DEVEX WORLD IS
COMMITED TO INCLUSION.
Devex World brings together the best minds to tackle the biggest challenges facing our world. This year it has been our priority to include more voices from the global south in these important conversations. In order to accomplish this goal, Devex has partnered with Johnson & Johnson, Rotary International and the Segal Family Foundation to bring a select group of their fellows to Washington, D.C. to participate in Devex World 2018. These fellows will enrich the conversation through enhancing the diversity of perspectives and organizations represented.
Johnson & Johnson Fellows.
Johnson & Johnson aspires to profoundly change the trajectory of health for humanity. This aspiration includes positively impacting the health of our employees, our communities and our planet — as we have for the last 130 years. Fundamental to our aspiration is empowering the next generation of change makers in healthcare. That’s why Johnson & Johnson is proud to sponsor the inaugural class of J&J Fellows at Devex World, spotlighting new perspectives in global health and social innovation. Learn more about the J&J Fellows on @JNJGlobalHealth on Twitter and Instagram.
Patience Osei
Patience currently works as a human factors engineering specialist at the Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality and previously worked as the Product Development Manager for Ebola Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) at Johns Hopkins University. Her research interests include the application of human factors engineering and design to infection control and prevention. Patience was a Johnson & Johnson One Young World Scholar in 2017.
Patience Osei
John Hopkins University
United States of America
Jack Hisard
At 25, Hisard is the Executive Director of Mama Clinic, a healthcare initiative which has served over 40,000 patients in 5 years. He was a recipient of a full ride fellowship at Watson University and has represented Kenya through the Young African Leaders Initiative, YALI; a program by President Barack Obama. He’s been voted twice as a finalist for the prestigious Africa Health Personality of the Year Award in 2016 and 2017. Jack was a Johnson & Johnson One Young World Scholar in 2017.
Jack Hisard
Executive Director, Mama Clinic
United States of America
Nontokozo Zakwe
Nontokozo is a HIV prevention advocate working to empower young women and adolescent girls through sounds knowledge and youth friendly health services. She is working for an NGO called the Health Systems Trust, serving as a District Administrator in their DREAMS programme and is a chairperson of the UMgungundlovu District AIDS Council Youth Sector.
Nontokozo Zakwe
DREAMS Ambassador
South Africa
Aya Mouallem
Aya is a 20 year-old electrical and computer engineering undergrad student, co-founder, and young leader. She was named a Google Woman Techmaker and is currently a Women Deliver Young Leader and Stanford She++ Ambassador. Aya’s interests in coding, robotics, and women’s empowerment inspired her to co-found All Girls Code, an initiative immersing young females in Lebanon from diverse backgrounds in free STEM programs. So far, Aya’s greatest pride is that 90% of All Girls Code’s graduates have pursued tech-related majors at university.
Aya Mouallem
All Girls Code
Lebanon
Abdul Zurak
Abdul Samed Zurak is the Chief Executive Officer of Zurak Cancer Foundation; a policy oriented and service delivery NGO providing innovative solutions to cancer prevalence in Ghana through education, awareness and free screening programs in slums and hard to reach and rural communities. He was selected as the 2017 Johnson & Johnson Scholar in order to continue his work scaling Zurak Cancer Foundation and maximize its impact. He is currently working on initiatives such as Cervicus Hackathon; a competition for young girls in slums to develop innovative solution to cervical cancer prevalence in their community. Abdul was a Johnson & Johnson One Young World Scholar in 2017.
Abdul Zurak
Zurak Cancer Foundation
Ghana
Nick Oketch
Nick’s main inspiration is to fight for and advance gender equality, youth development and sexual health rights. His work focuses on youth rights advocacy and capacity building for young women and adolescents in his community. Oketch is currently the Director and founder of Paradigm Youth Network Organization in Kenya, an organization aiming to break the culture of silence around sex and sexuality among young people and adolescents aged 13-24 Years. Nick is a Women Deliver Young Global Leader 2016 and a member of World Youth Alliance, amongst others.
Nick Oketch
Paradigm Youth Network Organization
Kenya
Trang Le
Trang is currently conducting her PhD research on Vietnamese social workers’ attitudes and practices with sexual minorities, aiming to increase knowledge on sexual minorities and promoting culturally competent services for LGBTQI clients in Vietnam. She’s the founder of ‘SOS: Sharing of Stories – The Silenced Speak Up’, a platform where young Vietnamese people, especially disadvantaged minority groups, share their stories regarding sexual and reproductive health. She’s been named as one of the World Contraception Day Ambassadors for her work in advancing women’ sexual and reproductive rights.
Trang Le
Vietnam
Unami Jeremiah
Unami has previously worked as a Young women’s coordinator at the World YWCA in Geneva where she worked on women’s advocacy in leadership and empowerment. She was awarded a seed grant by Women Deliver as a selected Youth leader to lead Project Unbreakable; a sexual harassment awareness campaign at the University of Botswana. Her work focuses on advancing the inclusiveness of women and girls’ in political leadership and economic decision-making and hopes to join the Botswana parliament as a policy maker in her lifetime.
