2021 Hubert H. Humphrey Fellows
Afiavi Caca Akibode
Afiavi is from the Republic of Togo in West Africa. She holds a master's degree in project management. She is currently a technical advisor in entrepreneurship at the National Agency of Employment (NAE), in charge of the development of small scale companies. Before joining the NAE, she worked for International Labor Organization (ILO). Certified by ILO as an entrepreneurship trainer and coach. Afiavi has assisted many small enterprises in the framework of vocational training and youth employment. She has also successfully organized several activities to support women in entrepreneurship. Her future goal is to promote women's entrepreneurship in agribusiness.
Fadia AL-BAHR
Fadia is a computer engineer from Yemen. She is the chair of the Yemen chapter of Arab Women in Computing, where she is leading a team to plan, implement and fundraise the chapter projects and activities. She has a long work experience in managing projects that aim to alleviate poverty and facilitate economic growth with a special focus on women. Fadia's goals are to join efforts for Yemen post-war reconstruction and development which are in the service of building Yemen’s economy and alleviating poverty.
Ana Arteaga Ortega
Ana Lucia, from Colombia, is an Industrial Engineer at ICESI University in Cali, with a specialization in Public Finances (2010). She received her Master's Degree in Energy Regulation Studies at Externado University in Bogota in 2013. She has more than 13 years of experience working in the public sector in energy and finance matters. She worked for 7 years at the National Planning Department as Royalty Advisor. She currently works as a Solar Rooftop PV Coordinator at EMCALI Utility company, modeling solar rates and business models for solar self-generation projects. She would like to create a solar entrepreneurship center for woman.
Angela Aurora
Angela works as a professor at the University of El Salvador, in different areas such as social sciences research and journalism research. She has 25 years of experience in higher education administration in graduate study programs. She received her masters degree in 2003 from the University of El Salvador as Methodology and Social Research. After that she studied in the Faculty of Latin America of Social Science- FLACSO. Then, worked as the graduate school director of Sciences and Humanities and coordinated the team for creating a unique program. Right now she works in the department of journalism, this goal is to provide a new generation of independent and social critical journalists to make a more democratic system in El Salvador. Currently she directs the historical research of the journalist treatment in the news between 1979 and 2009, in El Salvador.
Mohamed Ben Fredj
Yacine is currently the Financial Affairs Director in the Ministry of Religious Affairs in Tunisia. In addition, he is a member of the steering committee in partnership with UNOHCHR, aiming to enhance the capacity of the ministry to promote human rights and religious freedom. He has also been engaged since 2006 in the public sector as public services advisor in different ministries. Yacine obtained a Bachelor of Judicial Private Law in 2002 and a Masters of Public Law in 2015 from the University of Tunis El Manar. In December 2006, he was awarded the Certificate of the long course of National School of Administration of Tunis. During his Humphrey year, Yacine would like to strengthen his skills in leadership and public policy while exchanging ideas and best practices with colleagues from around the world.
Asmir Butkovic
Asmir has studied Technical Informatics at University of Tuzla (BSc) and completed his PhD in Computer Science and Informatics at the University of Sarajevo, on the domain of geographical profiling of cybercrime offenders. He has worked at a police support agency, Ministry of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina and is an assistant professor at the University of Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He holds over 15 years of experience in data analysis, database management, and software development, to improve the availability and quality of data as support of national statistics and security sector governance. Through the Fellowship Program, he wants to gain technical skills in urban and regional planning with the goal of advising on solutions to reduce crime and increase security in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Claudia Diaz
Claudia is a Mexican lawyer who specializes in human rights and international law. Diaz is passionate about humanitarian and social equality issues. She has worked as an education liaison for UNICEF in Guerrero, Mexico. In this capacity, she supervised violence prevention projects in schools and a multicultural strategy to prevent inequalities amongst children. Between 2015 and 2018, she worked as a human rights officer in the Supreme Court of the Nation in Mexico to ensure the rights of women, indigenous people, LGBTIQ population, and children in judicial decisions. She is an alumna of the Global Shapers Community of the World Economic Forum. Diaz has a Bachelor of Laws from the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Mexico. As a Humphrey Fellow, Diaz is focusing on the protection of human rights in the digital era, more specifically on the protection of children's best interest online to prevent violence and technology-facilitated sexual exploitation and abuse.
Ana Dominguez
Ana, from Panama, is a Civil & Environmental Engineer, and has worked on climate & sustainability reforms since 2006 for the Ministry of Environment of Panama. She has mentored junior professionals who are leading sectoral efforts in climate research and actions for the national government. She promoted the Academy on Climate Change for Young Leaders, which has been an incubator for young leaders who have represented the voice of Panama from civil society in different initiatives at national and international levels. She is currently focused on engaging the private sector in the fight against climate change to accelerate low-emission economic development of Panama.
