Speaker Biographies
Day 2: May 17, 2023
Maximizing Youth Opportunity for a Just Transition
Dan Baker
Dan Baker is the Growth Markets Managing Director for Accenture Development Partnerships (ADP), a global unit within the Accenture Strategy practice focused on applying the firm’s expertise and resources to address the Sustainable Development Goals. Dan has over 20 years’ experience at Accenture and has brokered, delivered or managed numerous projects ranging from program strategy, private sector engagement, digital innovation and humanitarian response.
Dan joined Accenture in 1998 and worked extensively with telecommunications clients Bell Atlantic, Bell Canada, Motorola and Verizon. In 2005 Dan led his first project with ADP in Sri Lanka. Dan’s experience working in post-tsunami Sri Lanka inspired him to join the ADP management team as regional delivery manager for Southeast Asia. In 2008, Dan served as senior portfolio manager in ADP’s London office. In 2010, Dan led Accenture’s Haiti earthquake recovery program and served on the ADP Leadership Team as NGO Client Service Group Lead, Program Innovation Lead, and Americas Lead before his current role.
Farai Mubaiwa
Farai is a Strategy Manager for Accenture, where she works with clients in the international development space to address social, political and economic challenges through Accenture's global core capabilities. She also serves as the Africa Livelihoods and Education Lead for Accenture Development Partnerships (ADP).
She is the co-founder of the youth-led organisation Afrika Matters, a Queen'sYoung Leader for South Africa, a TEDx speaker, a One Young World Ambassador and a King's Principal Global Leadership Award Recipient. She was named one of the top 100 Mandela's of the future by Media24 and has been ranked as one of the top 100 influential young South Africans.
Farai is a Dalai Lama 2019 Fellow and the 2021 recipient of the Stellenbosch University Exceptional Alumni award. In 2022, Farai became an Honourary Member of the Golden Key International Honours society and won the TransUnion Rising Star award for the Service: Public and Private sector Category.
Dr. Nicole Goldin
Dr. Nicole Goldin brings 25 years of experience in strategic and technical management, policy, research, communications and collaboration in global and local economics, development, human capital, social impact and foreign affairs across public, private, philanthropic, civil society and academic sectors. She is especially well-known for her pioneering work on youth and inclusive and sustainable growth and gender equity.
An in-demand speaker and moderator, she has addressed the U.N., Concordia Summit, World Bank, Clinton Global Initiative Global Education and Skills Forum, among large and small audiences worldwide. Her insights have been featured by CNN, The Economist, Devex, The Hill, Newsweek, Reuters, The Guardian, POLITICO, Axios, Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR), Diplomatic Courier, NPR, VOA, and other fora. Dr. Goldin is Policy Co-Chair of the Alliance for International Youth Development (AIYD). She is also a non-resident Senior Fellow with the Atlantic Council and external Senior Associate with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
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Incorporating Positive Youth Development into Youth Career Planning and Professional Development: Case Studies from Iraq and Yemen
Sarah Little
Sarah Little has over thirteen years of experience in international development with direct experience designing and managing youth workforce development programs in the Middle East and North Africa in addition to providing technical assistance and capacity building to EFE local non-profit Affiliate organizations in six countries. Prior to joining EFE, Ms. Little interned for SOS Children’s Villages in Washington, D.C. and worked for the Michigan State University Office of Study Abroad as a student advisor. She also interned for the non-profit humanitarian organization Secours Populaire Francais in Paris, France. Sarah holds a Master of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations with specializations in Muslim Studies and Western European Studies from Michigan State University.
Syako Shekho
Syako Shekho is a Senior Program Officer for IREX based in Erbil, Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Syako has strong background and experience in supporting workforce development initiatives, including leading IREX’s internship programming with universities, students and the private sector. Syako is the main liaison in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq for IREX programming and provides technical and logistic support to IREX partners and beneficiaries including the Ministry of Higher Education, faculty members, and university faculty, administrator and student leaders. In addition, he has participated in many local and international training courses and conferences on workforce and higher education development programs. Syako has also presented on IREX’s work nationally and globally in career services and workforce development areas. Syako holds an MA in English Literature from Brunel University London in the United Kingdom and is currently a PhD student from Soran University in Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
Ameen Al-Qadri
Ameen Alqadri has over 15 years of experience in international development, education quality improvement, vocational training, and youth programs. Under his leadership, EFE-Yemen has remained one of the few organizations offering tangible employment and economic opportunities to Yemeni youth amid the country’s ongoing conflict. Previously a Program Manager at Education Development Center, he also held a National Coordinator position at World Links International. He has worked extensively in providing training, facilitation and evaluation expertise in programs involving school authorities, administrators, teachers, students, and parents. He also served as a research specialist for the Yemen Cross-Sectoral Youth Assessment, a USAID-funded study. Ameen holds a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree from the College of Education at Sana’a University and is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Education Management at Queen Arwa University. He is fluent in English and Arabic.
