topic: thai refugee resettlement in the united states ... · my name is aleena tariq, and i’ll be...

MUNUC 32

Topic: Thai Refugee Resettlement in the United States, 2005-2012

International Rescue Committee

International Rescue Committee | MUNUC 32 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS ______________________________________________________

Letter from the Chair…………………………………………………………...3

Letter from the Crisis Director…………………………………………………4

Committee Structure…………………………………………………………..5

Committee History……………………………………………………………..6

Statement of the Problem……………………………………………………10

History of the Problem………………………………………………………..13

Character Biographies………………………………………………………15

Bibliography…………………………………………………………………...28


LETTER FROM THE CHAIR ______________________________________________________

Delegates,

Welcome to the International Rescue Committee at the thirty-second annual Model United Nations

of the University of Chicago. My name is Aleena Tariq, and I’ll be your chair for this weekend. I am a

fourth year at UChicago majoring in Sociology and Public Policy Studies. I grew up in Dallas, Texas—

so if I refer to “you all” as “y’all,” you’ll know why—and was on the Model UN team all four years of

high school. I’ve done MUNUC all throughout college and was the Under-Secretary-General of the

General Assembly, so my foray into crisis is a relatively new one. So, if you’re apprehensive, just

know that you’re not alone! Hannah, your Crisis Director, and I are so excited to share the

background guide with you all!

The topic for this weekend will be the resettlement of refugees from Thailand into the United States

between 2005 and 2012. As you will know by the time you complete research, this was an extensive

process that reached from before 2005 to after 2012. We hope that the targeted focus will allow you

all to work as comprehensively as possible to address this event. Delegates will have the unique

opportunity during the upcoming weekend to discuss and debate, looking at the complexities of the

problem at hand and addressing it thoroughly. You will be charged with collaborating with one

another to consider the issue and work to take steps to resolve it. Hannah and I look forward to

guiding and supporting you all (y’all?) through this process.

Until February!

Warm regards,

Aleena Tariq

Chair, International Rescue Committee, MUNUC 32


LETTER FROM THE CRISIS DIRECTOR ______________________________________________________

Dear delegates,

We’re so excited that you’ll be joining the IRC at MUNUC 32! My name is Hannah Buonomo and I will

be your crisis director on the International Rescue Committee. I’m a fourth year from Bloomfield

Hills, Michigan majoring in Economics and History. Outside of MUNUC I also staff Chicago’s college

conference, ChoMUN and am on the board of a student run nonprofit providing free or affordable

one-on-on K-12 tutoring.

At MUNUC XXIX I was an AC on Cabinet of India, at MUNUC 30 I was CD of Margaret Thatcher’s

cabinet and last year at MUNUC 31 I was on EXCOM, as USG of continuous crisis. After attending

MUNUC for four years as a delegate and staffing MUNUC all through college, I’m very excited to end

my MUNUC career running a committee I’ve wanted to see done for a long time.

The IRC came from the idea that we do not spend enough time thinking through the vital work

NGOs do. Frequently delegates use NGOs as a catch all solution to human rights issues without

appreciating how difficult it is to coordinate international, expensive relief to the people who need it

most. Too often delegates list NGOs in a sub clause as an afterthought meant to address the

humanitarian dimension of complex conflicts. As a hybrid committee you will have the chance to

explore the work of the IRC both from a policy oriented theoretical perspectival and in terms of

logistical challenges of implementing policy.

I look forward to seeing all of you at the Hyatt in February. Do not hesitate to reach out to

[email protected] if you have any questions.

Best,

Hannah Buonomo

Crisis Director, International Rescue Committee, MUNUC 32


COMMITTEE STRUCTURE ______________________________________________________

As an NGO, the International Rescue Committee both has to set their own policies, recommend

policies to other governments and set up new programs. However, the IRC also has a huge operation

spanning multiple continents that requires constant attention. In order to understand how the IRC

juggles both the IRC at MUNUC 32 will be run as a hybrid committee encompassing both traditional

GA elements and crisis elements such as updates and notes. As a double-delegation, you are tasked

with writing a resolution while simultaneously tackling a variety of immediate challenges that will

evolve over the course of the weekend.

