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.

Before coming to CIE, Vongaishe worked with World Education Inc. in Zimbabwe on improving the lives of orphans and vulnerable children and families with programs in basic education, school governance, vocational and life skills education, integrated literacy, girls and women’s education, HIV/AIDS education and prevention. She was involved in the evolution of in-school and out-of-school nonformal education programs. These NFE centers were designed to offer safe places for out-of-school children and youth to develop functional literacy and numeracy skills using an accelerated curriculum.

Javad Ahmadi completed his degree requirements at the end of 2016 and returned to Afghanistan. His dissertation focused on capacity development and workplace learning at the Afghan Ministry of Education, Department of Planning.

Nolizwe's global experience in advocacy and policy work and in youth development organizations led her to CIE. She is a graduate of McGill University and holds a master’s degree from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. Prior to her studies at UMass, Nolizwe taught African Studies and History for five years at the Johannesburg-based African Leadership Academy (ALA). While at CIE, she conducted research on youth livelihoods in Burkina Faso and completed a short stint in the New York City Department of Education.

Hafez AbuAdwan is from the Gaza Strip, Palestine. In a video interview, he describes his extraordinary journey from life inside Gaza to his journey west, Mr Abuadwan concludes: “a refugee has the power of achieving sustainable development. A refugee can actually make a change in their own society, economically, socially and politically. The world needs refugees to be empowered, so we can actually achieve peace and justice.”

During and after studying at CIE, Sonia has been working with the Human Resources department of UMass Amherst, first as a multicultural evaluator and adult education trainer.  More recently she became the Project Manager with Partnership Worker Education with a focus on career ladders development and multicultural workplaces.

Husband and wife CIE graduates, Ashley Clayton Hertz and Darren Hertz, recently relocated to Bangkok, Thailand. Ashley completed her doctorate in September 2017 and is now consulting remotely with the University Research Co, LLC supporting Reading within Reach (REACH) to develop tools and resources for members of the Global Reading Network.

As my Fulbright Public Policy Fellowship at the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology in Pristina, Kosovo comes to an end, here are some of my reflections.