Our People

Lana Abu-Hijleh became the Country Director for Global Communities-West Bank and Gaza in 2003. Before joining Global Communities, Lana was Assistant Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Program for the Palestinian People (UNDP/PAPP) for 17 years. She fulfilled a series of technical and policy development roles with progressively increasing responsibility.

Lana is the first woman to join the Board of Directors of the Palestine Investment Fund (PIF) and the Bank of Palestine Group, promoting gender equality and youth engagement in the private sector. She is a fellow of the Aspen Institute Middle East Leadership Initiative, through which she launched the globally acclaimed Youth Local Councils (YLCs) Initiative. She is the 2017 winner of the prestigious John P. McNulty Prize for leadership. Lana is the founder and Chairwoman of SHIAM-Youth Make the Future organization and Intersect-Innovation Hub, which aims to support the Palestinian innovation ecosystem. She is a member of the Palestinian Businesswomen Forum, the global Young Presidents Organization (YPO/WPO), and the Palestinian highly acclaimed dance troupe El-Funoun. In 2015, the BBC named Lana one of the 100 most inspirational women in the world for the positive example and the hope she provides for young Palestinians.

Ameha Aytenfisu has over 20 years of experience in technical and managerial roles in development and humanitarian response programs. His technical experience includes Productive Safety Net Program, Joint Emergency Operation Program, livestock production and marketing, dryland resource management and agricultural research in dryland areas.  

Ameha holds a master’s degree in Farm Forestry from Hawassa University, he is a Certified Manager, a Certified International Program Manager and a Certified Project Management for Development professional. He is trained and experienced in the application and use of ArcGIS and statistical software packages, as well as in conducting biodiversity analysis and econometric analysis and modeling. 

Before PCI, Ameha worked for Save the Children International/Ethiopia country office as the Senior Program Manager for over seven years and in the Transformation to Food Security-Development Food Assistance Program (T2FS-DFAP) and PSNP programs. Through his 20-year career, he has worked in food security, water, sanitation and hygiene promotion (WASH) and NRM, climate change/DRR, livestock production and emergency response proposal development. 

Lisa Bain is the Director for Global Communities United States (U.S.) & Border Programs.  She has 20 years of experience designing, implementing and evaluating health programs to achieve health equity. Lisa works to align U.S. programs with national quality standards and has extensive experience including leadership of perinatal health programs including Global Communities’ Healthy Start program (funded since 2007).  

Previously, Lisa was the Project Manager for two chronic disease focused programs funded by HRSA and NHLBI which provided patient navigation and Community Health Worker training for the Somali, Latino and Filipino communities struggling with chronic diseases. Lisa is a certified LEAN Six-Sigma practitioner with additional training in project management, childbirth education, patient navigation and mental health first aid. Lisa started her career as Peace Corps volunteer in South Africa, focused on HIV education and teacher training. 

Indrajit is the Country Director for Project Concern International (PCI) India. He is a management professional and a development thinker, working for nearly two decades towards conceptualizing and leading multiple large development initiatives in various sectors in India and other countries in South and Southeast Asia.

He led the successful implementation of the flagship initiative of PCI, called JEEViKA Technical Support Program, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in the state of Bihar as the Chief of Party. The program developed from a successful, scalable model for integrating health and nutrition interventions in community platforms and is currently replicated across India.

Before PCI, Indrajit worked as the Director, Monitoring Learning and Evaluation in CARE India, where he established an innovative mechanism called, Concurrent Measurement and Learning. He also led the development of the first comprehensive mobile health application in India, which scaled nationally. Before CARE, Indrajit worked with other organizations such as Save the Children and PRADAN, where he spent much time in remote tribal areas of India designing and implementing programs and conducting ethnographic studies with marginalized tribal communities.

Indrajit has a master’s in Business Administration in Forest Management from the Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Bhopal.

Nick Ford is the Chief of Party for Pamoja Tuwalishe, the largest school feeding program in Tanzania that is partnering with the Government of Tanzania to build the national school feeding program.  Nick is an accomplished international project leader with 26 years of successes leading teams to design, fund and execute complex, multi-million-dollar portfolios in challenging operating contexts in Africa, the Balkans, Asia, and the Middle East. Nick lives with is life partner Jen and their two children, Isabel, and Charlie.

