Barakat

Helping Communities Shape Their Own Future Through Education

Angha Sirpurkar-Childress has 20 years of experience in providing
leadership and strategic direction for nonprofit organizations
including managing comprehensive fundraising programs for government,
foundation and corporate grants, individual gifts, membership, and
special events. She has secured more than $22 million in individual
gifts and grants. She is experienced in designing and executing
marketing and communication strategies to successfully grow revenue
and engage donors.

Angha is passionate about social justice and human rights issues and
has managed a micro-credit organization in India, which provided small
loans and training to low-income women to become economically
self-sufficient. Other international work includes teaching,
volunteering and NGO capacity building in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia
on issues of education, health and human rights for women and
children.

Angha has a Masters in English and Masters of Philosophy in English
from Indore University in India. She received a Masters in Public
Administration with emphasis in Nonprofit Management from the
University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Zuhra Abhar has done her dual master degree in Sustainable International Development and Coexistence and Conflict Resolution from The Heller School for Social Policy &Management; Brandies University. Zuhra previously obtained her undergraduate degree in International Relations and Sociology from Regis College. In addition to her education, Zuhra has extensive field experience regarding education issues and women’s rights and refugees inboth national and international. Her previous work experiences with MercyCorps, Zuhra worked as a research assistant in Afghanistan, designing and implementing capacity-building programs for women in Afghanistan. In the Boston area, Zuhra has worked as a senior counselor for Boston Refugee Youth Enrichment at Harvard University since 2002, where she has taught and mentored refugee students. Finally, over the past year Zuhra has been at the Irish Immigration Center in Boston as a Cross Cultural Committee Facilitator. In this position she has acted as a bridge-builder between people of diverse backgrounds and cultures, creating programs on literacy, life skills and peace conflict resolution. At Barakat, Zuhra will be responsible for overseeing all programs in Afghanistan and Pakistan, including monitoring and evaluation, strategic planning and staff development. She will be based in our Afghanistan office.

Deepa has an MBA from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, specializing in Operations Management and Information Systems. She did her undergraduate in Electronics and Communications Engineering from India. Her previous work experience is as a professional IT consultant for Emirates NBD Bank in Dubai where she supported the IT infrastructural setup of new bank premises. She moved to Boston, MA in 2008 to pursue her MBA degree. At Barakat, Deepa is responsible for supporting technical and operational activities of the company. Barakat's mission of educating children and women is very close to Deepa's heart.