3rd Class Mickey Leland International Hunger Fellows Profiles

Daniel Abbot

Dan helps to feed one of the project’s goats.

Field Placement: Heifer International and the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) Kenya
Dan worked with Heifer International in Homa Bay, an area of Kenya severely impacted by HIV, on a project to provide livelihoods for caregivers and children orphaned by AIDS through livestock and agricultural development. Dan collaborated with the local public health office to provide health training to community groups on topics such as HIV prevention and positive living, safe water and hygiene. Many community group members began treating their drinking water and underwent testing for HIV for the first time following these trainings.

Policy Placement: Save the Children USA
Dan was a member of both the Public Policy & Advocacy and the HIV units at Save the Children in Washington, DC. In this position, he conducted policy research to influence HIV/AIDS related advocacy strategies and developed supporting documents. He also created a series of policy briefs drawing on Save the Children’s experience in HIV/AIDS programming in its field offices. Dan also represented Save the Children within various coalitions addressing HIV/AIDS and Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC).

Damiana Astudillo

Damiana enjoys the lunar landscape of Uyuni’s famous salt plain.

Field Placement: PROINPA, Bolivia
Damiana was working on the Neglected and Underutilized Species initiative at IPGRI, which seeks to promote crops that are marginally produced and consumed but that have important income earning potential and nutritional value. Specifically, she was conducting a research project on quinoa. Her main task was to assess the actual and potential nutritional contribution of quinoa and its diversity in the quinoa producing households. Damiana was working directly with about 300 quinoa farmers in 12 communities of the Southern Altiplano Region of Bolivia. She conducted focus group discussions, carried out nutritional surveys, and conducted workshops on quinoa and nutrition. Based on requests of the community members that participated in the project, Damiana developed educational material on nutrition as well as a recipe book that focuses on innovative uses of quinoa.

Policy Placement: IPGRI, Rome
Damiana used the data she collected with farmers to develop policy recommendations that that reconcile the cultural, nutritional and economic needs of the population. Among the issues she addressed were: the development of small holder technology that replicates the traditional processing of the grain, awareness and education programs on nutrition with a focus on the use of native crops, inclusion of quinoa and other native crops in school lunches and other feeding programs, and a general social marketing of quinoa.

Yodit Beyene

Field and Policy Placement: IFPRI, Ethiopia
As the Communications Specialist for the Ethiopia Strategy Support Program (ESSP), a collaborative undertaking by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the Ethiopian Development Research Institute (EDRI), Yodit Beyene returned to her home country for the two-year policy and field placement in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Joining in ESSP's effort to overcome the numerous and complex challenges of bridging knowledge and policy to achieve agricultural and rural development in Ethiopia, Yodit facilitated effective communications across various national and international audiences. In addition to developing and managing the programs communication strategies, Yodit was involved in conducting research on the landscape of knowledge management in Ethiopia.

Brian Bogart

Brian helps to oversee a distribution of rice to needy Cambodian families.

Field and Policy Placement: World Food Program, Cambodia
Brian was the assistant head of WFP’s Kampong Speu sub-office, an area that had experienced acute food shortages due to drought over the previous two harvest seasons. Brian was primarily responsible for managing and monitoring activities in the disaster management portfolio, which includes food for work and emergency relief distributions of food aid. While a Fellow, his office was responsible for distributing over 1,200 metric tons of rice to 24,000 needy households. Most of Brian’s efforts were concentrated on ensuring that the food got to the intended beneficiaries so that WFP is able to maintain the support of its donors and local partners.

Sylvie Doutriaux

Camels are a very important type of livestock for Mongolian herders in the Gobi region. Sylvie enjoys a ride.

Field Placement: Mercy Corps, Mongolia
In the context of USAID and USDA-funded Mercy Corps activities, Sylvie conducted a survey of the Mongolian livestock and meat sub-sector, identifying constraints and opportunities along the value chain in order to determine how Mercy Corps can better support its herder clients. Sylvie also led a team in the design and implementation of a survey to assess herder socio-economic conditions and evaluate the impact of Mercy Corps on the herders and cooperatives it has worked with.

