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The TFF - Johns Hopkins University Partnership
Since 2004, Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies
(SAIS) in Washington has collaborated with TFF in connecting graduate school
students anxious to gain work experience on international development projects
with TFF, which has benefited from their varied contributions and ideas. In the
past five years, TFF Cameroon has hosted SAIS graduate students from the
Caribbean, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States. Here are some of the
SAIS students and graduates who have worked with us in Bamenda:
Henrik Bl�ute
Henrik Bl�ute worked with TFF in summer 2009. He is a Masters Degree candidate
at the Johns Hopkins University SAIS Bologna Centre in Italy, where he is
studying international development and international economics. Prior to
graduate school, Henrik worked as a consultant and as Assistant to the Managing
Director in Europe and the USA. He also interned with the United Nations Office
on Drugs and Crime. Henrik holds a Bachelor in Business Administration from the
International University in Germany, Bruchsal.
Morgan Bushey
Morgan Bushey, who worked with TFF in 2006, now works at the Federal Reserve
Bank of New York, where she is focused on learning about the role of the
financial sector in economic development in hopes of returning to Africa to work
on macroeconomic stability and financial sector reform projects. During the
summer of 2006, Ms. Bushey and Nikki Duncan worked with TFF staff to set up an
organizational and programmatic structure for TFF. They met with numerous local
community organizations to gauge how TFF could best fill gaps in community
development programs and to determine which organizations would benefit most
greatly from TFF technical and financial assistance. They taught
capacity-building workshops to local nongovernmental organizations on how to
better mobilize their members, focus their missions and make an impact in their
communities. They traveled to local villages to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS and
did an analysis of the public education system to create a national scholarship
program in hopes of giving more Cameroonian children access to education.
"I found my internship with TFF to be enlightening, educational and
life-changing. I still keep in touch with dozens of wonderful Cameroonians whom
I met while working in Bamenda, and I remain in awe of their energy, sincerity
and determination. I did my best to help TFF evolve into an effective, focused
organization, although I often think that TFF and its staff had a much greater
impact on me than I did on them. The experience gave me first-hand exposure to
the nuts and bolts of international development and invaluable insight into the
human dimension of development work. Following my internship at TFF, I returned
to SAIS better able to contribute to theoretical discussions on development,
having gained practical experience in the field." �Morgan Bushey
Nikki Duncan
Nikki Duncan, who also worked with TFF in 2006, is a Staff Consultant for AECOM
International Development, a global economic and infrastructure development firm
promoting higher living standards in emerging markets, through the provision of
high-quality, technical advisory services to governments and the private sector.
Ms. Duncan's assignments focus on trade-related technical advisory services to
African economies. She also supports several community-based development
projects and proposals in places such as Senegal and Rwanda. At SAIS, she
studied international economics and international development, with a geographic
focus on Africa. In addition to Cameroon, she has worked in Botswana, Kyrgyz
Republic, Liberia, Mali, Rwanda, Senegal and Swaziland.
"I gained hands-on, grassroots, community-development experience
working directly with both nascent and well-established community-based
organizations in Bamenda. I improved on my organizational development training
skills focusing on a wide range of general themes from strategic planning,
communications, organizational structure and management. I also had the
opportunity to use some of the skills I obtained from my job prior to SAIS
working at a public health consulting firm by facilitating a community dialogue
on HIV/AIDS in Batibo." �Nikki Duncan
Angela Stephens
Angela Stephens worked with TFF in 2007, before completing a Master of
International Public Policy at SAIS. She is now the Development Outreach and
Communications Officer with the U.S. Agency for International Development's
Office of Sudan Programs, based in Washington. A former journalist, Ms. Stephens
helped the TFF Foundation Radio staff develop radio programming and learn
digital audio editing.
"The TFF staff are incredibly dedicated to
improving the lives of Cameroonians. It was inspiring for me to collaborate with
such optimistic colleagues. Working together to launch and improve Foundation
Radio, we not only met Cameroonians of all walks of life who told us their
stories and informed their fellow citizens, we accomplished something it took
all of us working together to do." �Angela Stephens
Lisette Planken
Lisette Planken worked with TFF in 2007 after her first year of study at Johns
Hopkins University�s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Her
interest in international development was inspired by her extensive travels as
an Olympic athlete during a 10-year diving career. Ms. Planken provided
technical assistance and training to the full-time staff who run the radio
station. She also contributed to designing and producing creative radio programs
for broadcast and putting administrative systems in place that have equipped the
local staff to better manage the radio station. She is originally from the
Netherlands and speaks Dutch, English and some German and French.
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