International Community Leaders Join Carter School for a One-of-a-Kind Fellowship

a2c8605a-8799-4c95-a603-7f6cea1bd9ff (Paul Snodgrass) — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 18:42:25 +0000

International Community Leaders Join Carter School for a One-of-a-Kind Fellowship a2c8605a-8799-… Fri, 07/29/2022 - 14:42

In partnership with the U.S. Department of State-sponsored Community Solutions Program (CSP) and IREX, a global development and education organization based in Washington, D.C., the Carter School is proud to welcome five community leaders from Bangladesh, Guatemala, Palestine, and Slovakia.

Together, the CSP Fellows will complete a four-month fellowship with the Carter School where their work will focus on the thematic areas of environmental issues, peace and conflict resolution, transparency and accountability, or women and gender issues.

Upon completion of the fellowship, the Fellows will return home to apply their new skills through community action projects.

Fellows

Jonathan Jiménez

Founding Partner, Family Lawyer and Professor of Law, Universidad Regional de Guatemala, Central America

Jonathan Jiménez was born in Chimaltenango a Mayan indigenous village of Guatemala. He is the legal team lead and founder of Jiménez & Jiménez Family Law Firm that provides legal services to victims of violence in the local indigenous community of Chimaltenango since 2019. Jonathan is certified by the Supreme Court of Guatemala as Law Attorney and Notary Public.

He has more than two years of experience in Human Rights litigation focused on Children and Adolescents and Family law including domestic violence and sexual abuse, mediation and arbitration, illegal immigration, and family disintegration matters.

Jonathan often serves as a speaker and panelist at human rights justice programs and seminars in his community. In addition, he is a Professor of Law at Universidad Regional de Guatemala.

Karam Al-Zaanin

Communications for Development Specialist

Karam Al-Zaanin, holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Al-Azhar University in Palestine, and a diploma in Communication for Development. His skills in communication, networking, presentation, and strategic planning are key assets to his career as a pioneer project coordinator for humanitarian and aid organizations in Gaza.

Karam has the talent to visualize success and identify unconventional yet highly effective strategies for achieving success. He skillfully balances organizational objectives and productive relationships, strategizing and recommending ways in which to achieve and maintain a competitive business edge. Karam’s decision-making and leadership talents have supported his professional growth efforts.

Karam aspires to improve his knowledge and career and pursue making a positive impact in his local community, expanding it to other communities.

Niamat Ullah

Licensed Advocate of the District and Sessions Court, Bangladesh Bar Council
Legal Officer of Legal Cell, Office of the Registrar at the Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP)
Lead of Curriculum, Training & Project Development at Surge Bangladesh
Trainer of Peacebuilding at Peace Maker Studio (partner of UNDP Bangladesh)

Niamat Ullah is an Advocate of the District and Sessions Court under Bangladesh Bar Council and professionally works as a Legal Officer (Legal Cell), Office of the Registrar at the Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP). Prior to joining BUP, he worked as an Assistant Manager (Complaints management) at BRAC, where he developed documentation processes for investigations by maintaining sensitivity and confidentiality with the highest levels of efficiency. He started his professional career with the PVE works at Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center as a Lead Instructor for a special project on 'Promoting Equality in Madrasa Students' supported by the US Embassy, Dhaka in 2018 & 2019.

Niamat also volunteers as a Lead, Curriculum, Training & Project Development at Surge Bangladesh. In 2020, Niamat was awarded the ‘EMK Center Small Grant 2020 award for a PVE-related project, where he successfully implemented a nine-month-long project called Project C-FRIYS “Countering fake news and radicalization with the inclusion of young students”.

He completed his Master of Laws (LLM) from the Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP), where his thesis was “A Critical Study on the Impact of Fanaticism over Freedom of Religion for the Religious Minorities of Bangladesh.”

Simona Marcinková

Humanitarian and Co-Founding Member of STEP-IN

Simona is a passionate teacher and a lifelong humanitarian worker. As a teacher, Simona is an ambassador of Teach for Slovakia leadership program. Simona spent two years among the Roma community, teaching in the largest Roma settlement in Slovakia. As a humanitarian worker, she is a co-founding member of STEP-IN, a Slovak medical non-governmental organization focused on providing healthcare in humanitarian and post-humanitarian contexts. Simona worked with STEP-IN over two years in Iraq, coordinating a medical team in a refugee camp. Since the war spread to Europe, together with STEP-IN team, Simona continues to provide medical help in Ukraine. 

Ula ElHindi

Peacebuilder and Project Coordinator for Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung/Rosa Café

Ula ElHindi, is a project coordinator for Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung/Rosa Café in the Gaza strip, Palestine. She holds a bachelor's of English Commerce-Business Administration. Ula has several years of experience working with women in the peace field, through specialized trainings and workshops. In 2021, she was selected as a peacebuilder by UNWOMEN, a UN organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. She is the founder of Metoogaza, which raises awareness about sexual harassment and rape.

Topics

Bill Potapchuk

a2c8605a-8799-4c95-a603-7f6cea1bd9ff (Paul Snodgrass) — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 02:54:43 +0000

Bill Potapchuk a2c8605a-8799-… Thu, 04/07/2022 - 22:54

Adjunct Faculty, Carter School
Senior Fellow, Center for Peacemaking Practice
President, Community Building Institute

Contact Information

Email: wpotapc2 @gmu.edu

Biography

Bill Potapchuk is President and founder of the Community Building Institute (CBI), an organization created to strengthen the capacity of communities and organizations work collaboratively, inclusively, and equitably healthy, sustainable futures. His work over the past three decades has spanned a wide array of policy arenas and work with nonprofits, community groups, philanthropy, and every level of government. In recent years, his work has focused on community development, early childhood education, democracy reform, and large landscape conservation. Potapchuk has been affiliated with all of the previous incarnations of the Carter School starting with the Center for Conflict Analysis and Resolution in 1987. Potapchuk is widely published. He has co-authored chapters in significant textbooks for the field, including the Deliberative Democracy Handbook, Consensus Building Handbook, and theCollaborative Leadership Fieldbook, and a wide array of monographs and journal articles.