Policy Placement: Mercy Corps, Washington D.C.
Working in the economic development and food resources units, Sylvie was part of a team that provided the vision and implementation strategy for the MicroMentor program’s first year at Mercy Corps. MicroMentor helps entrepreneurs grow their businesses through mentoring relationships with experienced business professionals. Sylvie also participated in drawing the Mercy Corps food security approach and in upgrading a food security assessment tools website.

Dalia Emara

Dalia (center) with girls who are back in school after working as maids.

Field Placement: Management Systems International, Morocco
As an advocacy and policy advisor for project “Adros” –a USDOL funded education project targeting working and at risk children- Dalia was responsible for developing the project’s advocacy initiative on school accountability for students’ performance. She conducted a contextual analysis focusing on accountability relationships in the Moroccan education system. Dalia also did a rapid assessment on the project’s partnership strategy with local NGOs and proposed recommendation to streamline the project’s interaction with its local partners.

Policy Placement: Management Systems International, Washington DC
With MSI, Dalia was involved in various monitoring and evaluation projects with MSI. She sought to understand how organizations can use evaluations more effectively. Her research was based on experiences gained in evaluations gathered by MSI over the course of the year.

Lilia Gerberg

Policy Placement: USAID/FFP and Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator, State Department, Washington DC
The Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET) works within USAID’s Office of Food for Peace to provide analyses for food security responses in emergencies. Lilia worked on a project to assist decision-makers—both within USAID and its external partners—to improve responses in emergency situations. In January 2006, Lilia rotated to the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator of the US State Department, where she helped to craft a strategy to address the nutritional requirements of people receiving care and treatment for HIV/AIDS.

Field Placement: Helen Keller International, Senegal
Lilia was working with Helen Keller International (HKI) to strengthen its capacity in nutrition and HIV/AIDS programming in Senegal, and in other priority country programs in Africa. She was working with the program coordinators and stakeholders to strengthen the monitoring and evaluation component of the program, with a particular focus on identifying quantitative and qualitative measures of impact.

Peter Giampaoli

Peter with the staff of the Uganda Land Alliance.

Field Placement: Uganda Land Alliance, Uganda
As a member of the staff of Uganda Land Alliance, Peter did research, policy analysis, advocacy, and programme administration work during his year at the ULA Secretariat. He assisted in the development of ULA’s current five-year strategic plan, administered the implementation of a two-year collaborative research project funded by the Belgian Survival Fund, and participated in consultations on the draft National Land Policy.

Policy Placement: International Land Coalition, Rome, Italy
During his year focusing on land tenure policy, Peter worked at the ILC Secretariat. He coordinated the formulation of a strategy to support members and partners in their efforts to strengthen forest tenure, assist in the development of a new strategic framework for ILC, assist in the oversight and coordination of activities in Africa, and help develop programme monitoring and evaluation methods.

Todd Flower

Todd with key farmer coordinators in the project area.

Field Placement: Save the Children, Uganda
While working with Save the Children’s food security program in the Nakasongola district of Uganda, Todd created an agricultural marketing program to increase farmers’ income by establishing marketing groups, connecting those groups to viable market value chains, and providing training to farmers in marketing skills. Todd also established a model homestead program which provided farmers with training in skills such as beekeeping and fruit tree grafting to diversify and intensify agricultural production.

Policy Placement: Save the Children and Mercy Corps, Washington DC
Todd continued working with the food security unit in Washington, DC and will evaluate marketing programs from various country programs to identify successful and innovative projects that can provide lessons for future programs. Todd will also work with current food security programs to increase their technical capacity and research current practices for livelihood and cash transfer programs.

Michaela Hackner

Michaela enjoys chatting with children in the community.

