Terms Of Reference Podcast

Fsahat U.l. Hassan is the founder and current Chairperson of the Youth Advocacy Network, a national level youth-led democratic and volunteer-driven organization in Pakistan with more than 1,500 members across the country. Fsahat recently received the prestigious Youth Excellence Award from the President of Islamic Republic of Pakistan for his work with young people. He also chaired the first youth-led regional level conference for youth in 2014 and represented Pakistan and the region in multiple other venues.   Fsahat is also a regional council member of Rah-nu-ma and the National Focal Point for the Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS.

Blair Glencorse is the Founder and Executive Director of the Accountability Lab, an organization that empowers citizens to fight corruption and build accountability around the world. He is also a Social Impact Fellow at the Center for High Impact Philanthropy at the University of Pennsylvania.    Previously, Blair worked for the World Bank on issues of governance and development. In 2014 he was selected as an Echoing Green Fellow and a Stanford Business School Social Entrepreneurship Scholar.

Bibhusan Bista is the CEO and co-founder of YoungInnovations, a software development firm based in Nepal. With a background in technology, research and international development, he has led successful projects around open data, transparency, accountability and other development issues in collaboration with local and international partners.  Bibhusan is an active member of the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) technical advisory group and has been part of similar initiatives such as the open data movement in Nepal, through the OpenNepal consortium, and the first open data portal for Nepal.   Prior to YoungInnovations, Bibhusan worked with Bellanet, an IDRC project, and SAP International, a regional INGO in South Asia. Bibhusan is also a part-time faculty at Kathmandu College of Management.

Ziad Moussa is an independent development professional specializing in local governance and evaluation who over the past 18 years has worked across the entire Middle East and North Africa, the Mediterranean countries involved in the Euro-Med process and significant parts of the African continent.  Ziad’s track record in local governance and decentralization includes leadership roles in key regional initiatives and the Resource Centers on Urban Agriculture and Food Security. His work in evaluation has included several large-scale evaluations for IFAD, ILO, the European Union and IDRC. Ziad is a former board member of the International Development Evaluation Association and a former leader of the MENA Evaluation Association.

  Janna Greve is a human rights specialist working as a Regional Office Coordinator for MAPP-OEA in Colombia. Previously, she worked with Medecins Sans Frontieres in North Kivu of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Janna has also worked in development cooperation, advisory, research, writing and editing roles in Brazil, India and Germany, with NGOs and other international organizations. Janna studied Political Science, International Relations, Cultural Anthropology, Jurispudence and International Human Rights Law at Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt, Germany and at the Universidade de Coimbra in Portugal.

Mohit Mukherjee is an educator-entrepreneur who in 2006 founded the Centre for Executive Education at the United Nations Mandated University for Peace (UPEACE).  As Director of the Centre for Executive Education, he has developed and taught over 40 seminars in seven countries on themes ranging from ‘Educating in Changing Times' to ’Social Entrepreneurship’.  He is also the founder of ‘Changemakers International’, which focuses on youth and social innovation. Prior to founding the Centre, Mohit served as Education Programme Manager of the Earth Charter Initiative, which promotes sustainable ways of living through respect and care for the environment, human rights, justice, democracy and peace. He also spent four years at A.T. Kearney, a management consulting firm based in San Francisco.   He was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University, and a Master of Education degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Jodi Nelson is the director of Strategy, Measurement & Evaluation at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Committed to helping the foundation maximize its results, the Strategy, Measurement & Evaluation (SME) team is responsible for the organization’s strategy development and review process and its overall approach to measurement and evaluation. SME leads efforts to integrate results-based planning into the foundation’s grant making and operations; develop a strong, organization-wide M&E Community of Practice; conduct independent evaluations of the foundation’s most important investments; and provide teams and leadership with access to relevant data for learning and decision-making. Prior to joining the foundation, Jodi was the director of Research and Evaluation at the International Rescue Committee. There for almost ten years, Jodi created two new initiatives to improve the organization’s measurement system. In 2003, Jodi raised private funds to launch a three year effort to bridge the gap b

