Lusayo is originally from Lilongwe, Malawi. After getting her Bachelor’s Degree in Communications there she became a Project Coordinator with the Center for Alternatives for Victimized Women and Children (CAVWOC).  In that position she facilitated, organized and conducted community mobilization and sensitization meetings on HIV and AIDS, Education, Women’s empowerment, Human Rights and child protection issues.  She then entered the Master’s program International Education at UMass Amherst.

Before coming to Amherst, I worked as the English Language program Coordinator for USAID/Kabul.   Then, In 2012 I became the Executive Assistant to the Deputy Minister for Academic Affairs in the Ministry of Higher Education, Afghanistan.  During my degree studies at UMass, I worked as a project assistant on CIE’s higher education project in Afghanistan.

Nyaradzai is originally from Zimbabwe.  Before coming to CIE in 2014 she was active in a number of educational programs. She volunteered at Mashambanzou Care Trust, a not-for-profit organization in Harare, where she contributed to community education programs that empowered youths with practical life skills and promoted positive behavioral change. Specifically, the program encouraged girls, who were the majority of high school drop-outs, to take greater control and interest in their health and welfare.

I am originally from Aceh, the most western part of Indonesia. I started my career as a volunteer at a local NGO, where I was involved in humanitarian assistance and an alternative education program for children affected by 30 years of armed conflict. Later, I joined the Henry Dunant Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, where I was involved in facilitating the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (2002–2003). My interest in working in the education and peacebuilding fields stemmed from those experiences.

After graduating from CIE Ryke returned to his position as Assistant Manager with the Ministry of Education and Culture, Directorate General of Early Childhood, Non-Formal and Informal Education.  In that role he was responsible for conducting evaluations of various programs and leading workshops.

Yaëlle completed a Master’s Degree at CIE in International Education focusing on the intersection of early childhood education and international development.  Her studies and research while at CIE helped solidify her commitment to holistic, culturally-relevant, and developmentally-appropriate early childhood education.

After graduating from CIE, Surl Hee was involved with INEE's capacity development survey doing quantitative analysis under the initiative of Stephen Richardson. More recently she has been at home in Delaware supporting her two kids, Ahron and Einne, with their remote learning.  She looks forward to going back to professional work when her kids get a little older, and schools reopen!

After completing her Master’s degree Evangeline worked with Stephen Richardson as a consultant with the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE).  She was part of a team conducting a mapping and market analysis of the capacity development needs of the EiE sector as input to the capacity building strategy for INEE.

After graduating from CIE, I went to Malawi and started volunteering for Outernet, which is an Open Access education project initiated by several professors at UMass Amherst. Based at the National Library in Blantyre, I worked on systematic evaluation of the initial sets of transmissions to the Malawi schools and libraries that UMass Amherst has been supporting.

Sebastian Lindstrom was born and raised in Sweden, leaving at the age of 20 to explore a passion for film. He set off on a journey to visually represent the resilience and togetherness of humanity and the environment. In doing so, he founded What Took You So Long - an international collective with 15 full-time employees. They have filmed across 100 countries frequently partnering with the United Nations and nonprofit and development organizations.