CBI Regional Leadership
Dr. Iman Bibars, Middle East/North Africa
Based in Cairo, Egypt, Dr. Iman Bibars is launching Ashoka's program in the Middle East/North Africa region. Iman has a BA and an MA in Political Science from the American University in Cairo (AUC), and a PhD in Development Studies from Sussex University in the UK. Iman also joined the Georgetown University Arab Studies MA Program and was a Parvin Fellow at Princeton. Iman is a regional expert with more then 22 years experience in the social sector of the Arab World and the Africa region. She has committed her life to work with marginalized and voiceless groups, such as female heads of households in the poorest slums of Egypt, street children, street vendors and garbage collectors. She has worked with many international agencies and NGOs, including UNICEF, Catholic Relief Services, CARE-Egypt, GTZ and KFW. Iman is herself a social entrepreneur, and co-founded and chaired The Association for the Development and Enhancement of Women (ADEW), an NGO providing credit and legal aid for poor women who head their households.
Paula Cardenau, Latin America
Before joining Ashoka, Paula worked for several years in Argentina's Social Investment Fund, which channels resources to community-based, demand-driven projects, in extremely poor selected districts in Argentina. Paula's responsibility was project social ex-ante assessment, and in this vein she has developed and tested participatory assessment methodologies, trained local teams and NGOs for social project design and implementation, traveled all over the north of Argentina for site-visits, and coordinated evaluation processes. At the end of 2000, Paula joined Ashoka Southern Cone staff to be in charge of Search and Selection and Fellowship, and in June 2001 she also became the CBI Coordinator and launched the CBI Initiative in the S. Cone. She holds a licentiate degree in Politics and Post-Graduate Studies in NGOs and Social Development.
Andres DussanAndres is an experienced social entrepreneur and professor, with special expertise in social change projects in Latin America. His background includes work with non-profit, academic, government and private sectors. In 1992, while a student at Universidad de los Andes, in Bogota Colombia, Andres recognized the need for students to get hands on experience doing development work and so he founded and directed Opcion Colombia Corporation, a not-for-profit organization, implementing social development programs for governments and international organizations in a variety of countries in Latin America. The organisation took off rapidly, soon handling 14 million US$ of contracts. The organisation has since spread to other parts of Latin America and, while Andres remains involved, he decided that the leadership should remain in the hands of the students it serves. While at the University he also created a prize for social entrepreneurs. Since then he has worked in a variety of consulting roles and as a professor of social entrepreneurship. Mostly recently, Andres has been working with Harbinger Foundation in Toronto where he has served as a Director. Andres first learned about Ashoka while in Colombia when he was invited to apply to become a Fellow. Born in Colombia, he has lived in Mexico, Brazil, the United States and is now living in Toronto with his Canadian wife and their two year old son.
Mira's first sojourn into the social sector was in 1987 when she joined a youth exchange program between Indonesia and Canada. Her joy and happiness in working with people led her to be involved with this program for four years. She gained experience in international and community development, cross-cultural issues, and the art of facilitating. Managing different community development programs in the areas of water and sanitation, micro finance, and environmental conservation at CARE gave her an opportunity to receive a scholarship from the British Government in 1998 for a postgrade study in the UK. She studied social development planning and management at the University of Wales, Swansea. She then joined the World Bank research project on social capital and local institution. Two years before joining Ashoka, she worked for a USAID funded project on maternal and neonatal health and with Catholic Relief Services in a peace integrated development program.
In 1999, while working in GE Capital México, Maria helped Ashoka México launch the E2 Program, fostering a unique alliance with GE to promote the exchange of knowledge and experiences between Ashoka Fellows & GE Executives. In 2003, Maria joined Ashoka to launch the organization in Spain and Western Europe. Prior to Ashoka, Maria worked for General Electric in several countries including the US, UK, Netherlands, Mexico and Spain. She had various roles in Finance, Sales, and Integration of newly acquired businesses. As Quality Leader, Maria focused on improving GE´s service levels & internal/external processes. Maria was a Board member of GE Elfun Mexico (GE Volunteers Association) and GE Fund Mexico (the company's philanthropic arm). She was also Mexico Launch Director & Regional Leader of the GE Women´s Network (created to Foster Professional Women´s Development and Growth). Maria was part of an innovative pan-European university program and holds a Business degree sponsored by five leading European Universities. She is also an FMP (Leading Financial Program in Corporate America) Graduate.
Alicia Levine, Global (Based in Arlington, VA)
Alicia joined Ashoka’s Citizen Base Initiative team in 2006, building on both time spent internationally and working in the private sector. Alicia attended the University of California, Berkeley where she majored in Political Science with an emphasis on International Relations. While living and studying in Barcelona, Spain, Alicia collaborated on an anti-xenophobia marketing campaign, one of the first of its kind in Barcelona. Following graduation from Berkeley, Alicia lived in Lima, Peru where she worked at the Centro Internacional de la Papa (International Potato Center), interviewing rural potato farmers in the Andean highlands. Alicia is excited to be back immersed the international sector at Ashoka after spending time working in the corporate world. Still true to her California upbringing, Ali enjoys almost all activities found “under the sun,” most notably swimming, scuba diving, exploring DC’s many neighborhoods and scenic sights, and shopping at the local outdoor produce market.