We will be operating with a single notepad system. Each pair of partners will have one notepad. Each

round of notes will be limited to one page front and back maximum and will be returned within one

hour. This is a slower pace than most crisis committees as we want your notes to be more substantial

than the average crisis note. Through notes you are responsible for running the portion of the IRC

that your position is in charge of and improving both its reach and efficiency. We do not want the

typical destructive crisis plans preferred in continuous crisis. We recommend that at any given time

one partner be focused on resolution writing and one partner focus on note writing and switch off

giving speeches.


COMMITTEE HISTORY ______________________________________________________

Founding of the International Rescue Committee

In January 1933 Adolf Hitler became the chancellor of Germany.1 Within a few months, he had taken

on emergency powers and began systematically persecuting the Jewish population in Germany and

members of competing political parties. In an effort to help persecuted people escape Germany and

build new lives in other countries, the International Relief Association was founded in Europe by a

small group of well-connected elites who were endangered by Nazi policies. The IRA is a predecessor

to the International Rescue Committee founded by Albert Einstein to assist persecuted political and

religious groups in Germany, including Jewish academics like himself. Albert Einstein contacted

friends in New York and requested they found a chapter to help lobby Americans to give resources to

help. Fifty one people including some of the most prominent thinkers of the day joined together to

form the first committee in July 1933.2

After immigrating to New York in late 1933, Einstein set up New York offices for the International

Relief Association. The group continued to attract prominent powerful people such as Eleanor

Roosevelt in the lead up to World War II, and pushed for more refugees to be allowed into the United

States in the face of immense public fear and discrimination towards immigrants. While never

successful at getting the government to allow the entry of significant number of Jewish refugees, the

group did have many small victories that saved the lives of many both Jewish and non-Jewish targets

of Nazi violence.3

World War II and the IRC

After the Nazi occupation of France in 1940, there was a significant increase in the number of

refugees looking for assistance to leave France. Another group called the Emergency Rescue

1Lukacs, John; Bullock, Alan; Bullock, Baron; Knapp, Wilfred. “Adolf Hitler - Rise to Power.” In Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica. 2 Kastner, Alton. “A Brief History of the International Rescue Committee.” International Rescue Committee, n.d. 3 International Rescue Committee (IRC). “Albert Einstein and the Birth of the International Rescue Committee,” 03/14/2015.


Committee was founded by an American in Marseilles, Varian Fry. The Emergency Rescue

Committee helped over 1,500 refugees in France escape, including Max Ernst, Hannah Arendt and

Marc Chagall.4 By 1942, the Nazis became aware of the operation and sent Fry back to the United

States where he tried to alert people to the existence of the Holocaust. Later that year, the

Emergency Rescue Committee merged with the International Relief Association to form the

International Rescue Committee and aid as many refugees from Nazi Germany as possible.

Following the end of World War II, the IRC began several programs that would go on to become part

of their core operations including refugee resettlement, refugee access to health care and aid for

children. During the post war period, the IRC began its aid in Eastern Europe, helping people flee the

Soviet Union and setting up operations in Western Berlin.

Current State of the IRC

To aid in their resettlement efforts, the IRC maintains twenty two resettlement offices in the United

States. In addition, the IRC maintains an emergency response team ready to travel to countries with

the greatest need to coordinate resettlement efforts. Each year, the IRC assists thousands of

refugees both in their initial resettlement but also in easing the transition into new communities. In

order to expand into new areas in recent years, the IRC has emphasized creating relationships with

local organizations and relying on volunteers. This has made expansion into new areas much quicker

and cheaper. Using these tactics, the IRC has been able to expand further into Latin America, an area

where, historically, the IRC did not have a large presence.

