2017 MDP Practicums

 GABRIELA ARTASANCHEZ

GABRIELA  ARTASANCHEZ 
Gabriela worked with TechnoServe for the Latin American and Caribbean region. She was part of the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) team based in Mexico City. She designed a tool to monitor and follow up the standardization of MEL practices in the region. Gabriela supported an internal evaluation by conducting focus groups and interviews in rural Mexico and wrote a report for that evaluation. She wrote quick guides for qualitative research both in Spanish and English for better practices for the MEL team. After completing her internship Gabriela started working at Technoserve.

 TOLUWALOPE ADE BABINGTON TOLUWALOPE ADE BABINGTON 
Ade worked as an intern with CARE International in Uganda where she helped build staff capacity on PIIRS (Project and Program information and Impact Reporting System). PIIRS is a knowledge management system used by CARE to capture the breadth and depth of its work. While in Uganda, Ade organized and led training workshops to familiarize staff with the various components of the system. She also collaborated with the staff to develop data and information tracking tools to facilitate the PIIRS reporting process.

ADZA BEDAADZA BEDA 
Adza worked as an intern with the Adaptation at Scale in Semi-Arid Regions (ASSAR) project in Ghana. ASSAR is a research project coordinated by the University of Ghana's Institute of Environment and Sanitation Studies (IESS) that aims to develop an interdisciplinary understanding of barriers and enablers impacting the climate, environment, society, and economy. Adza assisted the team with data collection in the Upper West Region of Ghana. She participated in three key activities: transformative scenario planning and post transformative scenario planning prioritization, changing household structure/gender interviews and the student introduction to the ASSAR climate competition.

TYLER BREEN TYLER BREEN 
Tyler undertook a field practicum consultancy with the International Center for Tropical Agriculture. developed a report analyzing the feasibility of various projects under the World Bank Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture Grant. Project analysis focused on water infrastructure, milk/meat value chain strengthening, reforestation, anti-erosion, and pasture availability. Tyler conducted interviews with women's groups, community rotating credit unions, small-holder agricultural workers, as well as milk and meat producers. He also conducted a geo-spatial analysis of environmental variables impacting agricultural and agro-pastoral productivity.

 ANDREINA CORDOVA ANDREINA CORDOVA 
Andreina worked with CARE Jordan's Monitoring and Evaluation program to develop strategic qualitative and quantitative tools for data collection and analysis. Among her many responsibilities, she provided a regional training to Jordan, Egypt, and Syria on CARE's Project and Program Information and Impact Reporting System (PIIRS) which is used to evaluate CARE's 25 global indicators.

 JESSICA DOANESJESSICA DOANES 
Jessica worked with Khulumani Support Group in Johannesburg, South Africa, assisting their Enterprise Development Center (EDC). As a member of the EDC team, she drafted business documents, conducted research, designed a monitoring and evaluation performance assessment and assisted with the development of the curriculum for the Social Learning Workshop for Cooperatives (SLWC). Jessica's research focused on the incorporation of economic and social rights in transitional justice. She also worked with fellow MDP student Timothy Ruparain to complete a participatory observation report of the pilot SLWC.

SARAH DURRY

SARAH DURRY 
Sarah spent the summer conducting in Ranomafana, Madagascar with Emory's Department of Environmental Science in collaboration with Center ValBio in Ranomafana, Madagascar. Sarah helped administer household surveys as well as collect over 1,000 fecal samples from humans, livestock, and mouse lemurs for analysis. The overall goals of the research are to identify the traits of pathogen communities, social economics, behavior, and ecology that best predict diarrheal disease in children, a prevalent health issue in the region.

 VALERIE ELKINS

VALERIE ELKINS 
Valerie spent her summer in Nairobi, Kenya working with Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS). JRS aids refugees and internally displaced persons through accompaniment in navigating the resources available. Over the summer she performed home visits to check in on beneficiaries and collect their stories to incorporate into a book for the Mikono Craft shop at JRS that sells refugees handmade crafts. She also created and implemented a needs assessment survey and provided a report with policy change recommendations to better serve the needs of JRS beneficiaries.

