through storytelling and multimedia technology.

Policy Placement: Pact, Inc., Washington, D.C., January 2007-May 2007

Michaela continued to work with communications technologies to support the WORTH program globally during her time in Washington, D.C. She also supported the 5-year WORTH strategic plan through the design of networked fundraising initiatives. Her time in D.C. provided opportunities to meet with US Government and other WORTH stakeholders regarding the expansion of the program.

Education/Experience: A native of Chicago and Maryland, Michaela Hackner received her BA from Pennsylvania State University in 2000, focusing on multimedia, web design, and photography. During her senior year, Michaela spent a semester studying on Semester at Sea, a floating university that travels around the world. Visiting many developing countries altered her future career aspirations, inspiring her commitment to the field of international development. She pursued a career in web design with various government contractors in the Washington area before returning to graduate school part-time at Georgetown University, where she received her MA in Communication Culture and Technology in 2004, with a focus in international development. Mid-study, Michaela joined the federal government as a humanitarian analyst in 2003, analyzing conflicts and aid crises in West Africa, Latin America and South Asia. She also completed a summer rotation through the Centers for Disease Control in Cambodia.

Nathaniel Heller

Nate with agricultural extension workers at the Techiman Ministry of Food and Agriculture District Office in Ghana's Brong Ahafo region

Field Placement: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Accra, Ghana

Nate was based in the FAO regional office for Africa conducting research on existing and potential applications of information and communications technologies (ICT) in agriculture and rural development in Ghana. He developed five case studies focusing on the ways in which information is used for rural development by rural local governments, agricultural research and extension officers, and producer and trader organizations. He was also involved in several projects related to rural ICT, including a workshop to sensitize local government officials to the potential of ICTs and a web portal for rural internet centers.

Policy Placement: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy

Nate spent the first 6 months of his placement at FAO headquarters in Rome, working with FAO's World Agricultural Information Center (WAICENT) in the development of its Bridging the Rural Digital Divide rural information systems program. He also participated in the FAO delegation at the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis. Nate returned to Rome in January 2007 for the last 6 months of the Fellowship, where he developed his field research into policy applications.

Education/Experience: Nate received an MA in International Relations and International Economics with a focus on Social Change and Development from Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. He served as West Africa Regional Representative, based in Senegal and Ghana, for the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, an international NGO focusing on transportation and urban development, managing a USAID grant. He also spent two years in a village in Senegal as a Peace Corps agroforestry volunteer. He is fluent in French and Wolof and conversant in Spanish and Italian.

Gloria Kessler

Gloria with her supervisors, Dr. Hans Jansen, an economist with the International Food Policy Research Institute, and Dr. Miguel Gomez, Director of the Regional Unit for Technical Assistance.

Policy Placement: IFPRI, Costa Rica
Gloria worked on a project named “The Impact of the Central American Free Trade Agreement on Agriculture and the Rural Sector in Central America.” The main objectives of the project were to inform governments, the private sector and civil society in Central America about the potential economic and social impacts of the CAFTA agreement, and potential problems and promising market opportunities for the small-scale farming sector in these countries. Gloria’s work was an analysis of the cotton, textile and apparel sectors in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua. She was assessing the bottlenecks and constraints to productivity growth in the apparel industry, and the resources and capabilities needed to succeed in the market chain, particularly those needed by disadvantaged households to remain competitive.

Michael Manske

Mike and a Senegalese colleague.

Field Placement: Counterpart International, Dakar, Senegal

Michael worked on program planning and implementation of a USAID funded Food for Peace program focusing on improving nutritional and organizational support for people living with HIV/AIDS in northern and west-central regions of Senegal. His duties were primarily associated with supervision and monitoring of nutritional support and capacity building activities for associations of people living with HIV/AIDS. In addition, he conducted an operations research study exploring HIV/AIDS-related stigma associated with a food supplement distribution program.

Policy Placement: Counterpart International, Washington, D.C.

As a member of the food security and sustainable agriculture division, Michael provided technical and logistical support to Counterpart Senegal. He also worked as a policy advisor on issues related to HIV/AIDS, nutrition and food security.

Education/Experience: Michael received an MPH in international health with a focus on complex emergencies and nutrition from Tulane University. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guinea-Conakry as a natural resource management and environmnetal education extension agent. He also has over 4 years of experience in teaching and social services. He is also fluent in French and Pulaar.

Andrew Miller

Andy greets two Bolivian girls and their llama.

Field Placement: Adventist Development & Relief Agency, La Paz, Bolivia

Andy's field placement was based out of La Paz, Bolivia where he worked on program management for ADRA Bolivia's income production, maternal and children's health, and natural resources components. As a member of the monitoring and evaluation team, he traveled monthly to project sites to review progress and coordinate surveying. He helped design an information system to facilitate program tracking. Andy also served on ADRA's planning and development team, generating several proposals and interacting regularly with USAID and other NGOs. One funded program responded to emergency flooding in Bolivia's Amazon and received special recognition from the national government and donors.

Policy Placement: Adventist Development & Relief Agency, Sliver Spring, MD

As a member of the food security sector at ADRA International, Andy oversaw grant management for USAID-funded programs in Kenya, Honduras and Nicaragua and served as a liaison between ADRA's country offices and the donor. Additionally, Andy represented ADRA at the Coalition for Food Aid, an advocacy group whose mission was to educate the US public and members of Congress on food aid issues and petition for greater resources to increase global food security. He also contributed to ADRA's best practices documentation and dissemination.