Radwan Al-Feel
Radwan Al-Feel is an EFE-Yemen alumnus who graduated from EFE-Yemen’s Job Training and Placement Program in the healthcare sector in 2017. Since completing the training program with EFE-Yemen, he has held nursing positions at a variety of hospitals in Sana’a, including Royal Hospital, Modern European Hospital, Al-Junaid Hospital, and Shamlan Specialist Hospital. He is currently the Director of Nursing at Me and My Child Hospital. Radwan has also served as a trainer for nursing students at the Al-Hikmah Al-Qabas Institute and the Elegant Institute for Medical Training, as well as within several hospitals in Sana’a. He has participated in a variety of community vaccination campaigns combatting infectious diseases including polio, measles and tetanus. Radwan has a Bachelor’s Degree in Community Health from Al-Nasser University and a Pre-Master of Health Administration and Hospitals from Azal University. Headshot not in database
Practical Research Methodologies to Engage Youth Across the Project Lifecycle
Mary Kate Cartmill
Mary Kate Cartmill is a nutrition, food system and research specialist with experience working in food and nutrition security both in domestic and international settings. She currently serves as a Mickey Leland International Hunger Fellow with Tanager International providing research and technical assistance to African agriculture institutions working to mainstream gender and nutrition into their ways of doing business. Mary Kate also worked with the Global Research on Inclusion and Disability (GRID) team at Washington University in St. Louis studying inclusive education in Afghanistan and Pakistan using a community-based system dynamics approach. Through this work, she gained first-hand experience applying system dynamics thinking and methodology to center youth inclusion in the formative research stage of program and policy development. Mary Kate also has experience applying participatory approaches at the nexus of maternal and child nutrition and sustainable food systems through the E3 Nutrition Lab at Washington University in St. Louis.
Laura Rangel
I’m the GIS Leader and the databases administrator and geographical app developer for environmental and social projects for ACDI/VOCA Colombia. It inspires me to contribute to Colombia with spatial analysis tools that allow us to quantify the impact of the social projects developed in vulnerable areas. I got a degree in Cadastral and Geodesist Engineer, further to that I did my specialist in GIS both from the Francisco José de Caldas District University in Bogotá.
Jennifer Himmelstein
Jennifer is a Director of Corporate Analysis and Technical Assurance at ACDI/VOCA. In her role, she works across ACDI/VOCA projects globally to ensuring learning is gender- and youth-responsive, including supporting teams to develop youth-specific learning questions and analysis intiatives. Her work has included support to projects in Bangladesh where she developed a social network analysis methodology, questionnaire and report that shed light on male and female's roles, entry points, and social networks in livestock service provision models.
Defining, Creating, and Preparing Youth for Green Jobs: Leaders Speak Out
Daniel Kayemba
Daniel Kayemba is a passionate conservationist and environmental advocate with a strong background in plastic waste management. Daniel works as a Collection and Operations Manager at Eco Brixs, creating 67 collection centers for young people in Uganda where he has collected more than 1000 tons of plastic waste and managing 37 schools under the Plastic for Education Program. He is a member of the Masaka District Natural Resource and Waste Management Committee, where he has led to the development of policies for wetland and forest protection using eco businesses among young people. Daniel volunteered with the International Union of Conservation of Nature, Uganda Country Office, and participated in river restoration projects in Northern Uganda using alternative green businesses for young people.
He has attended professional development programs, including the Paris Agreement on Climate
Change as a Development Agenda and represented Ugandan youths in the Commonwealth
Heads of Government Meeting.
