Meet our Advisors
Basma Alawee
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.
Faith Akovi Cooper
Faith Akovi Cooper has over 20 years of professional experience in global health, disaster preparedness/response, and international development sectors spanning Africa, Asia, and the Americas. She currently serves as International Rescue Committee’s Regional Director for the U.S Southern Border, within the Resettlement, Asylum, and Integration Unit (RAI). Faith is a former refugee herself from Liberia. She and her family escaped the Liberian war and lived on two refugee camps before resettling to the U.S. Prior to RAI, Faith served as IRC’s country director in Liberia, overseeing programs including the USAID 36M Community Health Systems strengthening project, supporting the Liberian Ministry of Health to meet the needs of underserved populations. Other senior roles she has held include Africare’s Country Director for Ghana and Liberia, where she led the humanitarian portfolio in both countries. During the Ebola Outbreak, she was the Regional Advisor, West Africa Disaster Preparedness Initiative (WADPI) Ebola Preparedness Project at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre in Ghana. She previously served as program manager, U.S Pandemic Response Program at the Center for Disaster and Humanitarian Assistance Medicine. Faith holds a Master of Public Administration in Health Policy from George Mason University and dual B.A degrees from Radford University.
I am truly honored to join such an esteemed group on this amazing journey to impact! From a refugee camp to becoming a lifelong advocate for forcibly displaced people to now becoming a member of the USRAB – this is indeed a full circle moment that I cherish deeply… I am eager to lend my voice, personal lived experience, and perspectives towards influencing policies and practices across the global refugee system. — Faith Akovi Cooper
Nabin Dhimal
Nabin Dhimal was born and raised in a refugee camp in Nepal. Nabin’s family and hundreds of thousands of Nepali-speaking Bhutanese were forcibly displaced from Bhutan after the Bhutanese Government conspired ethnic cleansing with the “One Nation, One People” policy. His experience living in a refugee camp for almost two decades has deeply influenced his passion and commitment to working with refugees, immigrants, and forcibly displaced communities to cultivate a more inclusive, equitable, and just society. Currently, Nabin is a Program Manager at Lutheran Community Services NW. He has extensive and diverse experience serving on different boards, committees, and councils, doing advocacy and social justice work uplifting refugees, immigrants, and other marginalized communities. He was on the founding board of directors at Nesika Wilamut. He is also in the New Portlanders Policy Commission, which works to ensure policies and practices to integrate immigrant and refugee communities’ voices in Portland. He also serves on the Metro’s Racial Equity Committee. Nabin is a first-generation college graduate. He has a Master of Educational Leadership and Policy from Portland State University. Nabin is honored to serve on USRAB and is committed to working with various stakeholders and community leaders to co-create strategies to advance equity and justice, while centering refugee voices in policymaking.
As a former refugee from Bhutan who was forcibly displaced as part of Bhutan’s systemic and oppressive policy of ethnic cleansing, this work is deeply personal. I am honored to serve on the USRAB, and I am committed to working with other leaders to co-create strategies to advance equity and social justice, centering forcibly displaced voices in policymaking. — Nabin Dhimal
Kendra Frith
Kendra Frith was born and raised in Mandeville, Jamaica, and has a background in Psychology with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Guidance and Counseling. She is a Human Rights Defender with over 10 years of experience working with LGBTQ+ people who have been affected by homelessness and forced displacement. Kendra is a community mobilizer who is always keen on utilizing policy and advocacy to achieve social change. As an asylum applicant, with the assistance of Rainbow Railroad, she was able to relocate to the USA and continue the amazing work of assisting individuals with lived forced displacement experience. She also continues to have consistent and impactful engagement with civil society, relevant bodies of the federal government, and the global refugee regime.
Bahati Kanyamanza
Bahati has worked with refugees for over 20 years and was a refugee for 23 years. Born in the DR Congo, he became a refugee in Uganda at 14 where he lived for 17 years before he was resettled to the US in 2016 and became a naturalized US citizen in 2022. Due to problems in his former refugee camp, he co-founded CIYOTA, a nonprofit organization that supports conflict-affected children and youth in Africa’s Great Lakes region to access quality education and supporting refugee families to start income-generating initiatives to earn a living. He continues to advocate for the rights of refugees and global systems change through storytelling, publication and engaging with institutions of power influencing global displacement. His articles have been published in the FMR, HPN, ODI and others. His work has been recognized both nationally and internationally by Ashoka, American Express, UNHCR and Echoing Green. He holds a Master’s of Arts degree from the School for International Training. Currently, he is a program Director at IRAP.