While the core of the International Rescue Committee is still aiding refugees, recent operations have

expanded to include numerous other initiatives. The IRC is active in approximately thirty three

countries with programs in diverse fields such as public health, emergency disaster relief and

education. The creation of programs that improve the quality of life for refugees, especially ones still

residing in refugee camps has become a much greater priority for the IRC.

4 Rupp, George. “Rescuing the Nazis’ ‘Most Wanted.’” International Rescue Committee (IRC), 09/06/2016.


Maintaining these operations takes an immense network of over ten thousand employees around

the globe managing day to day operations, fundraising to support these programs, maintaining

relationships with dozens of countries, and preparing to respond to the world’s next emergency at a

moment’s notice. Maintaining high standards during core operations but also in back-end less visible

areas of the organization is vital to maintaining the impeccable relationship IRC has with its many

partners.

Spotlight on Funding

The IRC has a yearly operating budget of approximately seven hundred million dollars.5 While this

may seem large, the American Red Cross has yearly revenues of two point seven billion dollars and

Doctors without Borders has a budget of approximately one point six billion dollars. While individual

dollar amounts and budgeting are not the purview of this committee, it is important to understand

the financial realities and limitations of the organization.

The IRC is known for ensuring all programs have the greatest impact per dollar possible. The IRC has

a long history of financial responsibility and is notable in that only five percent of the budget is spent

on fundraising and only eight percent is spent on administrative costs. Many other nonprofits and

NGOs have come under increased scrutiny in recent years for spending too much money on their

leadership’s salaries or fundraising efforts instead of on operations, so it is important that the IRC

maintains their high standards.

The IRC has an endowment and an emergency fund but, generally, all the money in the budget is

allocated to existing programs. The creation of new initiatives would require increased financial

assistance (likely from an existing donor), decreased funding for other vital programs or partnerships

with other NGOs or nonprofits that can bear the brunt of the cost. In recent years, the IRC has put a

lot of emphasis on sharing their best practices with local established non-profits in regions where the

IRC is less established in order to expand their reach. These partnerships have largely been successful

5 KPMG. “International Rescue Committee, Inc. and Subsidiaries Consolidated Financial Statements.” KPMG LLP, 09/30/2017.


because they have enabled non-profits with deep understanding of local cultures and practices but

little experience with refugee resettlement to succeed.

Top Donors

A majority of the money for the IRC comes from three sources. The first source is United Nations

Agencies, who provide approximately eighty million per year. Next are European agencies, including

from local, national and European Union agencies and initiatives who provide approximately 200

million per year. The largest source of funding for the IRC comes from local, state and federal

government agencies in the United States, who provide over two hundred and sixty million dollars

per year. Because all three of these are political organizations subject to trends in both geopolitical

funding wars and national debates over refugees, the IRC has to maintain strong relationships with

politicians from all over the world. Many national governments have strict rules about how money

coming from government agencies can be used; the IRC must stay compliant with these laws. Only

around ten to twenty million dollars a year originates from grant awarding foundations, private

donors, or government agencies from other parts of the world.


TOPIC: THAI REFUGEE RESTTLEMENT IN THE UNITED STATES, 2005-2012 ______________________________________________________

Statement of the Problem

The current situation in the refugee camps of Thailand is still somewhat precarious, with over

100,000 refugees from Myanmar living in the camps on the Thai side of the border. This section will

first go into more detail on the state of the camps themselves, and then what the IRC is currently

doing to address these issues once the resettlement period in the United States has ended.

Current State of the Camps

The IRC writes that “Despite Thailand’s overall stability over the last generation, there remain many

population groups living in crisis,” demonstrating that the crisis has not abated and remains of high

priority to the region to address.6 Refugees are still unable to seek work due to restrictive Thai laws

surrounding employment, and any work that is found illicitly is often unsafe and tenuous at best.

Maternal mortality and women’s health issues are of high concern, with the rate of miscarriages,

premature births, and underweight newborns sitting quite high.

