4th Class, 2007-2009
Field Placement: World Food Program, Kampong Cham, Cambodia
Based in the Kampong Cham Sub-Office, Kurt managed and monitored the implementation of WFP’s food assistance interventions in eight provinces in eastern Cambodia. Kurt liaised with cooperating partners at the community level to improve the quality and effectiveness of WFP food assistance programs and strengthened monitoring and evaluation systems. Programs included food-for-work, food-for-education, maternal and child health, the national tuberculosis control program, and home-based care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS and orphans and other vulnerable children.
Policy Placement: World Food Program, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Based in WFP’s Cambodia Country Office as a Program Officer in the Health and Nutrition Unit, Kurt supported three WFP food assistance interventions: maternal and child health, the national tuberculosis control program, and home-based care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS and orphans and other vulnerable children. Key focus areas included partnerships with government and non-governmental partners, joint programming with fellow UN organizations, beneficiary targeting, project output and outcomes, and advocacy. In addition, Kurt provided technical assistance to the Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting and Vulnerability and Analysis Mapping Units on training, assessments and surveys.
Pre-Fellowship Education/Experience:
Kurt is originally from Gainesville, Florida. He holds Bachelor of Arts and Master of Education degrees from the University of Florida and a Master of Public Health degree from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. Prior to becoming a Leland Fellow, Kurt’s served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal and a public health intern with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Thailand. He also worked for Family Health International on HIV/AIDS education, the Bureau of Tuberculosis Control at New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and as a research assistant at the Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning. Kurt also taught English as a Second Language at the University of Florida and worked on drop-out prevention and college outreach programs with at-risk high school students in Gainesville.