Bios of the Fellows

Aqueelah Barrie works with the General Administrator and senior management team at John F. Kennedy Hospital. She is the Director of the Department of Social Welfare, and is working to develop a new Department of Social Services from conception to implementation. The new department will focus on patient's medically related social, emotional, and financial needs. She is also on the admissions committee for the Nursing School and teaches community health and sociology courses.

Ms. Barrie has over 7 years experience in international health, particularly HIV/AIDS policy and program management. She most recently worked for the International Rescue Committee in Atlanta as a Case Manager for newly arriving refugees and Hurricane Katrina evacuees. Prior to that, she served as Program Management Fellow for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Global AIDS Program of Namibia. She also has experience working with UNAIDS and the Ministry of Health and Social Services in Namibia. Ms. Barrie received her MPH in Health Management and Policy and a BA in Sociology and African studies from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

Ralph Bunche is serving as a legal counsel to the Ministry of Finance.

Before becoming a fellow, Ralph was associated at the New York offices of a large international law firm where he practiced commercial litigation with a particular focus on claims related to breach of contract, civil fraud and/or the violation of the antitrust laws. His legal experience also includes counseling asylum seekers in the US and South Africa, representing children in foster care in New York family court proceedings, and working with international justice and human rights organizations on impact litigation and policy advocacy. Ralph received his Doctor of Law from Columbia University – during which time he also studied at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa – and is licensed to practice in New York State. He also holds an MA in human rights from the University of Essex and a BA in politics, philosophy and economics from Keele University in the UK. Prior to law school, he worked on various child rights projects in the UK, India and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Oona Burke is working at the Ministry of Commerce.

Ms. Burke most recently worked as a Marketing and Sourcing Manger at GCC: Careers in Africa in London. She received a BA in Anthropology from the University of Chicago.

Idella Cooper is working as a Special Assistant to the Minister of Justice on Economic Affairs.

Ms. Cooper most recently worked as an Immigration Lawyer for the African Services Committee in New York City. She received her JD from Fordham University and her BA in Political Science from Columbia University.

Conor Hartman

Conor Hartman serves as a special advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Honorable Ambulai B. Johnson, Jr. The Ministry of Internal Affairs is responsible for the administration of local government from the county to the village level, urban planning and local development programs. Hartman is working with the Minister on issues including management reform in the central office, Liberia's decentralization policy and implementation planning, the Peacebuilding and Conflict Sensitive Working Group of the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS), and other issues as they surface.

Before becoming a Scott Fellow, Hartman served as a special assistant to the Vice-President at the Center for Global Development from 2006-2007. Prior to joining CGD, Hartman held several positions with the Carter Center, including working in southern Sudan as a technical advisor to the Guinea Worm Eradication Program and building partnerships with European governments in Nairobi, Kenya. Hartman holds a BA in History from Duke University.

Dan Honig

Dan Honig serves as a special assistant to the Minister of Finance, the Honorable Antoinette Sayeh. Honig's current portfolio includes helping to manage Liberia's Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), the Poverty Reduction Strategy process, funding agreements with international donors—bi-laterals, international financial institutions, the UN, and other policy initiatives. Honig assists with advancing Liberia's debt relief process with international creditors, and performs other tasks as needed.

Honig previously worked in India, Israel, Thailand, and East Timor (where he founded a rural youth empowerment NGO), and has traveled extensively. Honig is taking a year off of his graduate studies at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School to serve as a Scott Family Fellow. He holds a BA in political science and philosophy from the University of Michigan. Hong's interests include reform of foreign aid institutions, aid evaluation, and incorporating entrepreneurship into development practice.

Dan Hymowitz is working with Natty Davis, National Coordinator of the Liberia Reconstruction and Development Committee (LRDC); a donor coordination and policy planning unit in the Office of the President. Currently he is serving as the LRDC representative to the Poverty Reduction Strategy Technical Support Team. He is also working closely with several nontraditional donors who are developing projects in Liberia.

Hymowitz recently completed a Masters of Public Policy at UC Berkeley where he focused on economics and global development. He also worked with a small research team on a project sponsored by UC Berkeley and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) which compared the market potential of three point-of-use water treatment technologies. In Summer 2006, he carried out a field trial in rural Bangladesh. Previously Dan worked for the U.S. Department of State in the Office of Agriculture, Biotechnology, and Textile Trade Affairs and also served as a policy analyst for the Slum Rehabilitation Society in Mumbai, India. Before graduate school, Dan worked in Communications, primarily as a minor league sports broadcaster.

