Kleiman headshot

Leland Fellow

Shanti Kleiman

6th Class, 2011-2013

Field Placement: Mercy Corps, Jijiga, Ethiopia

Shanti Kleiman spent her field year with Mercy Corps, an international aid organization founded in 1979 that works to create opportunity in transitional environments affected by complex crises. Shanti worked on the Economic Development Team with the Revitalizing Agro-Pastoral Incomes and New Markets (RAIN) program in Ethiopia’s Oromia and Somali regions. The three-year program was financed by the US Agency for International Development Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) with the goal of protecting, promoting and diversifying livelihoods as a means of increasing households’ resilience to recurrent shocks. The program included animal health services, natural resource management, temporary employment, training and start-up grants for income generating groups, private sector input supply for agriculture and livestock, expanding reach and relevancy micro-finance services, and rehabilitating/establishing critical local market infrastructure. Shanti collaborated with local government and private businesses to attract investments in the Somali region’s meat and dairy sectors and to improve access to key agricultural inputs throughout the Oromia and Somali regions.

Policy Placement: Mercy Corps, Washington, DC

Shanti continued her work with Mercy Corps as a Policy Analyst with the Policy and Advocacy team. She worked to influence policy change in the areas of global food security, resilience and the environment.

Pre-Fellowship Education/Experience:

Shanti Kleiman has worked on the design and manufacture of small-scale water systems and low-cost agricultural technologies with NGOs like the TIBÁ Institute and International Development Enterprises in Ghana and Brazil. Previously, she researched low-cost energy solutions in Nicaragua and helped to establish judicial assistance centers in Rio de Janeiro. Fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, Shanti received a Master’s of Environmental and Water Quality Engineering as well as a Master’s of City Planning from MIT. She earned a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies from New York University’s Gallatin School.

 

Publications