Alumni Directory Display

Elliot is from Vashon Island, Washington and recently graduated from Whitman College with a degree in economics. At Whitman, Elliot developed an interest in the intersection between economics and the environment, which guided him toward a diverse range of professional experiences. After his sophomore year, Elliot worked as a portfolio manager with Business Impact NW in Seattle, Washington, where he helped to increase the availability of financial services within economically marginalized communities across the Pacific Northwest. Following this experience, Elliot worked as a research assistant with Earth Economics in Tacoma, Washington. In this role, he co-authored a paper analyzing the complex relationship between disaster recovery, displacement, and economic insecurity in Puerto Rico and researched hurricane mitigation techniques, such as agroforestry and coastal ecosystem regeneration. These will not only improve Puerto Rico’s environmental resilience to future natural disasters but also the economic resilience of Puerto Rican communities. This project solidified Elliot’s understanding of the intricate connections between environmental sustainability and economic prosperity, and it fueled his desire to unlock sustainable avenues toward economic development. Inspired by the unique opportunities for sustainable development across Africa, Elliot is excited to continue working at the intersection of economics and the environment as a Fellow with the International Livestock Research Institute, a research center that works to improve food security and reduce poverty in developing countries through research for efficient, safe, and sustainable use of livestock.

Kendall is from Greenwich, CT and majored in Neuroscience with a minor in English. While at Bowdoin, Kendall led numerous student organizations that worked on public health issues on campus, including sexual assault prevention and fostering a healthy drinking culture. Her passion for working with youth populations was strengthened as a mentor for Females Fostering Leadership in Youth (FFLY). Kendall spent a semester abroad in Cape Town, South Africa where she got involved in SHAWCO KenSTEP mentoring program in Kensington Township. Additionally, Kendall has a love for adventure. She enjoys skiing, hiking, rafting, and really anything that gets your heart rate up. Upon returning from Botswana, Kendall hopes to attend medical school and obtain an MD/MPH duel degree. She is eager to get to Gaborone, make new friends, explore Southern Africa, and learn more about the power of peer support for HIV+ adolescents.

Alumni Update:

Dara wrapped up her PiAf year at the International Rescue Committee, Kenya in 2013. After a great month of travel in Kenya, she started at Dignitas, an education support organization focused on school leader and teacher development. As the Program Quality Manager, she gets the chance to think about how to improve their program evaluation and use data to gain new insights.

Fellow Bio:

Dara is a Chicagoan with lots of love for East Africa. While working toward a Bachelor’s in Anthropology she was able to spend over a year in Uganda studying and conducting research on social components of mental health and illness. After completing her degree she worked as Program Manager at Atanekontola (Uganda Mental Health Fellowship), and then returned to Chicago where she was a Youth Case Manager at Heartland Refugee and Immigrant Community Services. Living in Nairobi, Dara hopes to start a garden and ride every city matatu (bus) route at least once.

Alumni Update:

Mikia is a Private Sector Specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank’s innovation laboratory, the IDB Lab. Her work focuses on project origination, client-relations and monitoring support for IDB Lab funded projects in The Bahamas Country Office

Fellow Bio:

Hailing from Nassau, Bahamas, Mikia graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas. During her studies, she held various leadership positions on her college campus, pursued internships, and gained invaluable diverse experiences across the United States and the world. Most notably, she participated in a fully-funded study abroad program in Rwanda and Uganda, concentrating studies on peace, reconciliation, and sustainable development. While in Rwanda, she received the distinct opportunity to work with the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), in conjunction with the World Bank. She was a part of the Strategic Investments team, which led the negotiation of strategic investments on behalf of the Government of Rwanda. At Philander, Mikia was also selected as an inaugural fellow for the University of California’s Summer Institute of Emerging Managers and Leaders Program, which was held at the UC, Berkeley Haas School of Business, in which her team placed 2nd in a sustainable business model competition. Upon graduation, Mikia joined the Operations team of Credit Suisse in Nassau, Bahamas, where she rotated on three transaction processing desks – Treasury and Issuance, Wealth Management, and Structured Products, and settled transactions/resolved cash reconciliations across a broad spectrum of asset classes. As a Social Investment Fellow at Global Partnerships in Kenya, Mikia is excited for a fresh new path in pursuing her passion of bridging business and social impact to uplift communities in the East Africa Community.

Alumni Update:

Phoebe is continuing to work with One Acre Fund, but has recently moved back to the US after 6 years living in East and Southern Africa. Her new role will be supporting One Acre Fund’s smaller countries of operation on program strategy. She also recently got married to a man she met during her fellowship year!