Education/Experience: Andy received Masters in Public Affairs and Urban and Regional Planning at the Woodrow Wilson School of Princeton University. He served as a Peace Corps agricultural marketing volunteer in Guatemala, a researcher at the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and a consultant to Uruguay's national housing department on policy issues. Prior to that, he consulted to public agencies on strategic planning and organizational development initiatives in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is fluent in Spanish and proficient in Portuguese.

Amanda Rives

Amanda checks on a tomato crop with Honduran friends.

Field Placement: Christian Children's Fund, Honduras

Amanda developed a food security strategy for drought-ridden region in southern Honduras for CCF Honduras. The year-long process she designed included a livelihoods analysis, a nutritional assessment, and an extended participatory rural appraisal with elected community representatives. The strategy was also informed by a study Amanda conducted on hunger and international migration from southern Honduras.

Policy Placement: Christian Children's Fund, Washington, D.C.

As the DC Office's Policy Advisor, Amanda represented CCF in Washington-based advocacy efforts around children and families. Amanda participated in relevant committees, working groups, and coalitions to aid in CCF's policy development. She also coordinated CCF's representation on Capitol Hill, and informed CCF headquarters on relevant legislative and executive branch developments, Congressional hearings, and meetings. Amanda served as the office's point person for: Health, Nutrition, Food Security, and Childhood Hunger as well as Latin America and US Programs.

Amanda leads a community group in a discussion of food security.

Education/Experience: Amanda has an MA in International Development with concentrations in public health and community development from American University. She managed a Migrant Outreach Program for three years, supervising a staff of 14 outreach workers and drivers. The program provided health outreach services to a population of 25,000 migrant farmworkers in southern NJ. Amanda was also a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras, where she worked primarly with youth and with midwives as a health extensionist. Prior to joining the Peace Corps, Amanda was an International Affairs Officer at the US Department of State in the Office of Cuban Affairs. She earned her BA in International Affairs from George Washington University.

Akilou Seibou

Akilou, left, interviews a community leader on child labor practices.

Field Placement: Catholic Relief Services, Cotonou, Benin

Akilou worked on Education First Project (EFP) funded by the US Department of Labor, aiming at reducing child labor and child trafficking. The project was implemented by a consortium of NGOs and included Catholic Relief Services (lead organization), World Education and Terre des Hommes He also studied the existing government policies and laws governing child protection in Benin. Akilou conducted training for local CARITAS and participated in several workshop and conferences to help Benin government draft a national action plan to fight child trafficking. He worked with local authorities on policy development and completed a study on child trafficking and decentralization in Benin.

Policy Placement: Catholic Relief Services, Baltimore, MD

In collaboration with CRS’ Protection Policy Advisor, Akilou developed a survey report of CRS field programs addressing child labor, with a view to identifying the range of programming, the forms of child labor addressed and the solutions pursued. He helped develop CRS’ child protection framework. He also researched and produced a paper linking food scarcity/insecurity, migration and child labor, and organized Brown Bag Presentations.

Education/Experience: Akilou holds a Masters degree in Sustainable Development from the School for International Training (SIT), with focus on development management. Before joining the program he worked as a small business owner and with CVS/Pharmacy. Akilou’s language competency includes French, Hausa and Fulani.

Bapu Vaitla

Bapu (foreground) at a community meeting in Ethiopia.

Field Placement: Action Contre la Faim, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Bapu worked as a food security researcher in highland Ethiopia. His work focused on examining the causes of chronic hunger in various livelihood zones throughout the country, including the agriculturally important coffee exporting areas of the southwest, as well as the subsistence cropping systems of northern Ethiopia, which historically have been the epicenter of famines. The research also critically analyzed the effectiveness of the new Ethiopian government food security policy, including the Productive Safety Nets Program, a public works initiative employing over nine million poor households this year. Bapu's research will be used for Action Contre la Faim's advocacy efforts towards improving the quality of government and donor assistance to rural Ethiopian households, and to inform and contribute towards the further development of the organization's own future food security programming.

Policy Placement: Action Against Hunger, London, UK

During the policy year, Bapu worked with the London office of Action Against Hunger, conducting primary research as well as working to transform the organization's past and ongoing research findings into advocacy platforms. Specifically, Bapu was part of the "Hunger Watch" project, an initiative within the organization to analyze the broad fundamental causes of food insecurity throughout the world. Hunger Watch especially seeks to examine and publicize those current "forgotten crises" which have not received adequate media exposure and/or needed amounts of international assistance. Hunger Watch uses analyses of the causes of these crises to recommend long-term solutions and advocate for resources from donor countries to implement these solutions.

Education/Experience: Bapu graduated from the University of California-Davis with an M.S. in International Agricultural Development. His primary international work experience has been with The Ayacara Foundation, a sustainable development and environmental conservation organization working in southern Chile, and the United Nations Children's Fund in Andhra Pradesh state, India. The Chile project concentrated on the development of organic agricultural systems for isolated populations in the Patagonian rainforest, while the UNICEF work explored the potential of information technology to improve public health services for the under-served rural poor. Bapu speaks Spanish, as well as some French, Portuguese, Hindi, and Telugu.