Jane Lowicki-Zucca
Jane Lowicki-Zucca serves as Senior Youth Advisor within USAID’s Bureau for Resilience and Food Security, where she works to strengthen the Agency’s efforts to engage youth in agriculture-led growth, nutrition, green jobs, resilience and water security, sanitation and hygiene activities. She previously served as Program Director with GOAL Uganda, leading the Driving Youth-led New Agribusiness and Microenterprise in Northern Uganda (DYNAMIC) program, a flagship youth-focused market systems development program of the Mastercard Foundation. Jane has held various positions with NGOs and the United Nations across three decades of humanitarian and development service, with an emphasis on youth development. She holds an MPA in Public and Non-profit Management and Policy, with a specialization in International Public Policy from New York University. She is an NYU Catherine B. Reynolds Social Entrepreneurship Fellow and was an elected labor leader as a youth.
Christina Kwauk PhD.,
Christina Kwauk is a social scientist and policy analyst with expertise on girls’ education, 21st century skills and youth empowerment, and the intersections of gender, education, and climate change. Christina is co-editor of Curriculum and Learning for Climate Action: Toward an SDG 4.7 Roadmap for Systems Change and co-author of What Works in Girls’ Education: Evidence for the World’s Best Investment. She has published numerous policy papers, including “The new green learning agenda: Approaches to quality education for climate empowerment.” Christina is an education consultant and research director at Unbounded Associates.
Kathleen Vickland
Katy Vickland is the Director of Youth, Education and Workforce Development at the Palladium
Group LLC. During her 35 plus years as a development professional, Katy has provided technical
leadership and high-quality project management in youth economic empowerment and inclusive
economic growth; workforce development; youth engagement; blended finance; locally led
development and local institutional capacity building; systems thinking; and scaling and
sustainability; among other areas. She has lived and worked across Latin America and the
Caribbean, Eastern and Central Europe, Africa, and Asia, with in-country experience in more than
40 countries. Katy holds a Master in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, with a
concentration in International Development, and a B.A. in Economics from Carleton College.
What Works to Drive Inclusive Youth Entrepreneurship: An Introduction to Inclusive Organizations, Programming, and Services, Including for Indigenous Young Entrepreneurs
Anita Tiessen
Anita Tiessen is Chief Executive Officer of Youth Business International, and leads the global network’s efforts to connect members, partners and young entrepreneurs to develop and scale new solutions that leverage the power of entrepreneurship to drive social and economic change. Anita has extensive experience in international development, human rights and leading global networks. Before joining Youth Business International, Anita was CEO of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, a global movement of 150 country members, where she focused on growing the organisation’s reach and impact. Previously she was Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF UK, and Head of Communications at Amnesty International’s global headquarters.
Holly Atjecoutay
Holly is the Director of the Indigenous Entrepreneur Startup Program at Futurpreneur, leading a team of passionate and knowledgeable Indigenous small business experts across the country. Futurpreneur is a national non-profit organization that provides support, tools, resources, and financing to young entrepreneurs in Canada. Holly is Cree and Saulteaux from Cowessess First Nation in Treaty 4 territory in Saskatchewan and is proud and honoured to call Mohkinstsis (Calgary) in Treaty 7 territory her home. Her professional background is in Oil and Gas, Non-profit, Legal, and Community Economic Development, and she has always worked within and alongside rural and urban Indigenous Communities.
Holly’s main passion and driving force is challenging and breaking stereotypes of First Nations peoples in mainstream society, encouraging education of First Nations youth, and involvement in Indigenous economic development.
Jeanne C. Simon
Jeanne Simon is a Global Corporate Citizenship Manager at Accenture, focused on developing and scaling social impact programs leveraging technology. She leads Accenture’s Skills to Succeed Academy, a free online learning platform offered in nine countries, which helps jobseekers and entrepreneurs stay relevant and thrive in the digital economy. Jeanne also identifies new opportunities to drive learning outcomes using technology and innovation. She joined Accenture in 2008 and was formerly part of Accenture Development Partnerships, driving project delivery and business development with international development organizations.
Jeanne holds an MBA from the Wharton School and an MA from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), where she studied International Development. She serves on the National Advocates Council of Back on My Feet, a national organization that combats homelessness through the power of running along with employment and housing resources.