6International Rescue Committee, “International Rescue Committee, Thailand: Strategy Action Plan,” 06/2016


IRC’s Work

Currently, there are Thai IRC camps in the Bangkok area, the Chiang Mai province, the Tak, Mae

Hong Son, and Ratchaburi provinces, and the northern border provinces; this enables the

organization to have a presence around the nation and to keep a check on the refugees in all parts of

Thailand, not just at the Thailand-Myanmar border. The IRC camps are quickly approaching

capacity—the need for resettlement of refugees was not concentrated in the 1980s,but continues on

to this day.7

The IRC’s work intends to focus on specific outcomes and objectives that fall in line with the mission

and vision accentuated in their “Thailand: Strategy Action Plan.”8 The outcomes include health,

safety, education, economic well-being, and power, with the objectives of effectiveness, best use of

resources, scale and reach, speed and timeliness, responsiveness, and research and development. A

thorough understanding of the Strategy Action Plan is critical to providing effective solutions that

will arise in committee. Much of the work also focuses on the empowerment of women and girls in

the region, as historically, they have been excluded from decision-making about self-determination

and the ability to move around. This work takes the form of educational workshops around women

empowerment.

As part of their resettlement efforts, the IRC:

“Provides ongoing medical care, focusing on pregnant women, babies and children, and on the

prevention and treatment of malaria.

Provides legal counseling, emotional support and referral services to refugees, especially women, who

are victims of crime or abuse.

Works with adolescent girls to tackle issues such as early marriage and violence against women.

7 Ibid. 8 Ibid.


Helps landmine victims and others with special needs by providing medical care, prostheses and

emotional support.

Assists refugees seeking admission to the U.S. by processing asylum claims with the federal

government.

Collaborates with local authorities and partners to advocate for the rights of children, migrant workers

and displaced people and to ensure they have access to services.

Provides health training (the first academically accredited program) for displaced people so they can

deliver services within their towns and villages.

Responds to emergencies with urgent medical treatment and supplies.”9

Charge of the Committee

Delegates in this committee, representing different members

of the leadership board, will be entrusted with the distribution

of humanitarian aid by identifying where the refugees should

go, what initiatives to fund to get them there, and how to

support them when they have arrived in the United States. The

committee will be very delegate-dependent, but there will be

guidance along the way. Delegates should use their knowledge

of not only the specific person they are representing, but how

the position they hold fits into the larger problem of aid

disbursement in a given cross-national situation.

9 International Rescue Committee (IRC). “Thailand.”


History of the Problem

The fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, was the moment in which North Vietnam captured said capital of

South Vietnam, losing the war for South Vietnam and its allies, namely, the United States. That year,

then-President Gerald Ford instituted a program to coordinate the evacuation of U.S. citizens and

Vietnamese citizens from Vietnam. This crisis eventually spread to the rest of the Indochina

Peninsula. Instability in Vietnam spurred other military uprisings and political lash-outs in other

nations, with political and military crises affecting the Hmong people of Laos and various ethnic

groups in Myanmar. It was clear that there was a refugee crisis affecting the whole Peninsula.

The refugee crisis in Myanmar was especially pronounced, with refugees fleeing political and

economic turmoil from Myanmar and settling in refugee camps in Thailand beginning in 1984, nine

years after the fall of Saigon. Myanmar’s political situation was characterized by intense corruption

and economic downturn, spurring ethnic groups to rise up against the government. Many refugees

fled the country to escape the violence. There were various factors at play for and against Burmese

resettlement. Reasons for fleeing included the prospects of higher education, better quality of life,

and overall less political turmoil. On the other hand, refugees faced the gradually dwindling hope

that the political situation in the peninsula would change over time and the onus of assimilation and

adjustment to an entirely new way of life. These refugee camps were originally meant to be

temporary, allowing refugees to return to Myanmar when the conditions were right. This changed,

however, in the mid-1980s when stateless armies known as the Karen National Union (emancipated

from Great Britain around the same time as the rest of the nations in the Indochina region but not

belonging to any state) starting to gain traction in the region. The KMU began to push Burmese into

Thailand in larger numbers and for longer periods of time. The number of Burmese refugees in Thai

camps peaked around 150,000 in 2005.

