LendforPeace.org selected for engagement with Harvard Kennedy School’s International Consulting Organization

We are pleased to announce that LendforPeace.org has been chosen by the Harvard Kennedy School of Government’s International Consulting Organization (ICO) for a semester-long collaborative consulting project.

ICO is a student-run group at the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) that provides students with opportunities to work on consulting projects with organizations that have an international development mission. Through ICO, teams of students volunteer their unique skills over the course of the academic year to help these organizations address critical issues.

Three HKS students have been assigned to LendforPeace.org to assist with marketing, budgeting and fundraising. Each ICO team member that is working with LendforPeace.org has an impressive and relevant background:

Jo Aylor:

Jo is a first year Master of Public Policy candidate at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government where she is concentrating in International and Global Affairs. She was born and raised in Frankfurt, Germany. After graduating from Austin College in 2004, she spent the next four years in Kyoto, Japan, where she worked first as an English teacher and then as Prefectural Advisor for the Kyoto Prefectural Board of Education. This position allowed her to explore her interest in intercultural communication and problem resolution. She recently served as Japan Coordinator for PEPY, an organization operating mostly in rural Cambodia and focusing on access to education.  Jo is fluent in English, German, French and Japanese.

Laila Kassis:

Laila is a candidate for an MBA from Harvard Business School and an MPA in International Development from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Prior to attending Harvard, Laila was a Senior Associate at Key Venture Partners, a Boston-based venture capital firm investing in growth stage information technology, communications and media companies.  In Boston, she has volunteered for the Center for Women and Enterprise coaching female entrepreneurs on business building and capital raising. After completing her studies at Harvard, Laila plans to work in international development in the Arab World. She is fluent in Arabic and learning Hebrew and French.

Tidhar Wald:

Tidhar is a first year Master of Public Policy student at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University concentrating in International and Global Affairs. Originally from Tel Aviv, Israel, he graduated from the Sorbonne University in Paris, France receiving a BA in Political Science and History. Tidhar has worked as a Journalist for several Israeli newspapers, among them “Ha’aretz”, covering International Affairs, social and cultural affairs. Prior to entering the Kennedy School, he served as the European Union Liaison Officer of the European Jewish Congress, coordinating the political actions of this NGO within the EU Institutions in Brussels and Strasbourg.  He is fluent in Hebrew, English, French and German and learns Japanese and Spanish.

Says ICO teammember Jo Aylor:

“The LendforPeace.org team, which includes both Jewish and Muslim members, and their mission to fund development through a global grassroots movement exhibit the spirit of cooperation so desperately needed in the Middle East.”

We at LendforPeace.org are excited to have the ICO team on board!