Oleksandr Dovbnia
Oleksandr is an urban planner from Kharkiv, Ukraine. He graduated with his Masters degree in Urban Economy from of the Kharkiv State Municipal Academy of Urban Economy in 2005. He received his Masters degree in Public Administration from Kharkiv Regional Institute of Public Administration of the National Academy of Public Administration under the President of Ukraine in 2017. Oleksandr has worked as a public administrator in the urban planning and development field for more than 15 years. In consideration of his position as of the Head of the City Master Plan Department of the Urban Planning and Architecture Department, during his fellowship, Mr. Dovbnia plans to work out an efficient mechanism for preparation and coordination of the next city master plan developing.
Sina Haj Amor
Sina received her Doctoral Certificate in Medicine from the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis University El Manar in 2004. She also earned a Masters degrees in Public Health, Family Medicine, and Emergency Medicine. She is currently working as Director of the Carthage Health District and as a Family Medicine Trainer and acts as a liaison with the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis University El Manar. Sina is strongly interested in the field of communicable and non-communicable diseases. She is a member of the Research Department on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology & Prevention in Tunisia. Sina has been responsible for implementing a number of activities for behavioral change and health promotion. During the Covid-19 crisis, Sina played a huge role in providing training for health professionals in the private and public sectors on measures to protect against the spread of Covid 19. She managed 2 containment centers for suspected cases and one containment center for Covid 19 positive cases.
Muhammad Ohiedul Islam
Muhammad, from Bangladesh, is an Education Specialist. He completed his graduate and post-graduate work in Education at the University of Dhaka. He has been working for more than 14 years with a focus in Early Childhood Development (ECD), Early Grade Reading Instruction, and Youth Engagement. He has been commended for smooth project implementation, developing teaching-learning materials, and facilitating different events and trainings. He has also developed a primer for pre-primary learners and a full education package for illiterate Rohingya youth and adolescents. During his tenure, he has worked for national and international organizations, such as RDRS Bangladesh, Save the Children International, Aga Khan Foundation and Plan International. Muhammad is now participating in the Fellowship Program in the field of ‘Educational Administration, Planning and Policy.’ Hopefully, this experience will increase his ability to work effectively with government officials at the primary level to bring a positive change.
Lissette Giovanna Lazo
Lissette, from Chile, is a professor of Spanish Language and Communication. She specialized in literature, graduating as a reading mediator, then continued her studies for a master's degree in Latin American and Chilean Literature. Subsequently, she studied to become a Human Rights Educator. She currently works at Fundación Tierra de Esperanza, an organization that looks after the welfare of the most vulnerable children and adolescents in the country. Since 2016, she has been carrying out pedagogical work to promote the continuity of studies of those who have been deprived of liberty, ensuring the right to education and social reintegration of its students. From 2019 to 2020 she directed the program ASE CIP CRC Santiago, a school support program inside an incarceration center for minors. She will continue her studies at Penn State University, in search of strategies to improve the education system inside prisons.
Fernanda Pozo
Fernanda, from Quito, Ecuador, has a Masters degree in Human Talent Management from Simón Bolívar Andean University. Over the last twelve years, she has been committed to fostering work cultures that are highly empowering and results-oriented, as well as to attracting, retaining and developing staff in companies with different lines of business. Examples of business include retail, banking, the oil industry and NGOs, including Ecuadorian Red Cross, Insotec Foundation, and Petrobell Oil Company. The focus of her work is to design socially responsible policies and processes by creating working spaces that preserve the physical and emotional health of staff and foster equal opportunities and an inclusive environment. While avoiding discrimination, she seeks to support the personal and professional growth of workers and of community members in general. For the last seven years, she has been teaching Human Talent Management at UDLA University. She will continue her studies at Michigan University to specialize in Human Resources Management with an emphasis in labor inclusion.
Polina Sidelnikova
Polina, from Russia, is a practicing licensed attorney in civil and customs law, as well as a defense attorney in criminal and administrative cases. An important focus of her practice is the protection of human rights.
Polina has been professionally engaged in human rights assistance for the last 6 years. All of the cases are related to violations of civil and political rights, including illegal detentions during rallies and arrests for reposts on social networks. She has filed complaints on behalf of detained citizens since 2008, even when not working as an attorney and has often worked pro bono.
In 2003, Polina graduated from the Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok, Russia with a degree in Law (jurisprudence). After that, for several years, she worked as a lawyer in various government agencies (city administration, pension fund, customs).
Bakht Zamina
Bakht is an inspiring educationist hailing from a remote area-Bostan District, Pishin, Balochistan. Being a gold medalist in Social Work from the University of Balochistan she has a successful and distinguished professional career working in various national and international organizations for the promotion of education with a special focus on girls. Bakht has worked with organizations like the World Bank, European Union and UNICEF. She has accomplished projects like Promoting Girls Education in Balochistan, (PGEB), Baloch Education Project (BEP), and Balochistan Education Support Project (BESP), while doing her degree in MPhil in Social Work. Bakht is a trend setter, and she intends to inspire the young and emerging female youth of Balochistan to come forward by helping to remove barriers and obstacles to girls’ education in her province.