In 2016, Atlas Corps p
artnered with the USAID under the Towards Enduring Peace in Sudan (TEPS) initiative (implemented by AECOM) to enable three emerging social leaders from Sudan to come to the US as a part of the established Atlas Corps Fellowship–a 12- to 18-month professional exchange program designed to develop social change leaders, strengthen organizations, and promote innovation.
In 2018, Atlas Corps is focused on empowering emerging female professionals. Meet the three women leaders from Sudan and find out how they are creating change not just in Sudan but globally.
Maysa Elsarag (Class 23, Host: Street Sense)
Maysa is a graduate of Computer Man College (CMC) where she obtained Bachelor’s Degree in Information Technology. She also holds a Master’s degree in Project Management from the University of Medical Science and Technology. Maysa has three years’ work experience in nonprofit organizations. Most recently, Maysa was the Programs Coordinator at Organization for Voluntary Humanitarian Assistance Programme at Food Security and Livelihoods (FSL). In those role, she researched humanitarian needs and vulnerable population context, implementation of food security and livelihood activities and conducted monitoring and evaluation of food security and livelihood projects In November 2016, Maysa participated in a mission to South Sudanese refugee camps to assess the food security situation and livelihoods opportunities reinforcing her resolve to do more to alleviate the sufferings. She is passionate about food security, women empowerment projects, disarmament, topics of poverty alleviation and eradication of hunger and passion for child education and development. As an Atlas Corps Fellow, Maysa served at Street Sense, a social enterprise that uses media to create income-generating opportunities for men and women experiencing homelessness in Washington, D.C.
As Atlas Corps Fellow, Maysa worked with Street Sense overseeing the sales department –where vendors purchase newspapers from Street Sense as independent contractors and then sell those newspapers to the public. She also worked with both the sales operation directly and supervised a volunteer sales team, focusing on the delivery of case management.
Esra Edres (Class 23, Host: Disaster Accountability Project)
Esra has six years of experience in the nonprofit sector and earned a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Khartoum in Sudan. She also received a Professional Diploma in Management of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) from the University of Medical Sciences and Technology in Sudan. While working as a Program Associate with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), she coordinated the implementation of the DFID-funded Joint Resilience Project (JRP) in Eastern Sudan. This was to improve targeted communities’ health and nutrition conditions, increasing their livelihoods and building their capacity to absorb shocks. She managed to ensure that communities were satisfied with the package of interventions provided and donor requirements were being met. Previously, Esra worked with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) serving the women in Darfur as a member of the Humanitarian Response unit. She was responsible for managing the yearly work plans and providing regular reports on programmatic financial data. Through these experiences, Esra has developed good project management, monitoring and evaluation, and reporting skills. She appreciates focusing on results-based programs and working on tools that measure the impact of assistance on people’s lives. Esra leveraged her skills to support two nonprofit organizations in Washington, D.C. during her Fellowship: a humanitarian relief transparency organization called Disaster Accountability Project, and Pyxera Global a nonprofit that brings together governments, corporations, and communities to improve lives and livelihoods.
With Disaster Accountability Project, Esra added critical capacity building support as DAP prepares for the launch of SmartResponse, an ambitious effort to improve effectiveness/transparency/accountability in humanitarian aid donations by collecting and sharing “location-specific” and “pre-disaster” data on the capacity, activities, and history of CSOs, NGOs, and INGOs involved in disaster relief, humanitarian aid, and other human services.
Amani Osman (Class 23, Host: American Red Cross)
Amani Osman has over nine years experience in the nonprofit sector. She is a graduate of Criminology and Sociology from Royal Holloway University of London and has spent her life between the UK and Sudan. In her most recent capacity as Communications Officer for International Organization for Migration (IOM), Amani was responsible for all forms of communications for IOM Sudan including but not limited to; media relations, press releases, human interest stories, IOM Sudan website, global campaigns and events, social media accounts, advocacy efforts and local government relations. She designed and developed a monthly interactive newsletter, as well as creating and launching from scratch the new IOM Sudan website. Amani acquired skills in utilizing social media and print media, newsletters, calendars, fact sheets, information briefs and advocacy reports. Project planning, monitoring and evaluation systems, quality assurance, budget management and capacity development among others have all been essential components of her previous job roles. Whilst working as Grants Manager at GOAL Sudan, Amani successfully developed comprehensive multisectoral project proposals gaining the organization over twelve million dollars in funding for projects in health, WASH, protection, nutrition, and livelihoods. Through her work with the different international organization in both London and Sudan, Amani has gained skills in research, communications, monitoring and reporting, grant and proposal development in numerous fields; including conflict resolution and peacebuilding, human and women’s rights, child protection, and democracy and governance. With a strong passion for and firm belief in human rights, gender equality and protection, Amani is interested in focusing on developing human rights standards and increasing awareness in Sudan on child protection, law enforcement and peacebuilding. She is also committed to the capacity development of local organizations, in turn assisting those less fortunate through a conceptual understanding of participatory approaches and sustainable development interventions.
Do you want to join Atlas Corps in our commitment to empower women globally? It all starts NOW! Take action. Sign up to get involved! To know more visit: EmpowerWomen@atlascorps.org
NOTE: This write-up about Toward Enduring Peace in Sudan Program (TEPS) is made possible by the support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID.) The contents of this write-up about Toward Enduring Peace in Sudan Program (TEPS) are the sole responsibility of Atlas Corps and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.”