Building on Learnings: Opportunities and Obstacles to Financial Inclusion
Dr. Michael Boampong
Dr. Michael Boampong is a Senior Youth Advisor at ChildFund International, USA. He has over 18 years of experience in working with a range of civil society organizations and international agencies such as the United Nations and Commonwealth Secretariat in the design and implementation of youth programs and policy that promote rights-based approaches to youth employment, migration, social inclusion, and justice. He was the lead author of the UN World Youth Report on Youth & Migration and the founder of the NGO Young People We Care (YPWC). He holds a Ph.D. in International Development.
Simon Mtabazi
Simon Mtabazi is a co-founder and teamleader of Kikundi App - a fintech that provides digital solutions to savings groups member who don't have access to financial services to save, borrow, invest, and learn key financial skills. Simon is a strategy-led human-centred designer with over eight years of experience in social impact and designing impactful activities and technologies. Simon has led and worked in cross-functional teams to design and implement projects for social good on topics such as social innovation, youth financing and inclusion for children, youths, and women. I am passionate about improving access to quality education, livelihood, and economic opportunities in Africa through creative and innovative homegrown solutions.
Harliet Njenga
Harliet Njenga is the founder of Think Opal, Think Opal Support the growth of Sustainable and Impactful Social Enterprises in East Africa through Coaching, Mentorship and Capacity Building in areas of Marketing, Sales& Business Development. Harliet has more than 8 years’ experience working in Strategic Marketing, Relationship management, business development and acquisition in a variety of sectors. Harliet holds a Bachelor of Communications and Public Relations degree from Daystar University in Kenya, as well as a Diploma in Professional Marketing - Level 6 from the Chartered Institute of Marketing. She is an Ashoka Visionary- and She is Currently a B-leader and works with companies who wish to become Certified Bcorp.
David Hernández-Velázquez
David Hernández-Velázquez is part of the Capacity Development team at FMO, the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank, where he works strengthening the operations of Financial Institutions and their digital transformation to better serve entrepreneurs across the globe. He also sits at the Advisory Board of United Nations Capital Development Fund's Last Mile Trust Fund and co-manages the Impact for Breakfast network in The Netherlands. David’s main activities revolve around financial inclusion, access to education, impact investment, social finance, gender equality, and social mobility for young people.
Improving Spaces for Youth Participation and Empowerment by Strengthening Strategic Planning Policies and Systems
Rana Kawar
Rana is the Deputy Chief of Party for Creative Associates Jordan Technical Assistance Program with 25 years of professional experience in the design, management and implementation of education and youth programs in development and emergency contexts. Her technical expertise and experience comprise team and finance management, fund raising and donor relations, upstream and downstream policy dialogue and advocacy, project co-creation and implementation.
Currently, she is leading the Youth Leadership Capacity Building Program with focus on building the capacity of youth centers in Jordan to implement activities that contribute to the operationalization of the National Youth Strategy. On the policy level, she is leading the work on the development of a system-level effective performance standards for the youth centers in Jordan. These standards are expected to support the Ministry of Youth (MoY) in monitoring the performance of the centers towards better and continued participation of the youth in areas that meet their needs. This is coupled with the creation of a media campaign that aims to highlight the critical role youth play in solving some of the challenges they currently face.
Sahar Mansour Abu Hamour
Sahar is a professional youth worker at the Ministry of Youth in Jordan since 2007. She is currently working and supporting the newly established M&E unit, and vice chairman for the Jordan National Youth Strategy executive office, she is also supporting the evaluation and monitoring of the implementation of the strategy and other programs and activities inside the ministry of youth and its partners. Her main mission at the ministry now is to mainstream the decision support systems work and reforms. She also works to support the development of new youth programs that are most responding to today’s challenges and priorities.
Fostering Social Cohesion to Enhance Youth Livelihoods
Taylor Lanton
Taylor Lanton (she/her) is a high-performing development and emergency response professional with over eight years of experience in the design, start-up, implementation, and close-out of humanitarian programming in sudden onset, protracted, and complex emergency environments. Since September 2019, Taylor has been working with Catholic Relief Services’ DRC country program, first as Emergency Coordinator and now as Head of Programming. Serving as the link between the Integrated Youth Development Activity (IYDA) under which SILC and social cohesion pilot was implemented and Strategic Change Platform 1 (SCP1) team focusing on CRS’ Just and Cohesive Societies strategy, Taylor is able to speak on CRS’ social cohesion framework and linkages to SILC programming.