Chara Itoka

Chara Itoka serves as a special assistant to the Executive Director of the Liberia Refugee Repatriation and Resettlement Commission, Cllr. Wheatonia Dixon Barnes. She is assisting in the development of a mandate which would broaden policy directives, protocols, standards and overall impact. She serves as an advisor on the design of development, relief, rehabilitation, refugee, returnee and internally displaced persons (IDP) programs. Itoka works to achieve effective networking, coordination of programs and operations, and promotion of joint programming with relevant partners. She also assists the Program Officer in implementing the Commission's program activities of relief assistance.

Itoka has four years of experience working in the field of forced migration. She recently worked at the Massachusetts Office for Refugees and Immigrants as a program coordinator on a pilot project targeting Somali Bantu and West African refugees. She holds a BA in International Affairs from the American University of Paris and a MS in Forced Migration from the University of Oxford.

Eva Mappy Morgan is working as a Special Assistant to the Minister of Justice on Economic Affairs.

Ms. Mappy Morgan is an attorney with over a decade of legal, corporate and banking experience. She has been involved in performance improvement for several years and has extensive knowledge in facilitation, coaching, policy and training development. She also has lots of experience in research and organizational management, coupled with grant writing and capacity building amongst grassroots organizations. Ms. Mappy Morgan graduated from the University of Liberia with a BA in Political Science, and a Bachelor of Law from the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law, University of Liberia. She studied Insurance at the West African Insurance Institute and earned her Masters of Law from Harvard University.

As special assistant for communications in the Ministry of State/Office of the President, Robtel Neajai Pailey is helping to develop a strategy that articulates President Sirleaf's reconstruction priorities. She is primarily responsible for cataloguing the government's development agendas, monitoring progress to date, and disseminating information to the general public. She performs other duties as assigned such as analyzing ministerial documents and reports, liaising with news media and attending Cabinet meetings.

A published writer and activist, Pailey has appeared in Africa Today, Red Pepper Magazine, Pambazuka News, The Washington Informer, Clamor Magazine, Port of Harlem Magazine, allafrica.com, Global Woman, Liberian Analyst, Black Star News, Sea Breeze Journal of Contemporary Liberian Writings, Mano Vision, and From the Slave Trade to Free Trade. She is Liberian and holds a Masters degree in African Studies from the University of Oxford, and undergraduate degrees in African Studies and English Literature from Howard University.

Benjamin Spatz

Benjamin J. Spatz is special advisor and assistant to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. His work focuses on developing Liberia's foreign policy posture, especially on issues of post-conflict reconstruction, bi-lateral and multi-lateral relations, donor coordination and the structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Liberian Foreign Service. Ben liaises on behalf of the Ministry with Liberian government agencies as well as national and international stakeholders.

Spatz is a graduate of Georgetown University's Master of Science in Foreign Service program. Ben holds bachelor degrees cum laude in international studies and philosophy from the University of Washington. Previously, Ben worked with Eurasia Group in the Middle East and Africa Practice Group. In the field, Ben has worked with CHF International in Darfur and with the United Nations Office for Project Services in Liberia where he served as a UN election observer. Ben is a photojournalist and his award-winning photographs have appeared in national venues.

Norris Tweah

Norris Tweah is the chief of office staff and special assistant to the Minister of Information, Dr. Laurence K. Bropleh. His work focuses on writing project proposals, press releases, and attending meetings on behalf of the Minister. Tweah also helps develop communication strategies for the Liberian government and the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) and supervises all employees in the Minister's office.

Tweah worked for the Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia (CENTAL). Currently, he is a member of the board of directors at Able and Willing, an international foundation that builds schools in Congo-Kinshasa, and is chairing the organization's exploratory initiative for a micro-finance project to benefit urban women in Monrovia. He holds a BA in journalism and a MA in development administration from Western Michigan University. He received the Howard Wolpe African Field Research Award and the Zoa D. Shilling Award (twice) from Western Michigan University. Tweah also studied at the University of Liberia from 1995 to 1999.