To address systemic issues affecting refugees, they must be meaningfully engaged and at the forefront of addressing their own issues. Refugees understand firsthand what it means to be forcibly displaced and are in position to set right priorities and interventions. USRAB is a step towards addressing complex issues affecting forcibly displaced people in the US and globally. I look forward to working with fellow advisors, Refugee Congress, the US government, and other stakeholders involved in the refugee response both in the US and globally. — Bahati Kamanyaza
Mohammed Naeem
Mohammed Naeem is the Senior Manager for Strategy and Partnerships at the Center for Inclusion and Belonging — guiding the design, facilitation and management of its programmatic portfolios. The Center houses the signature narrative change, sub-grant and social-science research portfolios of the American Immigration Council. Over the last year, Mohammed has also spearheaded administrative and congressional advocacy efforts related to the evacuation, resettlement, and status of Afghan refugees, and continues to serve as an advisor to leading civil society groups, think-tanks, and philanthropy on related programs and public policy. Previously, Mohammed worked at More in Common, where he managed U.S. initiatives and partnerships, socialized audience research projects, and co-launched Hidden Tribes of America, a widely acclaimed research and communications product that garnered national media coverage — including feature articles in the Atlantic, Financial Times, New Yorker, New York Times, and Washington Post. He serves on the Advisory Committee on Public Issues for the Ad Council and is an Advisory Board Member for Stanford University’s Strengthening Democracy Challenge. Mohammed is an alumna of Stony Brook University.
Dauda Sesay
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 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.
Nejra Sumic
Nejra Sumic is a former Refugee who was forced to flee from her home country of Bosnia and Herzegovina. After surviving through a civil war, Nejra and her family were granted asylum as refugees in the United States. Nejra received her Master’s in Public Administration at Western International University. She has over 10 years of advocacy and grassroots organizing experience. In her current role, she is the National Field Manager of the We Are All America National Campaign and the Arizona Delegate for Refugee Congress, where she helps advocate for refugees and immigrants. Nejra is the co-author of the book “Divine Love” and sits on various national and local boards. She is most passionate about human rights, because everyone deserves the right to seek safety and refuge.
As a former refugee who personally experienced displacement and uprooting, I am honored to be nominated into the U.S. Refugee Advisory Board, an entity that works to authentically engage forcibly displaced individuals in US and international policy. More than ever, we need more effective humanitarian protection programs and solutions. — Nejra Sumic
Hourie Tafech
Hourie Tafech is currently a program manager at Refugees International in Washington, D.C. She also serves as a senior advisor for the National Association of System Heads (NASH)-Refugee Resettlement Initiative. Previously, Hourie was a program manager for the University Alliance for Refugee and At-Risk Migrants (UARRM). She earned her doctoral degree in global affairs from Rutgers University in New Jersey. Her research is focused on the economic inclusion of refugees and their entrepreneurial activities. In 2020, Hourie was one of six women from the U.S. and Canada awarded the Margaret McNamara Education Grant (MMEG). A year later, in 2021, she was awarded an international fellowship from the American Association of University Women and served as a fellow at the Eagleton Institute of Politics. Before her arrival in the US, Hourie co-founded Spark15 in Malta, a refugee-led organization dedicated to advocating for refugee access to higher education and the job market.
Emma Yaaka
Emma Yaaka is the Refugee Congress Delegate for Illinois and Medical Case Management Lead/Preferred Community at Heartland Alliance human care services. He is originally from Uganda and spent 3 years in Nairobi, Kenya awaiting resettlement before coming to the U.S. in 2017. Emma is passionate about local and national refugee and immigrants’ community advocacy, and has significant experience in the healthcare field and refugee human rights access. Using his background in healthcare and human rights, in combination with his personal experience as an immigrant, Emma is committed to advocating for equal medical access and human rights for refugees and immigrants. Speaking directly with health and legal providers, he helps refugees and immigrants navigate the healthcare system and legal services in the U.S. He also utilizes various media platforms in his health and legal advocacy efforts, such as being the Director of WordOut community channel - a YouTube Channel that provides basic health education, storytelling, promotion of culture, refugee business promotions, and other resources to the community. Additionally, he is engaged in community volunteer work and has become a leader in different positions, including contributing to more than seven different articles regarding refugee rights, health, and policy.
As an advisor for the USRAB, I dedicate and commit myself to using my personal experiences as a former refugee to fill in the gaps with those who believe in human rights and to advocate for and support refugees, by engaging and raising the voices of those who are voiceless on a global space. — Emma Yaaka
Ayda Zugay
Ayda Zugay is an award-winning leader, advocate, author, social entrepreneur, and former refugee. As the co-founder of Advancing Agency, Ayda oversees global operations for one of the world's few refugee-owned, led, and supporting social impact companies. Her commitment to social responsibility extends to the founding of the Impact Investments Fund, which promotes ethical practices across industries. She actively engages in advocacy and community-building work, serving as an Elected Delegate for Refuge Congress, a member of the Refugee Advocacy Lab and We Are All America Opportunity for All Table. Her leadership and multinational cross-sector expertise have been recognized with several awards, including being named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Leaders by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, being invited as a Delegate for the Harvard Business School's Young American Leaders Program, and being named one of the global "Resilient 100" leaders by the Refugee Investment Network and one of the Top 20 Successful Women Leaders 2022 by The Corporate Magazine. Ayda firmly believes in the power of sharing personal journeys to inspire thought-provoking conversations and positive change and speaks internationally on various topics, such as leadership, human rights, ethical policies, governance, productive conflict, and the importance of creating inclusive communities.
I am honored to join the US Refugee Advisory Board, and was drawn to its unique mandate to shape policies impacting displaced people from a holistic perspective. The blend of professional expertise and lived experience at USRAB fosters policies that resonate beyond theoretical frameworks, making them more effective in addressing real-world challenges. I'm eager to further explore how we can collectively leverage both of these dimensions to make a meaningful impact. — Ayda Zugay
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.”