As Thailand attempted to find ways to accommodate the refugees entering the country, the option

of resettlement into third countries was undertaken. Burmese resettlement from Thailand

eventually began to switch over to resettlement into the United States beginning in 2005 and ending

in 2014.


It is first worth noting why exactly the United States allowed the entry of refugees into the country

to begin with. A large number of refugees from Thailand admitted into the United States were

comprised of the Hmong people of Laos, an ethnic group that was especially vulnerable to the

violence in the Indochina region. The Migration Policy Institute writes that “The root of the Hmong

refugee experience lies in an alliance with American Cold War efforts in Laos.”10 The United States’

activities during the Cold War in Indochina included the use of Hmong manpower to fight the

communist forces. The United States allowed resettlement for the Hmong people starting in 1975,

and the number of refugees entering the country ebbed and flowed until the mid 2000s.

The conditions of the camps have not been particularly hospitable. Humanity & Inclusion details the

isolation and overcrowdedness of the camps, the restriction of people in the camps to have

independent incomes and find work outside of the camps, and the effects of the climate on the

camps and the people within them.11 The rainy season brings monsoons that flood the camps,

putting the infrastructure of the camps is at risk. Mental health is also a significant issue in the

camps; many of the men and women struggle with depression and addictions to drugs and alcohol.

10 Yau, Jennifer, “The Foreign-Born Hmong in the United States,” 01/01/2005, Migration Policy Institute 11 Humanity & Inclusion, “Refugees in Thailand.”


Character Biographies

Amanda Seller: Senior Vice President, Global Partnerships and Philanthropy

Ms. Seller is the IRC’s primary envoy to the larger philanthropic community. This role spans many

sectors, including fundraising, communications and community management. She also often serves

as an official spokesperson to the press, in an effort to raise awareness of the IRC’s impact. Recently,

the IRC has been working on expanding its involvement with the foundations of various corporations

as public funding dries up. Ms. Seller cultivates relationships with the boards of these organizations

and collaborates with them to solicit new donations or coordinate joint partnerships and new

ventures.

Ciaran Donnelly: Senior Vice President, International Programs

As the Senior Vice President of International Programs, Donnelly oversees humanitarian efforts in 35

countries worldwide. Last year these programs reached more than 23 million displaced and conflict-

affected people.12 Donelly is a big advocate of shifting the IRC’s strategy to focusing on maximizing

cost effectiveness through data collection and analysis. Donelly previously led field operations in

Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, and Uganda and wants to work on

creating greater consistency in the quality of life in temporary settlements or refugee camps. His

main challenge will be translating his detail-oriented approach to a global strategy that

encompasses all of the many situations the IRC works in.

Jennifer Sime: Senior Vice President, United States Programs and Awards Management Unit

As Senior Vice President, United States Programs and Awards Management Unit, Sime is

responsible for overseeing the twenty-seven IRC offices within the United States. While these offices

primarily assist newly arrived refugees, they include additional programming such as education or

job training. Sime often finds herself having to make difficult decisions about which programs to

12 “Ciarán Donnelly: The Pearson Institute.” Pearson Institute.


prioritize given the IRC’s limited domestic programming budget. In addition to funding, Sime is also

responsible for interoffice communication and government relations.

Madlin Sadler: Senior Vice President, Operations and Strategy

As Senior VP Operations and Strategy, Madlin Sadlin wears many hats overseeing the IRC’s various

departments. Her main job is balancing the requests of the many department heads who report to

her all have different priorities. Critically, she also coordinates with regional heads across the globe

to make sure they feel properly supported by headquarters. Some have criticized IRC’s corporate

structure for being too segmented and she has been tasked with making the organization more

cohesive.