Unami Jeremiah
Botswana/USA
Nayab Ahmad
Nayab is currently the Director of Product Development of Barakat Bundle. There she leads in the development of Barakat Bundle's educational materials and researching and testing potential interventions. Nayab is a graduate from Harvard College with over 5 years’ experience in global and public health research and advocacy. She is driven to work in this field by her one-on-one work with mothers and the research that she has collaborated on abroad and domestically. Through these experiences, she sees the need and urgency to ensure a healthy start for all newborns.
Nayab Ahmad
Barakat Bundle
United States of America
Nice Nailantei Leng’ete
Nice is a FGM Activist for girls in Kenya’s pastoralist communities, having herself escaped forceful FGM at the age of eight. As an adult, she continues to play a key role in the fight against FGM, educating her community, including Maasai cultural elders, traditional birth attendants, mothers and girls, chiefs and church leaders on the negative effects of FGC. She has even overcome the challenge of convincing young Maasai men to abandon the practice. Her work as a project officer with Amref Health Africa has saved an estimated 15,000 girls around Kenya from the cut, as well as from child marriage.
Nice Nailantei Leng’ete
FGM Activist
Kenya
Rotary Peace.
Rotary is a global network of 1.2 million neighbors, friends, leaders, and problem-solvers who see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change. Each year, Rotary selects up to 100 professionals from around the world to receive fellowships to study at one of our peace centers. Through academic training, practice, and global networking opportunities, the Rotary Peace Centers program develops leaders who become catalysts for peace and conflict prevention and resolution.
Kiran Sirah
Kiran is President of the ISC, an educational and cultural institution dedicated to enriching the lives of people through storytelling. Prior to his appointment at ISC, Kiran developed a number of award-winning arts, cultural and human rights centers across the UK and Ireland.
Kiran Sirah
Executive Director, International Storytelling Center
United States of America
Roselyn Vusia
Roselyn is currently working as the Program Coordinator with the Action Group for Health Human Rights and HIV/AIDS (AGHA) Uganda, a non-governmental organization advocating for the health rights of all Ugandans. For the past two years, Roselyn has organized advocacy campaigns around health issues in Uganda, including transparency and accountability in the health sector, monitoring health rights violations, conducting research and producing reports for advocacy purposes.
Roselyn Vusia
Associate Solutions and Development Officer, UNHCR
Uganda
Carlos Juarez
Carlos leads the Mexico Program of the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP). He has led various multi-sector peacebuilding initiatives, including local governments, universities and NGO’s. Carlos is a Rotary Peace Fellow, a graduate of Duke University (Master of International Development Policy), holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics and is the father of three.
Carlos Juarez
Mexico Program Manager, Institute for Economics and Peace
Mexico
Segal Family Foundation.
Segal Family Foundation believes in a world where development is steered by grassroots leaders and power is shifted into the hands of communities. We believe that stellar African individuals leading exemplary organizations are best placed to devise contextual and sustainable solutions to local challenges. They are not, however, the focus of many donors’ funding. We created the African Visionary Fellowship to disrupt this paradigm.
Misan Rewane
As an MBA candidate at Harvard Business School, Misan partnered with fellow West Africans who were passionate about tackling youth unemployment and launched WAVE in 2013. WAVE tackles youth unemployment by identifying motivated but underserved West African youth, training them on crucial employability skills, and connecting them to entry-level job opportunities. By turning motivated young talent into reliable human capital for local businesses, WAVE inspires positive change in employer attitudes, creating a fairer and more inclusive labour market. Misan is a 2017 Segal Family Foundation African Visionary Fellow.
Misan Rewane
CEO, WAVE Academies
Nigeria
Joachim Ewechu
Joachim Ewechu is the Co-founder and CEO at Unreasonable East Africa (UEA), a company that grows early stage, impact-focused companies in East Africa. Unreasonable East Africa has so far supported the growth of 37 companies from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda. These companies have collectively raised over $15 million in funding after UEA's programs, created over 1000 jobs, and meaningfully benefited the lives of over 1 million people. Joachim is also a 2017 Segal Family Foundation African Visionary Fellow and 2013 Acumen East Africa Fellow.
Joachim Ewechu
Co-Founder and CEO, Unreasonable East Africa
Uganda
Muzabel Welongo
Muzabel Welongo is originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, but spent 21 years living in refugee camps in Tanzania and Kenya before moving to Washington DC in August 2017. Muzabel is the founder and Executive Director of SAVIC , a local NGO based in Kakuma Refugee Camp that promotes education, livelihoods opportunities and reproductive health among young people. His career aspiration is to provide leadership in innovations and advocate for policies that enable less-advantaged youth to take full control of their economic and social lives.
Muzabel Welongo
Executive Director, Solidarity & Advocacy with Vulnerable Individuals in Crisis (SAVIC)
Kenya
Barbara Birungi
Barbara is a ground breaking Ugandan social entrepreneur, technologist, mentor and IT project manager. She is the founder of Women in Technology Uganda (WITU), an organization that transforms and empowers the lives of women and girls using STEM education. WITU has trained over 2,000 young women from underserved communities and supported them to get into gainful employment. WITU also supports tech businesses owned by women through its accelerator program. Barbara is a 2017 Segal Family Foundation African Visionary Fellow.