 JONATHAN EOLOFF

JONATHAN EOLOFF 
Jonathan interned at the National Center for Historical Memory (CNMH), a Colombian governmental entity dedicated to collecting victims' testimonies and documenting human rights violations that occurred during the armed conflict. Working with CNMH's Voices from Exile investigative team, Jonathan traveled to Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela where he assisted in interviews, focus groups and workshops with Colombian refugees and others who fled the war. Drawing on these stories, Jonathan is contributing to the writing of a report on Colombian victims' exodus, refuge and forced return after displacement.

emory_mdp_samantha_friedlander.jpgSAMANTHA FRIEDLANDER 
Sam spent the summer in Port-au-Prince, Haiti working as a communications intern with Partners in Health (PIH), a public health nonprofit organization focused on providing free healthcare to those living in poverty. Sam gathered success stories, created internal presentations, and researched and wrote a keynote speech for the 2017 Water and Health Conference at the University of North Carolina. She also spent time living at Zanmi Beni, a children’s home founded by PIH following the 2010 Haitian earthquake. 

 MARIA GUZMAN MARIA GUZMAN 
Maria assisted CARE International's Multiplying Impact team with monitoring and evaluation support for CARE's country office in Guatemala. She also assisted with strategic planning for CARE's Guatemala 2020 vision and mission. In addition, Maria conducted impact training for CARE staff in Lima, Peru and in Quito, Ecuador.

 SYDNEY HERNDON SYDNEY HERNDON 
Sydney spent her summer in Morogoro, Tanzania, working with professors at Emory and Sokoine Universities, as well as the International Livestock Research Institute. She conducted mixed methods research to explore how shifting livelihoods strategies among Tanzanian pastoralists influence socio-cultural and gender norms, food access and food valuation and how the intersections of these ultimately influence food choice. She contributed to the collection of qualitative and quantitative data through focus group discussions, household surveys, and in-depth interviews, and market data across six field sites.

 RAVEN HINSON RAVEN HINSON 
As an Emory Global Health Institute team member in Nairobi, Kenya, Raven did monitoring and evaluation consulting work with an organization called Nyumbani. The organization helps children with HIV/AIDS by providing holistic care. She worked closely with the Lea Toto Adolescent Program to measure the impact this program had on the children. She worked on an interdisciplinary team of students from Emory to accomplish this research and put together recommendations for the organization moving forward.

 SIDRA KHALID

SIDRA KHALID 
Sidra worked as the School Health and Nutrition Gender Fellow with Save the Children in Kyrgyzstan. She was the principal investigator for a qualitative study to explore gender norms and attitudes of 10-14-year-old boys, girls, and teachers in the Kyrgyz context. The project, part of a larger international program, is being used to inform the adaptation of a gender equality curriculum to challenge restrictive gender norms and promote gender equity among young adolescents.

RACHEL LASTINGER

RACHEL LASTINGER 
Rachel spent the summer in with World Vision Ethiopia serving mainly on their Resource Development team, assisting in grant proposal writing. She also worked with a grant project, Engaged, Empowered, Educated Ethiopian Youth (E4Y), to analyze participatory tools used to address gender inequality and girls’ dropout rates from school. She trained CCL staff to conduct the qualitative research and the findings were used to develop a Best Practices Guide and research report that offered recommendations on how to incorporate the topic of early marriage into the tools.

 XIN LI

XIN LI 
Xin worked with United Methodist Church's Global Ministries in Cambodia as a Program Evaluator for the Community Health and Agriculture Development (CHAD) program. Xin was involved in all phases of the evaluation, including planning, implementation, and drafting of the final report. She visited seven villages in four provinces, conducting focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and participant observation. The evaluation results were presented in the annual stakeholder meeting of CHAD program with recommendations for how the program might best address beneficiaries' needs in the future.

emory_mdp_ryan_mintz.jpg

RYAN MINTZ
Ryan spent his summer working with the International Center for Tropical Agriculture in Kenya. He conducted an analysis of past development projects in Kajiado County and developed a report on potential opportunities for particular projects to be scaled up through the World Bank Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture Grant. Projects examined included anti-erosion agriculture projects, changes in land tenure, pasture availability, and maintenance. The report may be used to shape applications for future climate-smart agriculture initiatives.