Oscar Raposo: Chief Financial Officer

With experience as a leader in finance both at F500 companies and other leading nonprofits,

Rapsoso has a passion for efficiency and growth. Raposo joins the IRC at a time when NGOs budgets

are under more scrutiny than ever before. Some governments have become worried that NGO

money often ends up in the hands of those it is intended to help protect people against. Private

donors are increasingly critical of cushy private-sector like salaries for executives and large

marketing budgets. People who donate to the IRC increasingly want to see numbers reflecting the

impact of their donations that match the quality of corporate earnings report. Raposo is in charge of

efforts to satisfy these donors requests as well as ensure there is no waste within the IRC.

Ravi Gurumurthy: Chief Innovation Officer

As Chief Innovation Officer, Ravi Gurumurthy works to build partnerships with the world’s most

talented researchers, philanthropists and organizations to figure out how new technology, policy

and programs can be used to help refugees. Past partnerships have included Stanford researchers,

pharmaceutical companies and numerous fortune 500 companies. No idea is too ambitious for

Gurumurthy, as long as there is an outside partner to help support it. The innovation department

often works on prototypes of multiple programs at once on a small scale. Many of these programs

are often failures but the success often have a big impact when rolled out on a larger platform.


Ricardo Castro: General Counsel

As both an advocate for refugees and an NGO with operations in dozens of countries, the IRC both

employees a large in house legal staff and cooperates with hundreds of lawyers who donate their

time pro bono. Ricardo Castro is in charge of overseeing all attorneys both in their defense of

individual refugees and of the IRC as a whole. The IRC is routinely sued by those who do not support

their mission both domestically and abroad, and Castro and his staff must represent IRC in court. He

frequently appeals to international institutions in order to protect the rights of refugees, particularly

in areas of civil unrest.

Alyoscia D'Onofrio: Senior Technical Director, Governance

As Senior Technical Director, D’Onofrio is in charge of how to administer aid in the aftermath of a

crisis. Prior to joining the IRC’s international leadership team he was head of IRC-UK. D’Onofrio

passion to improve the IRC’s response to local conflict stems from his experience resettling ethnic

minorities back in Bosnia. DOnofrio leads a team of experts in Governance, Protection and Rule of

Law. This team is responsible for crafting best practices to ensure that vulnerable peoples are both

protected and included in the process of rebuilding after a crisis. D’Onofrio is also responsible for

researching methods to effectively administer aid.

Barri Shorey: Senior Director, Economic Recovery and Development

Barri Shorey is the senior director of IRC’s Economic Recovery and Development unit, which works

with people displaced by environmental conditions or political unrest to ensure they have basic

needs met, and have opportunities to find a job to support themselves. Shorey leads a team of 30

who research strategy and implementation of IRC’s global cash and livelihoods programming.

Shorey has led a variety of teams focused on job training, small business development, and private

sector partnerships throughout East Africa, Middle East, and Europe programs. She frequently

partners with the gender equality team to ensure the IRC empowers both men and women

economically.


Bob Kitchen: Director, Emergency Unit

When conflict breaks out, Bob Kitchen’s team are often the first people from any international

organization on the ground. Bob has led relief efforts in Sierra Leone, Iraq, Darfur, Chad, Central

African Republic, Indonesia, Nepal and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Kitchen’s team has to be

ready to coordinate shelter, food, water, medical care, and protection for up to thousands of people

with 24 hours notice. In order to do this, Kitchen manages a world class operations team as well as a

task force that is able to evaluate within thirty minutes whenever the IRC enters a new conflict zone.

Recently the IRC called for a review of this process and well as an audit of the emergency unit’s

ability to serve multiple areas at the same time.

Brian Johnson: Chief Human Resources Officer

As Chief HR Officer, Brian Johnson is in charge of all things related to recruiting and retaining IRC’s

thousands of employees, all the way from interns to senior executives. As a nonprofit, IRC cannot

pay anywhere near as much as any for profit company and must work to find people who are not

only qualified for IRC’s highly technical jobs but are also passionate about the mission. As the head of

recruiting, Johnson has a large role in deciding what departments expand. In addition, Johnson

manages the many volunteers the IRC depends on. Deciding what positions are volunteer and which

are paid has a large impact on the organization in terms of budget, efficiency and organizational

structure.

