Location

Bala Cynwyd, PA

C4D Focus/Experience

I am a specialist in Communication and Community Engagement/Communicating with Communities/Accountability to Affected Populations. My focus is on engaging members of crisis-affected communities and working with them to make sure their voices and needs are heard in humanitarian programming and to have UN agencies and NGOs produce the most relevant and effective information possible. I have worked for the World Health Program in Bangladesh in the Rohingya refugee crisis as a technical officer for risk communication/Communicating with Communities. I worked with UNHCR and the World Food Programme in Jordan to exchange information with Syrian refugees about food aid. I was the field team leader in Greece for a UK- and US-based NGO called Internews, which specializes in establishing humanitarian information channels utilizing two-way communication with refugees and others caught in crises.

Role

In 2018, I worked with the World Health Organization in Bangladesh to help exchange health information with Rohingya refugees. I also was the coordinator of the Communicating with Communities Working Group in the Rohingya response. I did a participatory video project in Lebanon in 2017 with Syrian refugee teen girls as part of my job with the Mixed Migration Platform, which was based n Jordan. In 2016, I was the field team leader in Greece for Internews, a UK- and US-based NGO that develops two-way communication frameworks with refugees and others affected by crises, and provides information with them and to them. In Greece, I oversaw a staff of about 10 refugees, Greek nationals and international personnel. We collected information in camps from refugees and used it to feed an online humanitarian information service called "News that Moves," and to produce a weekly rumor tracker/correct information bulletin for refugees and a weekly humanitarian feedback bulletin for humanitarian response decision-makers. Before that, I worked with UNHCR and the World Food Program in Jordan to engage Syrian refugees and learn about their needs and preferred channels of communication so as to provide information to them about food assistance in ways and formats they preferred. I believe deeply in respecting members of crisis-affected communities and utilizing their expertise about their situations, in team-building, and in using creativity to confront challenges and meet humanitarian and organizational objectives. As a journalist, I conducted community engagement and advocacy activities as a columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Philadelphia Inquirer newspapers in the United States.

Length of C4D Experience

5-10 years working experience