On April 16, President Obama selected 20 youths from 11 countries as part of the 2018 inaugural class of Obama Foundation Fellows and Nedgine Paul Deroly from Haiti, made this prestigious list.
More than 20,000 people from 191 countries had applied and Deroly was the only person from the Caribbean that was selected.
Her selection was not a surprise to those who know her well. Deroly is the co-founder & CEO of Anseye Pou Ayiti, an organization founded to help promote equal educational opportunities for all Haitian children. Nearly three years ago she talked about her work with Haitian youths.
Deroly was born in Haiti but moved to the U.S. at a young age and maintained ongoing leadership roles in community service and youth development programs, particularly within the Haitian diaspora community. Her previous roles at Achievement First, the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut, and WorldTeach included opportunities to manage recruitment, tutoring, and governance duties, and development of a school principal residency program.
Nedgine worked with Partners In Health to manage onboarding, benefits, and workforce planning for the organization’s transnational teams—as well as co-developed and facilitated management trainings for over 150 staff, primarily in Haiti. She has conducted teacher training seminars and extensive research about the historical, cultural, and socioeconomic factors contributing to Haiti’s school system. She earned a B.A. in History from Yale College and an Ed.M. in International Education Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. In 2014, she was named among the top global social innovators by Echoing Green, and she was selected for the Forbes Magazine “30 Under 30” Social Entrepreneurs in 2016.
She is passionate about joining forces with others to continue pursuing her deep commitment to the expansion of high-quality educational opportunity in Haiti.
Part of this story was curated from Deroly’s biography posted Anseye Pou Ayiti website.