Chris Honsberger: Chief Global Supply Chain Officer

Procuring and transporting millions of dollars in aid materials every year is incredibly complex and

requires coordination between manufacturers, transport, financing and aid responders on the

ground. One of the most important duties is making sure goods do not disappear due to corruption

or fraud. Honsberger is also in charge of negotiating with companies, particularly pharmaceutical

companies, in getting fair prices. Recently, the Supply Chain office has been having more discussions

around green sourcing and shipping. Honsberger has been trying to find a way to balance speed

efficiency with the understanding that quick cheap manufacturing and shipping has an outsized

negative impact on the environment.


Colleen Ryan: Vice President, Communications

As Vice President of Communications, Ryan is in charge of controlling messaging and brand across

all channels, including prepping executives for interviews, internal communications, and crisis

management. Because IRC operates in so many countries, this requires working with a global

network of communications associates as well as PR firms in order to cultivate positive relationships

with communities around the world. Ryan particularly has a lot of experience in political

communications and focuses much of her efforts on lobbying governments to accept refugees.

Danusia Dzierzbinski: Deputy Chief Financial Officer

As deputy CRO and controller Dzierzbinski is in charge of the hands on managing of IRC’s 800 million

dollar budget.Much of this entails forecasting the suture needs of the organization to make sure the

IRC is investing in the correct resources for their future. This means not not allocating this year’s

money based on current need but trying to predict what the IRC will need in the nezt five to ten

years. Investing in the future can mean slowly raising the budget of programs that Dzierzbinski

believes will be important but also literally investing in startups developing services and products IRC

wants to use.

Ellen Beattie: Senior Director of Program Quality, United States Programs

As senior director of program quality Ellen Beattie is in charge of monitoring the numerous partners

that carry out IRC led initiatives. This means Beattie monitors that each program is fulfilling their

intended mandate as well as properly documenting and reporting their results. Ensuring program

quality often involves creating and implementing standards or training programs for all employees

and affiliates across the United States.Recently Beattie has been working on bias training for all

volunteers in order to ensure all volunteers are prepared to engage and advise people coming from

drastically different cultures.


Em Fackler: Chief Information Officer

After spending most of her career in the private sector managing IT for Fortune 500 companies, Em

Fackler decided she wanted to make more of an impact. After accepting the position of CIO at IRC,

Fackler has been on a crusade to make the IRC a more tech savvy organization. Fackler believes

deeply in the potential for technology to do good and has pushed for better, faster data storage and

centralization of information, internet access in all of IRC’s operations globally, and apps that will

simplify and streamline IRC’s operations. Fackler has tries to use her connections to professionals in

the tech world to build partnerships with the world’s most powerful tech companies.

Hans Van de Weerd: Vice President, United States Programs

As Vice President of United States Programs Van de Weerd oversees all US operations and

initiatives for the IRC. Prior to the IRC he worked for Doctors without Borders overseeing public

health campaigns. Immediately after college we worked as an investment banker. Currently, Van de

Weerd’s key responsibilities is documenting the impact of refugee aid efforts in the US, including

those not directly facilitated by the IRC He also spends time quantifying and communicating the

wider benefits of accepting and aiding refugees in America beyond the moral imperative of helping

persecuted people. Because of this he often serves as the link between legal teams advocating for

refugees rights and the people implementing IRC’s program to craft convincing narratives and the

right and importance of aiding refugees looking to come to the US.