Charles Bibuya
Charles Bibuya (he/him) has over 12 years of hands-on experience leading large and multi-sectoral teams to develop and implement high-performing Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning/Information and Communication Technology for Development (MEAL/ICT4D) systems across CRS programs in Central Africa Region (DRC, Togo, Benin, Republic of Congo, and Cameroon). He has extensive experience in MEAL system design and implementation, including monitoring-based theories of change, logical frameworks, causal pathways, monitoring processes, accountability systems, and capacity development. He oversaw the mid-term evaluation of the SILC and social cohesion integration pilot and is thus well-positioned to support the leadership of the breakout session.
Samuel Mudumbi Habamungu
Samuel Habamungu is a prominent youth development volunteer with over 9 years of experience working with youth entrepreneur associations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and the private sector to help youth overcome socioeconomic barriers. Since 2020, Samuel has been a Facilitator for a youth Savings and Internal Lending Community (SILC) group called Simama (wake up, in English) and a Coach for youth entrepreneurs in Kavumu, where he applies youth coaching skills gained from NGOs like Catholic Relief Services. Samuel interned with Mercy Corps and focused on media and social and behavior change communication. Samuel has also benefited from various trainings on journalism offered by different private radios, including Radio Club Biega affiliated to Radio Maendeleo. He has a significant wealth of experience about how social cohesion activities boosted his own and his youth peer’s economic development in DRC, including social inclusion for marginalized youth, which he will share during the session.
Youth-led Green Jobs Action Team in Action: Building Locally-led, Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships for Green Jobs
Katy Vickland
Katy Vickland is the main contact but not a speaker. Palladium is identifying 3 youth participants and a facilitator, and as part of our GYEO conference sponsorship will facilitate their in-person or virtual participation. The youth participants and facilitator will represent diversity across geographic areas as well as gender diversity. As the Action Teams have only been meeting for a couple of months, it is premature at this point to pinpoint the actual participants, but they will be selected and will register in time to meet all conference deadlines.
YEO Truly Reimagined: Being Guided by Youth with Disabilities as Knowledge Experts
Rasak Adekoya
Rasak Adekoya is a disability inclusion specialist and a Programme Development Advisor, for Economic Empowerment at Sightsavers. He has extensive experience in leadership, youth engagement and program management. He began his career in broadcasting becoming a national TV and radio personality, and host. He was elected the youth leader for the Nigeria Association of the Blind in 2016 and worked with the National Association of Persons with Disability to support the Central Bank of Nigeria to develop the national youth financial inclusion strategy.
At Sightsavers, Rasak provides technical support including innovative, sustainable and impactful solutions to build the job readiness of men and women with disabilities to enable them to meaningfully participate, benefit and contribute to their local economy. He provides technical solutions to build the disability confidence of transnational private companies such as Unilever, Standard Chartered, Diageo, Access bank, AB InBev, and MTN.
Elizabeth (Liz) Ombati
Elizabeth Ombati is an OPD (organisation of persons with disabilities) engagement officer with the African Disability Forum, a member of the International Disability Alliance. Liz is a journalist, disability rights self-advocate and a member of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (USPK) Kenya which works to promote and advance the rights of persons with psychosocial disabilities.
Moving from Design to Action: Youth Inclusion, Partnership, Leadership and Access to Data as Tools for Genuine Youth-led Change
Joel Miranda
Joel brings over 20 years of experience supporting and leading efforts to create livelihood and economic opportunities for Opportunity Youth, engaging them in the creation and implementation of youth informed and youth-led solutions and the building of community assets at the local level, domestically and now globally.
Prior to joining GOYN full time, Joel led YouthBuild’s global youth leadership and graduate work for 10 years. He worked with young people from multiple geographies to create YouthBuild’s global youth voice strategy, now being implemented in 10 countries. He was an early architect of YouthBuild’s individual, group, and community leadership development competencies, now implemented globally.
Since GOYN’s inception, Joel has shared learnings from his years of experience and YouthBuild’s work with OY, to engage young people in the shaping and launch of the GOYN Youth Voice Agenda including ongoing TA and capacity building to global and community partners and Youth Advisory Groups.
DigiFemmes: Building Business and Careers for Women through Data and Digital Skills
Kathy Vaughn
Kathy Vaughn is a Senior Program Officer in MCC’s Gender and Social Inclusion practice group. Kathy has led the Data2X Gender Data initiative at MCC, she has co-designed the digital and data skills lab for women small business owners in Côte d’Ivoire and has led efforts at the intersection of Gender and ICT Technology. As a co-founder of her pest control company which recently celebrated its 21st anniversary, she also has a granular understanding of the importance of leveraging both digital technologies and data for growth for her business.