Victor Idumba has over 20 years of experience managing international donor-funded programs in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and in West Africa and the Sahel Region. Victor brings in-depth experience in the technical fields of economic growth, governance, peace building, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programs. He has demonstrated expertise in program and budget management, monitoring and evaluation, resource mobilization and grants management. Victor is the Country Director for Global Communities in DRC and the Chief of Party for the Zahabu Safi (Clean Gold) project and direct supervisor for the Mercury-free ASM Gold Project under the Responsible Gold Innovation Fund. 

Before joining Global Communities, Victor was Managing Director for Lowa Alliance, an NGO created by Alphamin Bisie Mining to implement Development and Social programs in the Walikale Territory, North Kivu. He also worked as Peacebuilding Fund Project Coordinator for UNDP in Bassiknou, Mauritania, contributing to social cohesion and peaceful cohabitation between Mauritanian citizens and Malian Refugees. 

Victor has a post graduate diploma in International Environmental Law from the University of Limoges and a master’s in business law from the University of Benin. Victor speaks French, English, Swahili and Lingala. 

Jeyathevan Kaarththigeyan (Kaarthi) is an accomplished international development professional with over 19 years of experience in technical and leadership roles for institutional donor funded projects. He is specialized in the design and implementation of conflict mitigation, governance, civil society strengthening and reconciliation programs using a localized approach. Additionally, Jeyathevan has extensive experience in livelihood development and humanitarian assistance. 

In 2018, Jeyathevan joined the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) SCORE activity implemented by Global Communities as a Deputy Chief of Party. He steadily progressed to take on the role of Chief of Party in October 2022 and is the first national Chief of Party for this activity. Jeyathevan has worked on numerous USAID funded projects but also has experience working for the Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) in Sri Lanka where he served as a Senior Project Development Officer. Jeyathevan’s experience working in a complicated and volatile country context such as Sri Lanka amidst the aftermaths of varied conflicts including a 30 yearlong armed conflict has positioned him well to anticipate and manage risks, to think and work politically and to be skilled in adaptive management.  

To support his work in conflict mitigation, reintegration, stabilization and peace building, Kaarthi has completed coursework for a master’s degree in Conflict and Peace Studies from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, and has also recently commenced a master’s degree in International Relations at Liverpool University.

Sadete Kastrati served as the Deputy Chief of Party for the Kosovo Up to Youth program and in March of 2023 she was promoted to Chief of Party.

Previously, Kastrati was the Deputy Executive Director of the Kosovo Center for Business Support, a spin-off organization of the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Kosovo Private Enterprise Program implemented by Booz Allen Hamilton.

From 2010 to 2013, Kastrati served as Strategic Activity Funds Manager/Senior Consultant where she managed component of grants and subcontracts. From 2007 until 2010 she joined RTI International on local government project. During this time, she helped RTI in Georgia, Armenia and Uganda on financial system and management. She worked for Chemonics International from 2001 to 2007 implementing the Kosovo Business Support and Kosovo Cluster and Business Support supporting business development projects in Kosovo. She served as Consultant in North Macedonia and Kosovo on social inclusion and reintegration and youth development.

Sadete was born and raised in Prishtina, Kosovo. She has a Bachelor of Economy from Pristina University, and a Master of Business Administration from South Wales, UK. Kastrati is a certified accountant and auditor from Society of Accountants and Auditors (SCAAK) of Kosovo and a member of International Federation of Accountants (IFAC).

Since 2021, Luciana Chepkoech Koske has worked in three different programs at Global Communities. She started as a senior technical advisor and had taken short assignments as Chief of Party for program close out and start up. Currently, she serves as the Deputy Chief and supports Global Communities proposal development and has successfully won an award to implement the USAID 4Better Health Program.  

Through her work, Luciana has ensured the education sector policy on HIV prevention in school was revised and disseminated to all 47 Counties in Kenya. She has developed over 15 public private partners who collaborate with Global Communities for service delivery to vulnerable populations including adolescent girls and young women. Luciana’s work with Global Communities is highly recognized by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Kenya for exemplary performance in implementing the DREAMS program.  

