Full video "Dispatches from the Field: Refugee Crisis Interventions" from the Dart Center's reporting institute, "Reporting on Refugees and Migration Through the Eyes of Young Children"; September 21, 2019.
Barbara Ammirati started her humanitarian career with Save the Children in 2005 as part of the first domestic emergency response following Hurricane Katrina on the US Gulf Coast. She has since gained extensive international experience managing child rights and protection program development, implementation and evaluation - with hands on field experience including three years in Afghanistan, program oversight in Kenya, Liberia, and the Philippines.
Most recently, Ammirati led response and recovery programs across five Save the Children disaster programs including Puerto Rico, North Carolina, and Florida in 2017 and 2018 and is currently serving as Team Lead for Save the Children’s Border Response. She holds an MA in Human Rights from Columbia University.
Gary Shaye has devoted more than 44 years to Save the Children’s work with children, families and communities around the world. In September 2017, Gary led the organization’s post-Hurricane Irma relief response in Florida in an emergency capacity and in April of 2018, he served as Team Leader in Puerto Rico for the response to Hurricane Maria. In April and May of 2019, he served as Team Leader in Colombia for the response to the Venezuelan crisis.
From April 2010 to February 2012, Gary was the Country Director in Haiti – during the critical period following the devastating 2010 earthquake. Prior to his assignment in Haiti, Gary spent seven years as Director in Bolivia. Previous assignments included 14 years in the Connecticut headquarters where he served as Vice President for International Programs.
He previously spent six years in Nepal where he established Save the Children’s country operations there and in neighboring Bhutan. His first assignment with the organization was in the Dominican Republic where he spent four years as the Country Director. Prior to joining Save the Children, Gary received his bachelor’s degree from Cornell University, his Master’s Degree from the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont, and, following his graduation from Cornell, he served for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cuzco, Peru. Gary is fluent in Spanish and speaks some Nepali.
Jonathan Robinson is a founder and former global director of Impact Hub and co-founder of Civic. He has launched ventures with partners ranging from the UK Cabinet Office, British Council, Tate Modern and the Guardian Media Group, to Unicef, UNHCR and peace entrepreneurs in Afghanistan.
Marianne Stone has been working with the International Rescue Committee since 2012 and in the Middle East since 2014. She is currently the Regional Project Director of the Ahlan Simsim program, which aims to reach children and their caregivers with high-quality Early Childhood Development content in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Syria. Previously, she held the position of Head of Programs in Lebanon and Iraq where she oversaw the implementation of $30-33 million portfolios with programming in diverse sectors such as Protection, Education, Economic Wellbeing, Child Protection, Women’s Protection and Health.
Prior to her work in the Middle East, Stone worked for the IRC in the Democratic Republic of Congo overseeing business development and grant management of an annual portfolio of over $70 million. Before working with the IRC, she worked in the US with a focus on social protection issues. Notably she worked on raising awareness in issues of intimate partner violence within refugee communities in Houston and served as an advocate for Women’s issues. Stone holds a Master’s Degree in International Affairs from Science Po, Paris and the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University as well as a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin.
