Anna, a cohort, speaks at a podium in front of a projected slideshow.

Habitat-USAID/BHA's International Humanitarian Shelter and Settlements fellowship cohort

2024 cohort announcement

Habitat for Humanity International and USAID are excited to announce our new cohorts of students and professionals from the U.S.

This year’s Humanitarian Shelter & Settlements (HS&S) fellowship program features expanded internship opportunities for 11 fellows, with an emphasis on minority backgrounds. 

The HS&S Fellowship is comprised of two components: The research fellowship and the practicum fellowship. Both components are designed to help young professionals from the U.S. launch their futures in the humanitarian shelter and settlements sector at the international level. 

The research fellowship offers graduate students the opportunity to receive professional mentorship, networking opportunities and financial support for research on a humanitarian shelter and settlements topic worldwide. In 2024, five graduate students are being sponsored to conduct their research in Chile, Turkey and Guatemala, working alongside a humanitarian host organization. 

Our inaugural practicum fellowship, launched in 2024, aims to provide six graduate students and professionals with hands-on experience at Habitat for Humanity national offices in El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Malawi and Indonesia, while also supporting assessment efforts in Honduras, India and the Philippines. Students are currently collaborating with sector professionals on projects related to climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction and response.  

Four students come from Asian American, Native American Pacific Islander, and Hispanic Minority Serving Institutions in the U.S. Overall, most of the 11 selected students for this year represent minority backgrounds. This is a valuable opportunity for minority students, reducing barriers to exploring careers in international humanitarian shelter and settlement work while addressing racial disparities in the sector.


Habitat-USAID/BHA’s International Humanitarian Shelter and Settlements research fellowship offers graduate students a chance to deepen their research and boost their careers, supporting their efforts with professional mentorship, networking opportunities and financial support.

Students gain firsthand experience in the shelter and settlements sector and lay critical groundwork for their professional futures.

“The program fellows exemplify the kind of innovative and empathetic thought leadership that is needed in today’s world,” says Charles A. Setchell, senior shelter and settlements advisor of USAID/BHA.

“They are addressing some of the most vexing issues facing the humanitarian community with creative thinking and approaches, doing their part to improve the lives of populations affected by disasters and crises, while also raising the visibility of shelter and settlement concerns in North America.”

Learn about the inspiring work of the current and former fellows below.

Fellows not pictured: Shaye Lyn Palagi and Jessica Wolff (2017); Kirsten Larson and Jen Pepson (2014).

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Karen Devora Cigarroa

Karen Devora Cigarroa graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Iowa State University and graduated with a Master of Science in Humanitarian Engineering and Science from Colorado School of Mines in 2024. 

 

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Margot Bolanos

Margot Bolanos-Gamez is pursuing a master’s degree in public health at the Rollins School of Public Health. Her degree specialization is in Global Environmental Health with certificates in Complex Humanitarian Emergencies and WASH.

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Jocelyn Keller

Jocelyn Keller is a Master’s of Science student in International Cooperation and Emergency Sustainable Architecture at Universitat Internacional de Catalunya. 

 

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Anke Marais

Anke Marais is currently pursuing a master’s degree in International Development Studies at the George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs.

 

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Katrina Mulherin

Katrina Mulherin is a recent graduate from the Master of International Affairs program at the Texas A&M University Bush School of Government and Public Service.

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Lisa Rodriguez

Lisa Rodriguez is a Ph.D. student in Sociology at the University of Central Florida.

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Annie Avilés

Annie’s research focuses on the long-term impacts of land use and fires on settlement in Southern Chile.

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Muram Bacare

Muram Bacare is a student in the Master of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning program at Tufts University.

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Lucas Brooks

Lucas Brooks is currently pursuing a Master of International Affairs in Economic and Political Development and International Conflict Resolution at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA).

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Madelene Dailey

Madelene Dailey is a student in the Master of Architecture program at the University of Southern California

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Moones Mansouri

Moones Mansouri is a Ph.D. in Public Health major with a global health concentration at the University of California, Irvine.

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Andrea Batarse

Andrea’s research focused on the impacts of humanitarian shelter and settlements migration in the area of the U.S.-Mexico border.

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Emily Nabong

Emily’s research focused on modeling how climate change affects decision-making on migration patterns with research specific to Kiribati, which is currently affected by sea-level rise.

 
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Daud Shad

Daud’s research focused on shelter for internally displaced persons in Karachi in response to the 2022 floods in Pakistan.

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Madeline Burnham

Madeline’s research included interviewing displaced Syrian refugees in Lebanon and analyzing the role of humanitarian programs in long-term shelter recovery.

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Melina Holder

Melina’s graduate school research focused on housing, land and property rights in humanitarian assistance, especially the HLP rights of women. 

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Ilham Siddiq

Ilham’s research focused on the long-term outcomes of post-disaster residential construction and livelihood programs implemented in response to the 2004 earthquake and tsunami damage sustained in Aceh, Indonesia.

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Jessica Talbot

Jessica’s fellowship thesis was an exploratory study into barriers to housing reconstruction after hurricanes Irma and Maria in Puerto Rico.

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Casie Venable

Casie’s fellowship thesis focused on understanding alignments and, importantly, misalignments between household perceptions and engineering assessments of shelter in the Philippines following Typhoon Haiyan.

Miriam Hacker.
Miriam Hacker

Miriam’s fellowship focused on how urban refugees in the Mount Lebanon governorate accessed housing, and on the involvement of local, national, and international organizations in this process.

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Anna Konotchick

Anna’s fellowship thesis examined how shelter humanitarian assistance during the relief and recovery phase helped or hindered the self-recovery of households, neighborhoods and Haiti’s capital city of Port-au-Prince following the 7.0 magnitude earthquake in 2010.

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Alex Miller

Alex’s fellowship thesis focused on understanding why post-crisis rental support programs succeeded or failed depending on their links to other programs such as livelihoods or protection.

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Aaron Opdyke

Aaron’s fellowship thesis focused on understanding lessons from humanitarian shelter programs implemented in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.