Field Placement: Pact WORTH Center for Gender and Women’s Empowerment, Cambodia/ Kenya
Michaela worked on Pact’s WORTH initiative, a unique women’s program that aims to combat trafficking through self-empowerment, micro-enterprise development and literacy and numeracy training. The program targets women of all ages in the areas most affected by trafficking. In Cambodia , Michaela worked closely with the local WORTH staff to monitor and evaluate program activities and to produce success stories, newsletters and other communication tools to publicize the program and its beneficiaries. In Kenya, Michaela was supporting the six WORTH programs operating in Africa through technical assistance and program support, the training of trainers, the development of training materials, and monitoring and evaluation techniques and methodologies. Through a joint project between the WORTH center and Pact, Inc., Michaela also collected global success stories and managed the development of a worldwide WORTH website that profiles the women involved in WORTH through storytelling and multimedia technology.

Policy Placement: Pact, Inc., Washington, D.C.
In Washington, D.C., Michaela continued to work with communications technologies to support the WORTH program globally as well as support the 5-year WORTH strategic plan through the design of networked fundraising initiatives. Her time in D.C. also provided opportunities to meet with US Government and other WORTH stakeholders regarding the expansion of the program.

Nathaniel Heller

Nate with agricultural extension workers at the Techiman Ministry of Food and Agriculture District Office in Ghana's Brong Ahafo region

Field Placement: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Ghana
Nate was based in the FAO regional office for Africa conducting research on existing and potential applications of information and communications technologies (ICT) in agriculture and rural development in Ghana. He was developing five case studies focusing on the ways in which information was used for rural development by rural local governments, agricultural research and extension officers, and producer and trader organizations. He was also involved in several projects related to rural ICT, including a workshop to sensitize local government officials to the potential of ICTs and a web portal for rural internet centers.

Policy Placement: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy
Nate spent the first 6 months of his placement at FAO headquarters in Rome, working with FAO's World Agricultural Information Center (WAICENT) in the development of its Bridging the Rural Digital Divide rural information systems program. He also participated in the FAO delegation at the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis. Nate returned to Rome in January 2007 for the last 6 months of the Fellowship, where he developed his field research into policy applications.

Gloria Kessler

Gloria with her supervisors, Dr. Hans Jansen, an economist with the International Food Policy Research Institute, and Dr. Miguel Gomez, Director of the Regional Unit for Technical Assistance.

Policy Placement: IFPRI, Costa Rica
Gloria worked on a project named “The Impact of the Central American Free Trade Agreement on Agriculture and the Rural Sector in Central America.” The main objectives of the project were to inform governments, the private sector and civil society in Central America about the potential economic and social impacts of the CAFTA agreement, and potential problems and promising market opportunities for the small-scale farming sector in these countries. Gloria’s work was an analysis of the cotton, textile and apparel sectors in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua. She was assessing the bottlenecks and constraints to productivity growth in the apparel industry, and the resources and capabilities needed to succeed in the market chain, particularly those needed by disadvantaged households to remain competitive.

Michael Manske

Mike and a Senegalese colleague.

Field Placement: Counterpart International, Senegal
Michael worked on program planning and implementation of a USAID funded Food for Peace program focusing on improving nutritional and organizational support for people living with HIV/AIDS in northern and west-central regions of Senegal. His duties were primarily associatied with supervision and monitoring of nutritional support and capacity building activites for associations of people living with HIV/AIDS. In addition, he conducted an operations research study exploring HIV/AIDS-related stigma associated with a food supplement distribution program.

Policy Placement: Counterpart International, Washington D.C.
As a member of the food security and sustainable agriculture division, Michael provided technical and logistical support to Counterpart Senegal. He also worked as a policy advisor on issues related to HIV/AIDS, nutrition and food security.

Andrew Miller

Andy greets two Bolivian girls and their llama.

Field Placement: Adventist Development & Relief Agency, Bolivia
Andy's field placement was based out of La Paz, Bolivia where he worked on program management for ADRA Bolivia's income production, maternal and children's health, and natural resources components. As a member of the monitoring and evaluation team, he traveled monthly to project sites to review progress and coordinate surveying. He helped design an information system to facilitate program tracking. Andy also served on ADRA's planning and development team, generating several proposals and interacting regularly with USAID and other NGOs. One funded program responded to emergency flooding in Bolivia's Amazon and received special recognition from the national government and donors.

