Meet our Co-Design Committee
Dr. Diya Abdo
Lincoln Financial Professor of English, Guilford College
Dr. Diya Abdo is the Lincoln Financial Professor of English at Guilford College. A second-generation Palestinian refugee born and raised in Jordan, Dr. Abdo’s teaching, research, and scholarship focus on Arab women writers and Arab and Islamic feminisms. Her publications include AMERICAN REFUGE: True Stories of the Refugee Experience. In 2015, Dr. Abdo founded Every Campus A Refuge (ECAR), which advocates for housing refugee families on college and university campus grounds and supporting them in their resettlement. The flagship chapter at Guilford College, now one of several ECAR campuses, has hosted over 86 refugees thus far. Dr. Abdo is the recipient of the J.M. Kaplan Fund’s Innovation Prize (2021), Campus Compact’s Thomas Ehrlich Civically Engaged Faculty Award (2019), Gulf South Summit’s Outstanding Service-Learning Collaboration in Higher Education Award (2017), and The Washington Center’s Civic Engagement in Higher Education Award (2017). In 2018, she was named a finalist in the Arab Hope Makers Award. She has been making presentations about ECAR far and wide, including the White House and the United Nations Headquarters in New York. She lives in Greensboro, N.C., with her partner and two daughters. To learn more, visit the ECAR website or watch Dr. Abdo’s TEDtalk.
Basma Alawee
Deputy Executive Director, Community Sponsorship Hub
Basma Alawee is an influential advocate and leader in refugee and immigrant rights. As Deputy Executive Director at the Community Sponsorship Hub, she has spearheaded transformative initiatives. Formerly, as National Campaign Director for We Are All America at the National Partnership for New Americans, Basma led organizing efforts across 21 states, advocating for policy changes and support for refugee and immigrant communities. In 2019, she founded WeaveTales, focusing on storytelling training programs for over 300 refugees and immigrants, driven by her own experience as a former refugee from Iraq. Basma's dedication has earned her accolades, including the Jacksonville EVE Award in 2020, Athena40's "40 Under 40" in 2021, and Grant Thornton's Purple Paladin in 2022. She serves on the US Refugee Advisory Board and made history as the first refugee advisor on the US Government Delegation to UNHCR's Executive Committee. Basma champions refugee and immigrant rights, using her compelling story to inspire national-level change, emphasizing lived experiences in policy-making. In her current role, Basma creates opportunities for diaspora communities and new actors to engage with the Welcome Corps, fostering the welcoming of refugee families to America with the promise of freedom and opportunity. Her tireless dedication continues to inspire and effect meaningful change.
Alejandra Brown
Founder, Embraved
Alejandra was born amid Central America’s civil war. Her experiences growing up with severe economic limitations, earthquakes, hurricanes, and social conflicts led her to become a human rights defender and social entrepreneur. Alejandra is the founder of Embraved a nonprofit organization focuses on improving the quality of life of refugees in the United States. Alejandra advises refugee-led organizations, nonprofits, and host countries on matters related to root causes of mass displacement, durable solutions, and meaningful refugee participation.
She has been involved in more than 130 initiatives as a volunteer, mentor, organizer, collaborator, employee, director, and founder. Alejandra holds two master’s degrees, the first in Management for NGOs from ESADE Business School (Spain) and the second in Fundraising from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain), along with a Certificate in Global Displacement and Migration from Georgetown University and Leadership, Organizing and Action from Harvard Kennedy School. For her commitment to social causes, economic development, and extraordinary leadership, the World Economic Forum (WEF) chose her to be part of the Global Shaper Community.
Elizabeth Ferris
Research Professor, Institute for the Study of International Migration
Elizabeth Ferris is Research Professor and Director of the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University. In 2016, she also served as Senior Advisor to the UN General Assembly’s Summit for Refugees and Migrants in New York and from 2020-21 as an expert advisor to the UN Secretary-General's High-Level Panel on Internal Displacement. . Prior to joining Georgetown, she was a Senior Fellow and co-director of the Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement and spent 20 years working in the field of humanitarian assistance, most recently in Geneva, Switzerland at the World Council of Churches. She has written extensively on humanitarian issues, including Consequences of Chaos: Syria’s Humanitarian Crisis and the Failure to Protect, with Kemal Kirsici (Brookings Institution Press, 2016). Her latest book – Refugees, Migration and Global Governance: Negotiating the Global Compacts (with Katharine Donato) was published by Routledge in July 2019. She received her BA degree from Duke University and her MA and PhD degrees from the University of Florida.
Lourena Gboeah
Chair, Refugee Congress Board of Directors
Program Director, Upwardly Global
Lourena Gboeah is Chair of the Refugee Congress Board of Director and an Honorary Delegate. She came to the U.S. as a resettled refugee in 1992, when she was only four years old. Her family fled war in Liberia and the continuous harassment from government soldiers and rebels. Gboeah has 18 years of experience working with vulnerable and marginalized populations. She has worked extensively in the immigration/refugee resettlement space as a volunteer, intern, advocate and leader. She currently serves as Program Director for Upwardly Global having previously served as Senior Community Engagement Manager at Unite Us, and as Associate Director of Student Services for the Year Up Philadelphia program. Gboeah also serves as a member of the Refugee Council USA Board of Directors.
Gboeah has her B.S. in Management from Rutgers University and her Master’s of Social Work from Template University in Philadelphia. In her free time, she creates and curates content to inspire millennial moms, wives and professionals through her platform: Lourena Flomo.