 MIA NIEVES MIA NIEVES 
Mia worked as an intern at Global Growers (GG), an NGO that works to connect refugee communities with farming experience to land in order to strengthen local food systems in the Atlanta area; thereby supporting refugee livelihoods and nutrition. Mia assisted with program management and also farm operations at GG's farm. This included editing, researching, and communicating with partners. While learning about development issues through a small scale lens, she also worked in the supply chain for food for local consumption.

KATIE OSWALD

KATIE OSWALD 
Katie worked with Habitat for Humanity International as a communications associate with Habitat for Humanity Uganda. Based in Kampala, Katie provided communications support in order to motivate increased donor engagement. This work included launching a quarterly letter, designing a website homepage, documenting family success stories and more. She also developed a partnership assessment tool and analyzed a potential partnership for Habitat Uganda's vulnerable groups program. Katie also traveled to Kenya to conduct a site visit for Habitat's volunteer and institutional engagement department.

 BILLY RICE BILLY RICE 
Billy Rice went to Liberia to work with the Carter Center. He conducted research on customary legal practices in an effort to compare traditional judicial systems with statutory law. His work has the potential to enhance the harmonization of Liberia's dual justice system. He met with traditional leaders and others in rural Liberia to conduct interviews.

 TIM RUPNARAIN TIM RUPNARAIN 
Tim interned in Johannesburg, South Africa with the Khulumani Support Group (KSG), a human rights organization of more than 100,00 victims and survivors of apartheid-related gross human rights violations. He assisted KSG with building the foundations for their Enterprise Development Center (EDC), a resource and networking hub for community members from local townships to start social enterprises and cooperatives to overcome the impact of the historical undermining of economic opportunity from Black South Africans during the apartheid era.

 DAVID SABINO

DAVID SABINO 
David worked in Guatemala with RTI International on an evaluation of the Guatemala Model Police Precinct project, a collaborative inter-agency, peace-building effort supported by the U.S. Department of State. The program focuses on promoting community policing interventions to improve security outcomes. David worked with RTI International to develop supplementary qualitative analyses to evaluate the effectiveness of combined patrolling initiatives between the National Civil Police and local Municipal Traffic Police departments.

 TARANGINI SAXENA

TARANGINI SAXENA 
Tarangini worked with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) on gender dynamics in dairy production and marketing in Kenya. Working directly with dairy farmers and cooperatives, she led a value chain analysis to determine the opportunities and constraints experienced by women in the intensifying dairy industry. Through interviews with multiple stakeholders, Tarangini illuminated income and asset negotiations within dairy farming households. She also produced recommendations for a gender-sensitive low-emissions dairy strategy for NAMA, the Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions initiative.

 BETHANY SIKES BETHANY SIKES 
Bethany spent her field practicum in Haiti working for J/P Haiti Relief Organization's Hurricane Matthew Emergency Response. Bethany wrote a report analyzing and evaluating J/P HRO's neighborhood methodology in relation to its shelter repair and disaster risk reduction projects throughout the Grand'Anse Department. Bethany also produced an oral history of one project and utilized qualitative research skills such as participant observation, focus group discussions and interviews and surveys to conduct her research.

 DANIELLE VEAL

DANIELLE VEAL 
Danielle worked in rural Kenya and Ethiopia studying cross-cultural perceptions of well-being among vulnerable populations. In collaboration with Emory anthropologist Dr. Peter Little, she interviewed youth between the ages of 18-24 about their perceptions of well-being and happiness, including what material and non-material things contribute to well-being. She also assisted with focus group discussions as well as data entry, cleaning, and analysis, to increase understandings of well-being in different cultural contexts.

 JULIAN WYATT

JULIAN WYATT 
Julian completed his field practicum in Liberia with the Carter Center's Mental Health Program. As a co-investigator, he played a key role in developing the research protocol and data collection tools for a study that assesses the quality of care of mental health services within various health care settings in post-conflict Liberia. He conducted key informant interviews as part of a needs assessment for an epidemiological study which sought to identify the prevalence of mental illness among inmates in Monrovia Central Prison.