A former professional dancer, Stefanie Eppe is an experienced senior nonprofit leader and educator.  With a strong track record in nonprofit leadership and strategy, Stefanie holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Southern California, and has served as a senior staff member for the National Youth Employment Coalition in Washington, D.C. and at Para Los Niños in Los Angeles, California, leading programming, strategic planning, evaluation, and quality assurance efforts.  She is a member of the Board of Directors for Everybody Dance Now!, where earlier this year she also led the organization as interim Executive Director. Through her work during the past 20 years, she has advocated for children, youth and families living in poverty, and those searching for access to better resources and opportunities. Stefanie now lives in Costa Rica with her husband, her 1-year-old son, and their two dogs, where she works as a non-profit management consultant, and as a private psychologist. 

Nichole Graber-Simmons is Director of the Office of Citizen Security for USAID in Kingston, Jamaica. The Office of Citizen Security is part of USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI), which in turn is part of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA). The OTI was established in 1994 to provide fast, flexible, short-term assistance to take advantage of windows of opportunity to build democracy and peace, seeking to lay the foundations for long-term development by promoting reconciliation, jump starting economies and helping stable democracy take hold. Prior to joining USAID nearly six years ago, Graber-Simmons worked for the American National Red Cross in its response to pandemic influenza, and before that she worked for the UNDP in Fiji, mainly on disaster preparedness projects. Graber-Simmons has a Master’s in International Development from Monash University and a Graduate Diploma in International Relations/Develop

  Sandra Sudhoff is Technical Manager at CartONG, a French NGO that enables emergency relief and development organizations and local governments to manage their own existing data, integrate other data sources and then use that data to plan programs and monitor progress and impact. Sandra has worked for CartONG for nearly eight years, facilitating mobile data collection with Android phones; implementing remote and thematic mapping projects; developing e-learning and screencast capabilities for GIS applications, and developing information management and GIS UN Cluster Coordination and products. In addition to her work as Technical Director of the organization, she has undertaken field work in Kenya, Bangladesh, Haiti, Vietnam, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malaysia and Uganda.

  Evert Bopp is a self-described "low-flying Dutchman" who has made Ireland his home. After 15 years in commerce- and revenue-driven fields in the tech industry, Evert founded Disaster Tech Lab in 2010 to provide rapid response communication networks for use in disaster relief and humanitarian aid work globally by responding organisations, as well as affected communities.

Christy Stickney is an international development consultant with over 20 years of experience designing, evaluating and documenting innovative, market-based development initiatives. She has developed particular expertise in housing micro finance, and worked as regional Director of Housing Finance at Habitat for Humanity International, overseeing the design and implementation of innovative projects in shelter finance and construction throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. She has published over a dozen studies, manuals, and practical guides in microfinance, affordable housing, and alternative technologies for water and sanitation. 

Nesreen Barakat has more than 20 years of experience in the area of economic and social development, working with government, international organizations, civil society, and the private sector in Jordan. Recently, she served as a Minister of Social Development, Minister of Public Sector Development and General Director of the National Aid Fund. Prior to that, she was a Council Member at the Greater Amman Municipality, Economic Advisor to the Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW) and a Director of the Competitiveness Unit at the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation.  As an entrepreneur, in 2005, Nesreen founded To Excel Consulting and Associates, a company focused on the provision of consulting services related to socio-economic, administrative and local development studies. Nesreen has extensive experience in managing and implementing result oriented technical assistance projects: she was the lead of the Enhancing Productivity Component (Economic Development Program) at SABEQ, a USAID f

Timo Lüge is a Communications and Advocacy Consultant working mainly for UN agencies, NGOs and the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement. He has been working in the humanitarian sector for seven years and worked as a journalist for nearly ten years prior to that. During emergency response operations, Timo works mainly on public information and media relations. When in Europe or the US, he focuses on how digital technology can be better used to support emergency management and humanitarian relief operations. Timo blogs at http://sm4good.com.

