4th Class, 2007-2009
Field Placement: Christian Children’s Fund (CCF), Lusaka, Zambia
Adam Norikane worked with CCF Zambia on the implementation of an Australian-funded Youth Agriculture & Marketing Project. His job entailed assisting staff in project management of a sustainable agricultural livelihoods program targeting 1,000 Zambian youth. Adam contributed through facilitation and organization of trainings on agroforestry, youth group organization, contract negotiation, and agri-business. Adam worked with CCF staff, government officials, and local experts to develop a five-year Food Security Strategy paper that will direct CCF Zambia’s future programming in the food security sector. In addition, CCF International asked Adam to draft a case study on CCF Zambia’s food security program for inclusion in CCF International’s Food Security Policy Guidelines.
Policy Placement: ACDI/VOCA, Washington D.C.
Adam spent his policy placement at ACDI/VOCA in Washington, D.C. where he continued working on agricultural development issues, particularly in the context of the global food price crisis. His work focused on assisting this agribusiness-oriented PVO to develop food security strategies and programs and providing project coordination. Adam was involved in researching possibilities for the expansion of ACDI/VOCA’s food security portfolio, coordinating USAID Title II and USDA Food For Progress programs in various countries, managing a cocoa development project in thePhilippines, and offering specialty crop technical assistance.
Pre-Fellowship Education/Experience:
Adam received dual undergraduate degrees from Washington State University in Zoology and Environmental Science. Afterward, he worked for three years in California as a microbiology specialist performing quality control on pharmaceuticals. In 2001 Adam began service in the Peace Corps as an agro-forestry extension agent inSenegal. Following the Peace Corps, Adam earned a dual Master’s degree from American University and the United Nations-affiliated University for Peace in International Affairs and Natural Resources & Sustainable Development. In Washington, D.C. and San Jose, Costa Rica, Adam worked as the Central American Program coordinator for an international reforestation NGO, Trees for the Future. He also spent the summer of 2006 working with Rainforest Alliance-Guatemala within forest concession communities in the Peten region. Originally from Seattle, Washington, Adam is fluent in Mandinka and has working proficiency in Spanish and Wolof.