5th Class, 2009-2011
Field Placement: Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Mali
From CRS’ field office in Sevaré, Mali, Kerri Agee worked on nutrition, health, and hygiene programming as part of a larger CRS food security initiative. She was primarily involved in capacity building activities with local implementing partners to assist them in tailoring their health and nutrition projects to fit community-level needs. Kerri participated in a variety of project-related trainings and helped facilitate a ten-day training of trainers in the Positive Deviance/Hearth approach to behavior change practices for caretakers of undernourished children. She researched and wrote concept papers on commodity distribution to targeted health centers, vitamin A and de-worming medicine distribution, and the incorporation of hygiene messages into health activities targeting children under the age of five and their caretakers.
Policy Placement: Catholic Relief Services, Baltimore, MD
Kerri Agee worked on food security policy for CRS. Among her duties, she collaborated closely with CRS’ hunger advisor on key issues related to the Administration’s Feed the Future initiative, including the role of civil society in formulating national food security strategies and nutrition issues. She also conducted research on monitoring and evaluation indicators for the World Bank food security trust fund – GAFSP (Global Agriculture and Food Security Program) – as well as researching policy issues for CRS’ work on reauthorization of the Farm Bill. Additionally, Kerri provided research on how climate change intersects with food security for an on-going discussion CRS and Catholic organizations around the world had with Caritas International in preparation for a global policy stance on climate change.
Pre-Fellowship Education/Experience:
Kerri Agee served as a TEFL (Teacher of English as a Foreign Language)/AIDS Peace Corps Volunteer in Cameroon from 2001-2004. Her experience as a Peace Corps volunteer greatly influenced her graduate studies and desire to work overseas in the field of maternal and child health and hygiene. Kerri completed a dual Master’s degree in Social Work and Public Health at the University of Maryland where she focused on maternal and child health, international health, and health policy. For her MSW, Kerri interned in the Maternal and Child Health Bureau of Health Resources and Services Administration at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services where she worked on perinatal health issues such as nutrition and breastfeeding. Kerri is originally from Baltimore, Maryland and received her BA in Political Science and Women’s Studies at the University of Pittsburgh.