Alexander Kostura
Country: Peru
Organization: AidData Center for Development Policy
Alexander spent the summer serving as an AidData Summer Fellow with the AidData Center for Development Policy. AidData is a research and innovation lab that aims to make development finance data more accessible and actionable. Specifically, AidData collects and analyzes geospatial (or geographic) data to answer the questions: Who is funding what? Where? And to what effect?
Country: Peru
Organization: AidData Center for Development Policy
Alexander spent the summer serving as an AidData Summer Fellow with the AidData Center for Development Policy. AidData is a research and innovation lab that aims to make development finance data more accessible and actionable. Specifically, AidData collects and analyzes geospatial (or geographic) data to answer the questions: Who is funding what? Where? And to what effect?
Alexander: “My internship with AidData and USAID was an incredibly rewarding experience, for which I am grateful to the Blakeley Foundation. While I did not expect to work with a US government entity, I am glad it was with a USAID Mission abroad because I had the opportunity to interact with multiple NGOs and Peruvian government agencies. This experience reaffirmed my decision to pursue a career with the US Federal government in humanitarian assistance and international development. Previously, I held some hesitation about the impact of USAID. My experiences have taught otherwise. USAID missions are staffed with wonderful people who want to affect change and improve lives. Furthermore, the US government is collaborating with research labs like AidData and creating their own organizations like the USAID GeoCenter in order to innovate and improve their operations. In my career, I hope to be a part of fostering these kinds of partnerships, supporting applications of new technology, and improving international development outcomes."
Madeline Thomson
Country: Mexico
Organization: Grupo Compartamos
Madeline Thomson worked as an Accion Ambassador and Strategic Planning Intern to contribute to the launch implementation of the operations of Compartamos Foundation. She performed site visits and interviews with top organizations and foundations in Mexico to compile best practices, and participated in a week long strategic planning session to define organization purpose, beneficiaries, values, and styles. Upon the conclusion of her internship, she presented findings from her independent research projects on social impact evaluation and technological innovation to the foundation’s management.
Maddie: “Overall, my time at Compartamos was a wonderful experience and I learned more than I could have imagined possible from a summer internship. In being part of the Foundation from the ground up, I strengthened my communications and analytical skills. Most importantly, I realized how much I love working in a strategy role. Thank you so much for your generosity. I cannot express enough how grateful I am to have had this opportunity.”
Country: Mexico
Organization: Grupo Compartamos
Madeline Thomson worked as an Accion Ambassador and Strategic Planning Intern to contribute to the launch implementation of the operations of Compartamos Foundation. She performed site visits and interviews with top organizations and foundations in Mexico to compile best practices, and participated in a week long strategic planning session to define organization purpose, beneficiaries, values, and styles. Upon the conclusion of her internship, she presented findings from her independent research projects on social impact evaluation and technological innovation to the foundation’s management.
Maddie: “Overall, my time at Compartamos was a wonderful experience and I learned more than I could have imagined possible from a summer internship. In being part of the Foundation from the ground up, I strengthened my communications and analytical skills. Most importantly, I realized how much I love working in a strategy role. Thank you so much for your generosity. I cannot express enough how grateful I am to have had this opportunity.”
Samuel Rosenow
Country: Mexico
Organization: FINCA Mexico
Samuel Rosenow designed, managed and implemented a nation-wide evaluation of FINCA Mexico’s social performance. In his capacity as Survey Manager, he completed a randomized and clustered sampling plan and established a field visitation schedule while hiring, training, and managing a team of 7 enumerators as they conducted 798 face-to-face interviews with clients across Mexico. He was responsible for the compilation, cleaning, and analysis of survey data, and prepared tools for econometric impact assessment as well as poverty targeting.
Samuel: “My work stint reaffirmed for me the importance of evidence-based policymaking to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty. Heading a nation-wide impact study not only reined my skills in program management and evaluation but also enriched my understanding of the opportunities and limitations of other micro-based development policy interventions, such as in health or education.”
Country: Mexico
Organization: FINCA Mexico
Samuel Rosenow designed, managed and implemented a nation-wide evaluation of FINCA Mexico’s social performance. In his capacity as Survey Manager, he completed a randomized and clustered sampling plan and established a field visitation schedule while hiring, training, and managing a team of 7 enumerators as they conducted 798 face-to-face interviews with clients across Mexico. He was responsible for the compilation, cleaning, and analysis of survey data, and prepared tools for econometric impact assessment as well as poverty targeting.
Samuel: “My work stint reaffirmed for me the importance of evidence-based policymaking to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty. Heading a nation-wide impact study not only reined my skills in program management and evaluation but also enriched my understanding of the opportunities and limitations of other micro-based development policy interventions, such as in health or education.”
Jaime
Country: Brazil
Jaime worked with Mobile Metrix to define high impact health issues to focus on, validated results of government, NGO, academia and community programs and made recommendations relating to the coordination and cooperation of private and government health organizations.
Country: Brazil
Jaime worked with Mobile Metrix to define high impact health issues to focus on, validated results of government, NGO, academia and community programs and made recommendations relating to the coordination and cooperation of private and government health organizations.
Danielle / Courtney
Country: Peru
Danielle Cooperated with ACCION Investments to analyze their micro-finance portfolio and performance indicators and to recommend client protection policies.
Courtney worked with NGO’s partnering with KIVA, a web based NGO partnering with MFI’s in over 40 countries, interviewing borrowers and evaluated their needs. She also trained local staff about KIVA.
Country: Peru
Danielle Cooperated with ACCION Investments to analyze their micro-finance portfolio and performance indicators and to recommend client protection policies.
Courtney worked with NGO’s partnering with KIVA, a web based NGO partnering with MFI’s in over 40 countries, interviewing borrowers and evaluated their needs. She also trained local staff about KIVA.
Sihatha & Yanina
Country: Brazil
Sihatha strategized potential cross-sector partnerships for Mobile Metrix. Conducted an environmental scan of existing agencies, identified areas for organizational growth and contributed to a proposal to a major pharmaceutical company.
Yanina was in charge of the interviewing and selecting of mobile agents, preparing training materials performing training of mobile agents working for Mobile Metrix in professionalism, interviewing and survey techniques using PDA based software.
Country: Brazil
Sihatha strategized potential cross-sector partnerships for Mobile Metrix. Conducted an environmental scan of existing agencies, identified areas for organizational growth and contributed to a proposal to a major pharmaceutical company.
Yanina was in charge of the interviewing and selecting of mobile agents, preparing training materials performing training of mobile agents working for Mobile Metrix in professionalism, interviewing and survey techniques using PDA based software.