WorldMatters: Community Connections and Solutions - From Zimbabwe and East Timor to Alaska

Eugenia Urania Da Costa Correia – As a Small Grants Manager for Belun NGO, Eugenia supports the organization by developing proposals and preparing narrative reports for the donors, as well as conducting research on the social and political environment of women and gender issues. Eugenia also assists the organization by conducting monitoring and evaluation for project activities. She specializes in grant writing, donor relations, monitoring and evaluation, and conflict mediation related to women and gender issues. During her fellowship in U.S., Eugenia hopes to acquire knowledge about new strategies used in the U.S. for addressing various women and gender issues and then how these methods can be utilized in Timor-Leste. Upon returning from the Community Solution Program (CSP), Eugenia aims to empower women in rural areas and reduce the domestic violence in her home country through capacity building for promoting gender equity as well as improving their knowledge on domestic violence law.


Margaret Mutsamvi – As a Program Officer at Savanna Trust, Margaret is responsible for coordinating and facilitating baseline surveys, project buy-in in target communities, concept and proposal development in project fundraising, implementation, monitoring and reporting of projects in the community engagement program. During her fellowship in the U.S., Margaret hopes to learn how to effectively mainstream gender-related projects and how to use different media platforms to empower women. She also wants to strengthen her ability to effectively monitor these processes and master the art of inspiring fellow women in the marginalized communities of Zimbabwe to be active leaders. Upon returning from the Community Solutions Program, Margaret plans to improve the understanding of gender equality initiatives and increase access to information and personal development opportunities for women to prepare them for critical leadership positions.