Alumna Chi Chi Obichere-Roxo's interest in international development - sparked by a Colgate extended study course and a Watson fellowship - can be seen through her work involving refugees in Kenya, religious leaders in Nigeria, and a host of others around the world.
Obichere-Roxo '00 is a program officer with Management Sciences for Health, a nonprofit global health organization based at The Extending Service Delivery Project, a consortium of six international organizations funded by the United States Agency for International Development.
Besides Kenya and Nigeria, Obichere-Roxo also has worked in England, India, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Mali. She focuses mainly on reproductive health and family planning issues.
She talks about her experiences in the latest episode of Colgate Conversations, a podcast series that highlights members of the campus community.
Obichere-Roxo was on campus last semester to talk with students about the benefits of the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship program. She spent a year doing community work with in-and-out-of school youth and conducting research in post-apartheid South Africa, examining the significance that monuments, street names, and historical sites had for different population groups.
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| Chi Chi Obechere-Roxo '00 speaks to students about her Watson fellowship during a recent campus visit. |
Before the fellowship, Obichere-Roxo had traveled to South Africa as part of a three-week extended study course led by political science professor Anne Pitcher. Obichere-Roxo talks in the podcast about the importance of that international experience and how Colgate fosters longtime connections between students and faculty members.
Working for nonprofits can be challenging at times, she said, as funding can dry up before programs can take root. But there are success stories, as well.
In Nigeria and Kenya, Obichere-Roxo will be working with community leaders and providers to counsel women about spacing out their pregnancies to ensure they are able to devote sufficient time and resources to their children. This program will be judged by whether local groups step in and take ownership of it after seeing it perform so well in other areas.
"My job is to contribute to improvements in development that enable me to hopefully not have a job," she joked.
To listen to Obichere-Roxo's podcast interview, please click to listen now or right-click and "save target as" to download file. You also can go to the Colgate Conversations page or iTunes page for more download options