Jacinta Ifunanya Azie

Jacinta Ifunanya Azie (Ify) graduated with her Master of Public Health from the Department of Global Health at the University of Washington. She received her Bachelor's degree in Public Health Technology from the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria. Ifunanya describes herself as a passionate advocate for adolescent and women’s sexual and reproductive health and girl's education. Most recently she worked with Strong Enough Girls Empowerment Initiative (SEGEI) - an international non-profit organization that empowers adolescent girls and young women through education (formal & informal), mentorship, and life skills development as a program coordinator where she oversaw the mentorship arm of the non-profit. Her research interests include sexual and reproductive health of adolescents and young women, gender equality, HIV/AIDS and health policy.

Ify worked on seven START projects during her two-year engagement at START, acting as the Project Manager for two of them. Below are highlights from two projects Ify worked on:

• GPA Partner Diversification Landscape Phase 2: The Global Policy & Advocacy (GPA) division at the Foundation engaged the START Center to conduct a landscape review of equitable grantmaking and partner diversification practices within the division and across the field of philanthropy and grantmaking, and to develop a scorecard of indicators and theory of change for the division’s partner diversification efforts.
• Tailoring Health Delivery in Hard to Reach Populations in NTDs: The START team conducted an up-to-date literature review on tailoring NTD interventions in hard-to-reach populations and other health areas that have reached similar populations successfully, drawing recommendations and highlighting challenges that can be strengthened for an effective programmatic reach for the NTD PST at The Foundation.

Apart from her work as a research assistant with the START Center, Ify was integral in creating an International Student Handbook based on the experiences Ify had when she first arrived to Seattle. This handbook has served as a valuable resource to incoming international students and domestic students first coming to the region. When reflecting back on her time with the START Center, she said, “START played a crucial role in my understanding of Corporate America, and it did so with a great deal of patience and grace. My experience significantly stretched me and helped me develop into a highly confident individual”.

Currently, Ify works with the University of Washington's School of Social Work as a Masters of Social Work (MSW) Recruitment Specialist.