Kyle Schutter is the Founder and Managing Director of Takamoto Biogas. Trained as an engineer at Brown University, Kyle researched biogas in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Ghana and the USA before in 2011 he founded a company that constructed individual biogas systems for small-scale farmers in rural Kenya. After two years of operations, Kyle invented the Takamoto Pay-As-You-Go Biogas business model and technology to enable more people to access renewable energy without a large up-front capital investment. Kyle has received the Enjuba Young Entrepreneur Award, Heinberg Social Innovation Award, received “Special Recognition” from the Sankalp Africa Summit 2014 and took second place in the William James Foundation Business Plan Competition. He has lived in Kenya for the last three years and continues to search for innovative solutions to provide sustainable, modern energy for rural communities.

  David Shorr has spent most of his career as an analyst working with leading think tanks, philanthropies and advocacy groups across a broad range of foreign policy issues, and is currently working to wind down the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation’s nuclear security program. Before he was engaged on that project, he spent 14 years with the Iowa-based Stanley Foundation, developing constructive new approaches to the world's compelling challenges, including the evolution of the G-20, climate change, the roles of rising powers, US national security strategy, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's 2005 initiative to reform the United Nations, and refugee protection and rights issues. He was awarded a BA in religious studies from Brown University, and an MPA from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Malini Patel is the Senior Director for Middle East and North Africa and Acting Senior Director for Economic Empowerment at Vital Voices Global Partnership. She is responsible for vision and leadership; day-to-day program and financial management; program design, quality and integrity; new business development; and internal and external relations. With 20 years of international development experience, Ms. Patel has led teams globally in Europe, the Caucasus, Africa, Middle East, Latin America and the Pacific and has overseen technical programs in SME/MAGE growth, community development, democracy and governance, advocacy, local and regional economic development, micro-finance and organizational development globally. Prior to joining Vital Voices, Ms. Patel worked at numerous non-profit, for-profit, educational, and government entities including CHF International (Global Communities) and Peace Corps. Ms. Patel received her Bachelor of Arts from University of Michigan and Masters in Public Administration from Ne

Erin Bourgois is Project Manager of Cambodian Acid Survivors Charity (CASC), a non-profit based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia that provides medical, legal, and psychosocial support to survivors of acid attacks, as well as working to eliminate acid violence through raising awareness, research, education and advocating for strict regulatory action at the national level. Previously, she served as Programmes Manager for Acid Survivors Trust International in the U.K., and worked as Senior Financial Manager, Foreign Policy Program, and Project Administrator, Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement, at The Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. She studied Political Science at Shepherd University in West Virginia, USA.

Jonah Ayodele Obajeun is Chief Curator of Tolerance Academy, a Nigerian non-profit youth membership-based organization that he founded in 2010 with the aim of establishing peace-building and democratic systems that empower young people to make responsible decisions concerning their development. In addition to his efforts with Tolerance Academy, Obajeun works as a Customer Service Operations Manager for the Nigeria operations of a multinational consumer goods company, and is a multi-award winning writer and blogger whose first book of fiction will be published later this year. He was named a Finalist in the 2011 Echoing Green Fellowship, and has studied in Portugal and Nigeria.

Farzeen Ferdous Alam is the Founding President of OGGRO, a development organization based in Bangladesh. He started OGGRO while in high school and subsequently dropped out and continued his studies privately in order to dedicate time to OGGRO during its infancy.  His risk paid off when OGGRO won the prestigious Youth Solidarity Fund award of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAoC) in 2009. The following year he was honored by MTV Staying Alive Foundation UK for “outstanding achievement in HIV/AIDs awareness”. Farzeen has developed numerous social business models in order to transform OGGRO from a fund-dependent organization to a self-sufficient one.    A graduate in Economics from the University of Dhaka, Farzeen is also the Chairman of Ferdous Biotech Pvt. Ltd, which uses tissue culture to produce various agricultural products for local and foreign markets.