Philippe LeMay has over 25 years of experience as Chief of Party in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Throughout his career he has led numerous multidisciplinary and multicultural teams. Philippe works collaboratively with public and private stakeholders including governmental institutions, donor agencies and international and national non-governmental partner organizations. He has managed large and complex government contracts, cooperative agreements, and grants with cumulative budgets of over $300 million and a staff of over 500 employees.  

In addition to proven leadership and management experience, Philippe has technical expertise in institutional capacity building and governance, education, health and nutrition, agriculture and livelihood, water and sanitation, social marketing, social and behavior change communication, community mobilization and performance and quality improvement systems. 

Eva Karina Mejia Saravia has more than 15 years of direct experience working with international donors and implementing national-scale programs in coordination with key stakeholders. She has worked with the Government of Honduras, civil society and community-based organizations to accomplish organizational goals over her 20-year career. She joined Global Communities in 2005 and since then she has held diverse positions, starting as field technical officer, Grants Manager and Director of Finance and Administration.  

In November 2015, Eva was promoted to Country Representative for Global Communities in Honduras. Under her leadership, and in less than three years, the country office and portfolio has experienced remarkable growth and positioning. The country office success was acknowledged by Global Communities with the Outstanding Team Award in June 2017. 

Eva has experience managing and overseeing programs in public health, economic development, micro watershed management, climate change adaptation, humanitarian assistance and other social services, where participatory processes and capacity-building methodologies are key program principles. She has extensive work experience in project and organizational management, procurement, grants management, finance, human resources and compliance with multiple donors’ regulations.  

Eva was born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras and holds a Master of Business Administration; she is fluent in Spanish, English and French. She also has served as professor postgraduate faculty. 

Yvonne Mulenga is Executive Director for Project Concern Zambia, an affiliate of Global Communities. Under Yvonne’s leadership, Project Concern Zambia successfully transitioned from Project Concern International in 2019 as a local entity and immediately became one of the first recipients of USAID funding in sub–Saharan Africa under the New Partnership Initiative Program. Yvonne leads a team of close to 40 staff and five indigenous NGOs to implement a five-year USAID-funded child-and adolescent-focused HIV/AIDS epidemic control program.

Since 2000, her program management experience has spanned the fields of HIV/AIDS, maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH), nutrition, laboratory and supply chain management strengthening, cervical cancer screening, and orphans and vulnerable children (OVC). Her interest is in advancing evidence-based approaches and developing sustainable community health and social systems to achieve HIV epidemic control in Zambia. She has served as co-investigator and country coordinator on several implementation studies on HIV epidemic control and co-morbidities such as HIV/cervical cancer. She has also served as Country Coordinator for the World Health Organization (WHO) and Center for Disease Control (CDC) Foundation-funded study on improving data for decision making in cervical cancer programming (IDCCP).

She has a Master of Public Health (MPH) from the University of Essex, United Kingdom.

Justin Secrease has over 13 years of experience in implementing humanitarian and development programs in Iraq, Afghanistan, Jordan, the Philippines and Yemen. Across his numerous roles with Global Communities programming in Turkey, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen, Justin has supported the development of key management and implementation systems. He has provided leadership for various sectors, including food security, nutrition, livelihoods, protection, shelter and WASH. As Country Director of Yemen, Justin is responsible for direction, coordination and management of the Yemen portfolio. 

Dorothy Tlagae has been a Country Director for Global Communities since 2012. Dorothy has 25 years of experience in managing and implementing social development programs with a specific emphasis on HIV/AIDS, Orphans and Vulnerable Children, Gender, Reproductive Health, and Youth Development. Throughout her career, she has worked for local NGOs, the United Nations, the U.S. Government, and the International NGO sector and is the current Vice-Chairperson of the Global Fund Grant Coordination Mechanism for Botswana.

She is a devoted Sports Administrator involved at grassroots and developmental levels. She is a former board member at Botswana Judo Federation, BNOC Local Organizing in 2019. She was on the International Working Group on Women in Sport-Legacy Committee in 2018.

Dorothy holds a master’s in Development Studies and an Executive Master’s in Sports Organization Management. Her personal value statement is, “Transformation happens when society recognizes the strength that lies in each one of us. Supporting children and their families to identify and solve challenges they face not only empowers them but also builds resiliency to face future challenges.”