Minh H. Chau
Minh is currently on detail to MCC from the White House Presidential Innovation Fellowship (PIF) program. Prior to his tenure with PIF Minh had spent equal parts of his career in venture capital and investment banking, as both investor and later co-founder of a ventured back startup. Since joining MCC, Minh has been working closely with MCC’s Digital Collaborative for Local Impact (DCLI) team focusing on the intersection of digital and entrepreneurship.
Global Kids, Inc: A Case Study for an Empowering Approach to Global Citizenship
Wida Amir
GK-DC Managing Director Wida Amir will oversees program development, staffing, oversight of implementation plans, curriculum building and evaluation, managing partnerships, oversight of local and international travel, as well as managing the organization's strategic direction in the District. Ms. Amir, a leader in the nonprofit sector for over 16 years, has been with GK since 2014, was previously the Immigrant Rights Program Director at the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum and the Program Director at South Asian Youth Action. She holds a BA in Political Science from the University of California, San Diego and two management certificates from the Institute for Nonprofit Management at Columbia Business School.
Libby Hill
GK-DC Director of Programs, Libby Hill leads curriculum development, program facilitation, organization of special events, planning and implementing student trips, and working directly with youth. Ms. Hill has a BA in International Studies and Political Science from Muhlenberg College and an MA from the SIT Graduate Institute in Conflict Transformation with a focus on Youth Programming. She has worked with various youth organizations and schools to provide arts education and globally focused enrichment, facilitated peace building dialogues and activism workshops for youth participating in exchange programs from all over the world, and has been with GK since 2012.
The Digitized Micro-Enterprise
Alice Waweru
Alice Waweru is the Regional Program Manager for the Pan Africa Youth Entrepreneur Development (PAYED) program, funded by the Citi Foundation and implemented in four countries: Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Côte d’Ivoire. The program seeks to build the entrepreneurial and business capability of youth-run businesses in the micro retail sector through digital engagements. She is also the Entrepreneurship Portfolio Lead in TechnoServe Kenya managing multiple entrepreneurship initiatives. She has over 18 years of experience helping small and medium enterprises grow and scale, specializing in enterprise development, capacity building, business planning, strategy development, and financial linkages. She is passionate about youth and women’s economic empowerment and digitization of processes. Before joining TechnoServe, she worked with leading marketing agencies in Kenya managing key multinational BOP initiatives such as Unilever, Shell, Nivea, Colgate Palmolive, and Demonte. Alice holds an MBA in Strategic Management and a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Marketing, both from the University of Nairobi.
Zebradedra Hunter
Zebradedra Hunter is a Program Officer at the Citi Foundation managing international grant investments across all Foundation portfolios. She is also responsible for project managing the Foundation’s inaugural Global Innovation Challenge. Prior to this role, Zebradedra was a Grants Analyst responsible for our Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Bribery due diligence processes and grants administration. Beyond her work with the Foundation, Zebradedra serves on Citi’s NYC Black Heritage Network Steering Committee, leading on community engagement and volunteerism efforts by developing opportunities in service to diverse communities outside of Citi.
Prior to joining the Foundation, Zebradedra worked at USA TODAY NETWORK holding company, Gannett, where she supported the restructuring of the company’s annual grantmaking programs, reviewed grant proposals, and oversaw the organization’s grants management system.
Zebradedra holds a Master’s in Public Policy with a concentration in Nonprofit Management from the University of Maryland and a BA in Economics from Loyola University Maryland.
Andrew Bosson
Andrew Bosson is a molecular biology researcher (PhD) turned management consultant turned startup exec and angel investor, with a career focus on unleashing impact-led commercial models of development. Andrew is currently the VP of Strategy & Impact at Marketforce, a Series A fintech/retailtech startup based in Nairobi. At Marketforce, they are turning their B2B e-commerce platform for informal FMCG retail into a superapp that helps neighborhood merchants become last-mile financial service hubs to access and provide digital financial services.
