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Samira Madi
Co-Executive Director
Samira earned her BA in sociology at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She continued her graduate career at the same university for her master's in Conflict Resolution. Samira focuses on qualitative research, gender-based violence, human rights, and gender studies. Besides that, Samira is an activist, organizer, and feminist. Currently, she is a program coordinator at Vital Voices.
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Dennis Jjuuko
Co-Executive Director
Dennis is a doctoral candidate in the Global Governance and Human Security doctoral program at the McCormack School at UMass Boston. Dennis holds an MSc in Security, Leadership and Society (Pass with Distinction) from King’s College London, and a BA in Ethics and Development Studies (Honors) from Uganda Martyrs University. He is an alumnus of the Peace, Security and Development Fellowship for African Scholars of the African Leadership Center at King’s College London, and a former Research Fellow at the University of Johannesburg. Dennis hopes to contribute to furthering MAP Network’s growth through strengthening documentation, research and fundraising, and consolidating the service providers’ network to ensure more and effective access to services by refugees and asylum seekers.
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Courtney Maurer
Director of Research and Organizational Development
Courtney joined MAP Network as a Research Fellow in 2019 and transitioned to the leadership team in 2020. She received her M.A. in Global Studies with a concentration in Immigration Studies from Brandeis University. Courtney’s research focuses on immigrant and refugee integration in the United States and how various push and pull factors of immigration impact an individual’s ability to reach self-sufficiency. Courtney continuously advocates for immigrant communities in the greater Boston area. In addition to her current work within MAP Network, she was a communications intern for The Right to Immigration Institute and an ESL teacher at Watch CDC. As the Director of Research and Organizational Development for MAP Network, Courtney is eager to advocate for refugee and immigrant advancement by providing current and factual data that highlights inequalities among immigrant and refugee populations while providing more effective policy approaches.
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Maia MatermanDirector of Technology and Community Engagement
Maia is a Computer Science and Human Centered Design student at Olin College. She is passionate about exploring the intersection of technology and the public good, and focuses primarily on human rights. Maia joined MAP Network through her management of the Migrant Service Map as a volunteer at Code For Boston. She is interested in the ways in which technology can improve the lives of people with a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds and abilities. Maia is excited to work with refugees, immigrants, and service providers to build technology which empowers them and makes their lives better.
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Johanna Norshus Tvedt
Before co-founding MAP Network (formerly Refugees Welcome!), Johanna Norshus Tvedt received her M.A. in International Studies from the University of San Francisco, where her thesis explored gender in international refugee law. She currently works at Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she is researching higher education in the U.S. Her work promoting refugee and immigrant rights spans several years and multiple continents. In Norway, she worked for equal rights for minorities at the MiRA Resource Centre for Black, Immigrant and Refugee Women, where she managed an educational program, provided policy analysis, and co-authored a handbook on anti-discrimination work within the Child Welfare Services. She has also worked with immigrant and refugee rights organizations on the East- and West Coast of the U.S., and currently serves as a member of North Korea Refugee Aid’s advisory board.
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Denise Muro
Denise has been working with MAP Network since 2017 and served as Executive Director from 2018-2022. Denise has several years of experience working, advocating, and conducting research with asylum seekers, refugees, and immigrants in Colorado, Wyoming, Massachusetts, and Germany. She is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Conflict Resolution, Human Security, and Global Governance in the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
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Kenneth Baiza Mukonyezi
Kenneth Baiza Mukonyezi has over 10 years of experience in government and NGOs focused on security, peace building, justice, and development work. Kenneth’s experience growing up in Uganda exposed him to tragedies resulting from conflicts, wars, and bad governance, which affected the lives of people and often caused displacements in his native country and region. He was a soldier under the Ugandan military until 2014, which enabled him to travel across the country and witness the peoples’ struggles. This shaped his pursuit for peace studies and developed deep passion to work within peace building, justice, and development professions.
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Darren Kew
Darren Kew is an Associate Professor in the Department of Conflict Resolution, Human Security, and Global Governance in the McCormack Graduate School. He is the Executive Director of the Center for Peace, Democracy, and Development. He studies the connection between democratic institution building in Africa and the development of political cultures that support democracy, particularly in terms of the role of civil society groups in this development. Kew has worked with the Council on Foreign Relations’ Center for Preventive Action to provide analysis and blueprints for preventing conflicts in several areas around the world, including Nigeria, Central Africa, and Kosovo. He has also been a consultant to the United Nations, USAID, the US State Department, and to a number of NGOs, including the Carter Center in a 1999 effort by former President Carter to mediate the Niger Delta conflicts. His work on how conflict resolution methods promote democratization of national political cultures is one of the first of its kind linking these important fields.
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