Policy Placement: Adventist Development & Relief Agency, Silver Spring, MD
As a member of the food security sector at ADRA International, Andy was overseeing grant management for USAID-funded programs in Kenya, Honduras and Nicaragua and served as a liaison between ADRA's country offices and the donor. Additionally, Andy represented ADRA at the Coalition for Food Aid, an advocacy group whose mission is to educate the US public and members of Congress on food aid issues and petition for greater resources to increase global food security. He also contributed to ADRA's best practices documentation and dissemination.

Amanda Rives Argeñal

Amanda checks on a tomato crop with Honduran friends.

Field Placement: Christian Children's Fund Honduras
Amanda developed a food security strategy for drought-ridden region in southern Honduras for CCF Honduras. The year-long process she designed included a livelihoods analysis, a nutritional assessment, and an extended participatory rural appraisal with elected community representatives. The strategy was also informed by a study Amanda conducted on hunger and international migration from southern Honduras.

Amanda leads a community group in a discussion of food security.

Policy Placement: Christian Children's Fund, Washington D.C.
As the DC Office's Policy Advisor, Amanda represented CCF in Washington-based advocacy efforts around children and families. Amanda participated in relevant committees, working groups, and coalitions to aid in CCF's policy development. She also coordinatesd CCF's representation on Capitol Hill, and informed CCF headquarters on relevant legislative and executive branch developments, Congressional hearings, and meetings. Amanda served as the office's point person for: Health, Nutrition, Food Security, and Childhood Hunger as well as Latin America and US Programs.

Akilou Seibou

Akilou, left, interviews a community leader on child labor practices.

Field Placement: Catholic Relief Services, Benin
Akilou worked on Education First Project (EFP) funded by the US Department of Labor, aiming at reducing child labor and child trafficking. The project was implemented by a consortium of NGOs and included Catholic Relief Services (lead organization), World Education and Terre des Hommes He also studied the existing government policies and laws governing child protection in Benin. Akilou conducted training for local CARITAS and participated in several workshop and conferences to help Benin government draft a national action plan to fight child trafficking. He worked with local authorities on policy development and completed a study on child trafficking and decentralization in Benin.

Policy Placement: Catholic Relief Services, Baltimore, MD
In collaboration with CRS’ Protection Policy Advisor, Akilou developed a survey report of CRS field programs addressing child labor, with a view to identifying the range of programming, the forms of child labor addressed and the solutions pursued. He helped develop CRS’ child protection framework. He also researched and produced a paper linking food scarcity/insecurity, migration and child labor, and organized Brown Bag Presentations.

Bapu Vaitla

Bapu (foreground) at a community meeting in Ethiopia.

Field Placement: Ation Contre la Faim, Ethiopia
Bapu worked as a food security researcher in highland Ethiopia. His work focused on examining the causes of chronic hunger in various livelihood zones throughout the country, including the agriculturally important coffee exporting areas of the southwest, as well as the subsistence cropping systems of northern Ethiopia, which historically have been the epicenter of famines. The research also critically analyzed the effectiveness of the new Ethiopian government food security policy, including the Productive Safety Nets Program, a public works initiative employing over nine million poor households this year. Bapu's research will be used for Action Contre la Faim's advocacy efforts towards improving the quality of government and donor assistance to rural Ethiopian households, and for informing the organization's own future food security programming.

Policy Placement: Action Against Hunger (London, UK)
During the policy year, Bapu worked with the London office of Action Against Hunger, conducting primary research as well as working to transform the organization's past and ongoing research findings into advocacy platforms. Specifically, Bapu was part of the "Hunger Watch" project, a new initiative within the organization to analyze the broad fundamental causes of food insecurity throughout the world. Hunger Watch especially seeks to examine and publicize those current "forgotten crises" which have not received adequate media exposure and/or needed amounts of international assistance. Hunger Watch uses analyses of the causes of these crises to recommend long-term solutions and advocate for resources from donor countries to implement these solutions.