Catalysing ECD Micro-enterprise Growth: A Triple Impact Opportunity for Children, Caregivers, and Unemployed Youth
Victoria Duncan
Victoria is Head: Research and Evidence at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator, responsible for research, impact measurement, and supporting the organisation’s systems change agenda. She has been with Harambee since 2016 and in her time has conducted a number of qualitative and quantitative studies through the SA Youth network on social inclusion, income and job opportunity pathways. She also assisted with the design and development of Harambee’s Gender Equity and Social Inclusion (GESI) strategy. Victoria has worked with a range of local and international research institutions and funders, as well as partners in the private, public and social space. Most recently, she has been catalysing Harambee’s systems change work within the early childhood development (ECD) sector, which has entailed research, convening sector stakeholders and working closely with the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention. She holds a Masters in Economics from Stellenbosch University.
Nhlanhla Ngulube
Nhlanhla is a Research and Impact specialist in the Microenterprise team at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator. His work focuses on trying to understand the levers of support and interventions required to get more young people starting their own micro-enterprises, or hustling as we call it, as well as measuring and reporting on the impact thereof. His work experience spans across the NGO, Consulting, and Financial services sectors, and he speaks and holds an HSK level 4 qualification in the Mandarin Chinese language.”
The future is Now: Reimagining Youth in U.S. Foreign Assistance Policy
Taibat Hussein
Taibat Hussain is a distinguished gender and youth advocate who possesses more than six years of extensive transnational experience. She is currently pursuing a postgraduate degree in Social Research at the University of Hull in the United Kingdom, where she also serves as the Women's Representative on the Hull Union Student Council.
Taibat's exceptional work through the Rising Child Foundation has resulted in the development of policy and programming aimed at increasing access to education, gender equality, and youth empowerment in Nigeria. She has also supported the 100+ women’s economic collective using a community-based and data-centred approach to Women Economic Empowerment.
Taibat has collaborated with various international organizations to undertake research and develop principles focused in Sub-Saharan Africa. She has served as a research consultant on several cross-national research projects and worked with Restless Development on one of the largest youth-led research projects. She has also worked and written extensively on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-funded 'Partnership for Advancing Women in Economic Development Project'.
Rachel Clement
Rachel Clement has over a decade of experience working with and for youth and in developing policy and leading efforts to promote young people’s rights globally. She is currently a Senior Policy Manager at ChildFund International. She is one of the Policy Chairs for the Alliance for International Youth Development Policy Committee and co-chairs both the Big Ideas for Women and Girls Coalition and the InterAction Children and Youth Working Group. She holds a masters’ degree from George Washington University in International Development Studies and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado. In her personal time, Rachel is a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for a young person in the DC foster care system.
Katerina Ntep
Katerina Ntep is the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s Deputy Vice President for Sector Operations in MCC’s Department of Compact Operations. In her previous role as Managing Director for Sector Operations, she advanced strategic initiatives such as women’s economic empowerment, social and behavior change and results-based financing.
From 2006 to 2013, Ms. Ntep served as MCC’s Resident Country Director in Ghana overseeing the implementation of the $547 million compact with Ghana. The program was focused on increasing agricultural productivity, investing in infrastructure, and supporting community services development.
Ms. Ntep has worked in the field of economic development for more than 25 years, largely focusing on Africa. Prior to MCC, she worked as Advisor to the U.S. Executive Directors at the African Development Bank and the World Bank, where she helped negotiate the 9th Replenishment of the African Development Fund and the 5th General Capital Increase of the African Development Bank.
Alexandra Nemeth
Alexandra Nemeth currently serves as the Deputy Special Envoy for Global Youth Issues. She joined the Global Youth Team in December 2022. Alexandra joined the State Department in 2010. She has worked in several countries including Afghanistan, Malaysia, and El Salvador. Her most recent position prior to joining the Global Youth Team was Press Officer covering the Pakistan portfolio in the Bureau of South and Central Asia’s (SCA) Office of Press and Public Diplomacy. She joined the SCA team in 2020 where she dealt with several crises including the withdrawal from Afghanistan and catastrophic flooding in Pakistan.
Before SCA, Alexandra was Campaign Manager for the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Network. There, she planned and implemented policy-focused outreach initiatives such as girls’ education and women’s rights, public health, and ending gender-based violence. The initiatives successfully motivated youth to take local action. A native of New Fairfield, Connecticut, Alexandra attended American University in Washington, DC and graduated with a B.A. in International Relations and French.