Fellow Bio:

Phoebe is from Nashville, Tennessee and graduated with a degree in English and American Literature with a minor in global health. At Middlebury, Phoebe held leadership positions in GlobeMed at Middlebury, a non-profit that partners colleges and grassroots organizations, and in the student initiative Friends of John Graham Homeless Shelter. An avid traveler, she spent a summer interning at Africa 2000 Network in Uganda, a semester studying abroad at the University of Otago in New Zealand, and a summer interning at Partners In Health in Boston. In her free time, Phoebe loves rock climbing, reading, and running. While in Botswana next year, Phoebe looks forward to learning to teach, picking up some Setswana and adventuring through Southern Africa.

Meghan studied Global Health and Africana Studies at the College of the Holy Cross. Her journey in East Africa first began summer after freshman year when she took part in a peace development program in Kenya and interned at Ushirika, a community health clinic in Kibera Slum. She split her junior year between two countries—Tanzania and Costa Rica. In Tanzania, she studied intensive Swahili and worked as a maternal and neonatal health intern at the Mnazi Mmoja Hospital. She also adopted a kitten there and brought her back to the States! She spent her second semester in Costa Rica focusing on tropical medicine and carrying out research on zoonotic parasites. She was able to return to Tanzania that summer to collaboratively found a sports program focused on women’s empowerment and gender relations. At Holy Cross, Meghan spent a year researching social change in female genital cutting, a project which developed into her thesis. She is beyond excited to be back in Tanzania—besides working as hard as she can at BIPAI and making new friends, her goals are to learn to make her chapatti actually taste like it’s supposed to, improve her Swahili, and climb Kilimanjaro!

Atlee Chait graduated from the University of Michigan with a BA in International Studies focused on International Security, Norms, and Cooperation. She most recently worked as the Monitoring and Evaluation Associate for DC’s Children’s Law Center, dedicated to strengthening the existing and supporting the development and implementation of new monitoring and evaluation processes. Prior to that, Atlee completed a contract with National Geographic supporting the National Geographic Bee, worked in Sub Saharan Africa Intelligence while living in Tel Aviv, Israel, and served as a Design, Monitoring & Evaluation Intern with Search for Common Ground, a peacebuilding and conflict resolution organization, where she learned to evaluate the effectiveness of peacebuilding programs overseas. Atlee is so excited to be working with Village Enterprise in their mission of utilizing entrepreneurship as a means to ending extreme poverty in rural Africa. She looks forward to living in Uganda, exploring the continent, making new friends, and gaining a deeper understanding of M&E, income generation, and the designing and implementing of development programs.

Alumni Update:

Lauren is beginning her second year of law school at Columbia Law School. Last summer, she interned at the Legal Resource Centre in Cape Town for her legal internship. In the upcoming school year, she hopes to take Africa-related coursework and will be participating in the Columbia Human Rights Clinic.

Fellow Bio:

Lauren grew up in Sacramento, California.  Following her high school graduation, she spent 10 months in Zhongli, Taiwan as a Rotary Youth Exchange student.  In 2017, she graduated from Wesleyan University with a B.A. in Biology and a certificate in Writing.  During her undergraduate career, Lauren focused primarily on ecological research, working for two year in the Singer Laboratory at Wesleyan, participating in a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates, and interning at the California Academy of Sciences.  She studied abroad in South Africa, where she conducted fieldwork in Kruger National Park and gained a better understanding of conservation policies in practice.  This experience opened Lauren’s interest in the wider implications of conservation policies and inspired her most recent internship at the district office of U.S. Congresswoman Doris Matsui.  Lauren is also passionate about gender equality, and has interned at Women’s Empowerment, a Sacramento non-profit that aids homeless and near-homeless women obtain employment.  Lauren is excited to be promoting women in science as part of the AWARD team, and can’t wait to explore Nairobi and beyond.  

Born and raised in Philadelphia, PA, Olivia Charendoff holds a Bachelor of Arts in Francophone Studies from Muhlenberg College, with minors in Political Science and Cultural Anthropology. Since graduating in 2020, Olivia has used her background in translation and project coordination to work with leading peacebuilding INGOs, including Search for Common Ground and the Center for Civilians in Conflict. As an Institutional Learning intern with Search for Common Ground, Olivia assisted in the development of youth-oriented programming across the Sahel region of Africa and translated reports on conflict-sensitive aid between French and English. As an intern with the Center for Civilians in Conflict, Olivia conducted research on the active UN Peacekeeping missions in Mali, CAR, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Her project on Community Alert Networks in Eastern DRC contributed to the Center’s 2021 report to the UN Security Council, advocating for stronger early warning and rapid response systems in the Ituri and North/South Kivu provinces. In addition to peacebuilding work, Olivia has also volunteered in the food pantry at the Nationalities Service Center in Philadelphia, providing everyday essentials to refugee families in the region. Prior to her fellowship, Olivia worked as a temporary program associate for Borealis Philanthropy’s Spark Justice Fund, supporting grassroots organizations in their mission to abolish the cash bail system and establish community safety mechanisms outside of traditional policing. Olivia is most passionate about conflict transformation, civic renewal and sustainable economic development.