Taif Jany
Director of Policy and Practice, Refugee Council USA (RCUSA)
Taif Jany is the Director of Policy and Practice for Refugee Council USA (RCUSA). A first-hand witness of the 2003 Iraq war, Taif experienced life as a refugee and asylee before becoming a United States citizen. Taif uses his lived experiences in forced displacement to strengthen the U.S. immigration system and promote humanitarian protection for all forcibly displaced populations. His work has been published in Business Insider, Newsweek, The Nation, and other publications. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in sociology and French from Union College and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Enabling Peace in Iraq Center.
Colin Rajah
Coordinator, Civil Society Action Committee
Colin Rajah, a refugee from Malaysia, is the Coordinator of the Civil Society Action Committee – the largest global civil society platform engaging in international migration policy. He also serves as the Co-Coordinator of the Global Forum on Migration and Development’s Civil Society Mechanism. Colin was previously the International Organization for Migration Civil Society Liaison for the Global Compact for Migration (2017-2018), a co-Founder/Coordinator of the Global Coalition on Migration (2011-2016), the International Program Director at the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (2003-2011), the Secretary of Migrants Rights International (2006-2016), and co-Chair of the People's Global Action on Migration, Development and Human Rights (2006-2016). He was selected as the 2022 International Migration Review Forum’s Civil Society Representative, and the 2016 GFMD’s Civil Society Chair. He was previously President of Global Bersih (a global Malaysian diaspora network), the Executive Director of JustAct: Youth Action for Global Justice, Vice-President of Youth for Development and Cooperation, on the Executive Committee of the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, on the National Planning Committee of the US Social Forum, and the North American coordinator for the World Youth Festivals.
Dauda Sesay
National Network Director, African Communities Together (ACT)
Vice-Chair, Refugee Congress Board of Directors
Dauda Sesay is a former refugee from Sierra Leone. At 16, he fled his homeland due to a terrible war and resettled in the U.S. in 2009. He earned a degree in Applied Science in Process Technology and is currently going for his BS. in Administrative Management with a concentration in International Business at the Louisiana State University-Shreveport. Dauda is presently the National Network Director for the African Communities Together (ACT) and the Vice-Chairman of the Refugee Congress Board of Directors. Dauda is also a community advocate and founding member of the Louisiana Organization for Refugees and Immigrants (LORI) assisting other refugees and immigrants with integration into the United States. He is also a member of Mayor Sharon Weston Broome International Relations Commission and Chairperson of the Commission Culture and Art Engagement. Dauda most recently served as an advisor on the US Delegation to UNHCR’s High Level Officials Meeting in December 2021 and the Annual Tripartite Consultations on Resettlement in June 2022.
John Slocum
Executive Director, Refugee Council USA (RCUSA)
John Slocum was appointed Executive Director of RCUSA in March 2022, after serving as Interim Executive Director since January 2021. John previously served as co-coordinator of the Repository of Documentation Relating to Disappearances in Mexico (RDDM) and as an independent consultant to foundations and nonprofits, providing strategic planning and executive recruitment services in the fields of migration, refugees, and human rights. From 1997 to 2016, he worked for the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, where he served as program director for grantmaking initiatives on global migration, the Central America-Mexico-U.S. migration corridor, and U.S. immigration policy. John also directed MacArthur’s Higher Education Initiative in Russia and its Research and Writing grants competition. He is a member of the advisory board for Justice in Motion, and a past board member of Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees. John has a PhD in political science from the University of Chicago, taught at the University of Oklahoma, and has published articles and commentary on migration, philanthropy, and Russia.
Nga Vuong-Sandoval
Nga Vương-Sandoval and her family fled from their homeland due to the Việt Nam War, became refugees, were displaced in refugee camps, resettled in the U.S. and were known as “boat people.” Nga concurrently serves as Immigration & DEI Advisor at 3i Law Firm. Her prior roles included serving at Colorado Department of Law, homeland security and as adjunct faculty. She earned a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice and B.A. in Political Science from University of Colorado. She is a TEDx Presenter, a Refugee Congress Honorary Delegate, a founding member and public speaker with Colorado Refugee Speakers Bureau, Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains Vice-Chair of Program Services Board of Directors, a Noble Ambassador with Christina Noble Children’s Foundation and a member with Denver Elections Advisory Committee. She received the 2021 Colorado Attorney General’s Award for Outstanding Community Service, 2021 Refugee Congress Excellence Award and met with First Lady Dr. Jill Biden and advocated to raise the Presidential Determination. Her advocacy was recognized by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and she was honored with a mural by artist Thomas Evans. She also served as a Refugee Representative at the Annual Tripartite Consultation for Resettlement in Geneva, Switzerland.
Nili Sarit Yossinger
Executive Director, Refugee Congress
Nili Sarit Yossinger is the inaugural Executive Director for Refugee Congress, overseeing operations and implementing communications, funding, capacity-building, and advocacy strategies that fulfill the organization’s mission of ensuring that there are always refugees at the table as equal partners.
Prior to her work with Refugee Congress, Nili was a Research Project Manager at the Institute for the Study of International Migration (ISIM) and the Senior Vice President for Research at Georgetown University, where her projects focused on complex humanitarian emergencies and the intersections of forced migration, food security and environmental degradation in the Horn of Africa, Central Africa, and Persian Gulf regions. Nili previously worked with the Capital Area Food Bank, the UN Refugee Agency regional office in Washington, D.C., and Human Rights First. Nili also serves as an Advisor for Concordia. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from Loyola University Chicago and a Master of Arts in German and European Studies from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, along with a Certificate in Refugees and Humanitarian Emergencies from ISIM.
News + Resources
The US Mission in Geneva: “A Focus on the Voice of Refugees.”
US Department of State, “Remarks at the Annual Tripartite Consultations on Resettlement.”
Resources from Refugees Seeking Equal Access at the Table.
Refugee Advocacy Lab: “10 Best Practices for Engaging with Refugee Leaders.”