Isabella De Mattia: Co-Acting Senior Directors, Strategy

As a Senior Director of Strategy, Isabella De Mattia is in charge of defining IRC’s plans for future

growth and expansion as well as their strategic five year plan. Mattia evaluates which countries have

the capacity for greater engagement with IRC and which areas of the world have the greatest

hostility to accepting and aiding refugees. She and her team are formulating a plan for how to better

incentive and encourage people from stable countries to become invested in the fate of refugees. As

a native of Italy, Mattia is particularly invested in targeting European countries that have in recent

years shied away from helping refugees.


Ben Wise: Co-Acting Senior Directors, Strategy

As a Strategy Director at IRC, Ben Wise focuses on how the IRC can more effectively exert their

influence as one of the largest non-governmental organizations in the world. Wise was hired because

of his previous experience at a top strategy consulting firm known for its emphasis on data driven

decisions. Wise’s mandate from higher ups was to make the IRC a more data-forward organization.

Currently, Wise is working on creating a framework for how the IRC can better lobby key

stakeholders in the resettlement of refugees in both the private and public sector.

Jeannie Annan: Senior Technical Director, Research Evaluation and Learning

As Director of Research Evaluation and Learning, Jeannie Annan is in charge of IRC’s extended team

of both volunteer and employed psychologists, doctors, public health specialists and policy experts

who study global violence. Annan works with the Harvard School of Public Health for assistance with

her research and access to Harvard’s immense resources. Annan herself is particularly interested in

decreasing violence against women and correlating violence against women to greater political

unrest. As a scientist herself, Annan deals with the difficulties of translating academic research into

actionable, global policies that the IRC can implement.

Judson Flanagan: Vice President, International Operations

As VP of International Operations, Flanagan is primarily responsible for monitoring the IRC’s many

programs and partnerships around the world for efficiency. He also must cultivate the IRC’s many

relationships with governments and other NGOs that allow the IRC to respond to any crisis around

the world within 36 hours. This requires operational excellence and coordination with hundreds of

stakeholders. Flanagan spends a lot of time forming relationships and developing trust among key

stakeholders.

Kristin Kim Bart: Senior Director, Gender Equality

As director of gender equality, Kristin Bart is in charge of evaluating how the IRC’s existing programs,

both internationally and in the US can better promote gender equality and the empowerment of

women and girls. This spans everything from trying to prevent abuse towards women within refugee


camps, to financially empowering new female refugees through job training. Bart’s main challenge is

convincing all stakeholders that regardless of cultural norms, the IRC should invest the time and

money into ensuring male and female refugees are given equal opportunities. In addition, Bart also

leads a committee to ensure the IRC is supporting and promoting female leaders among its own

employees.

Mania Boyder: Vice President, Development

As vice president of Development, Boyder oversees all of the IRC’s fundraising efforts. Boyder

oversees foundation relationships, major gifts (large donations from one person), will planning, and

promotion to the general public. To do this, Boyder does everything from take personal meetings

with donors, devise giving campaigns, general marketing campaigns and plan galas. She is currently

trying to attract younger donors, the vast majority of their major donors are over 50. The IRC wants

to build relationships with people between 30-50 in order to plan for their future.

Mesfin Teklu Tessema: Senior Health Director

As Director of Health initiatives at the IRC, Tessema leads a team of more than 50 nutritionists,

public health experts, water sanitation specialists and doctors. Tessema’s team does research and

sets policy on how to deal with disease trends, providing clean water and nutritional meals at

refugee camps and finds cost effective ways to provide health care to thousands of people in remote

areas. Tessema directs his team on what research projects are of pressing concern and outlines what

solutions he would like them to prioritize.

Michael Burlingame: Vice President, Marketing

Mr. Burlingame is the current Vice President of Marketing for the IRC, a role in which he is

responsible for all advertising and promotional materials the IRC produces. His role is vital to the

success of the nonprofit organization because of the efforts to attract attention and generate

fundraising streams for the organization to succeed. Essential to this mission is the successful

outreach to important stakeholders, as well as lay people who would be interested in learning more

about the mission of the organization.


Mireille Cronin Mather: Vice President, Awards Management Unit

Ms. Mather’s work covers the award management unit, which provides strategic guidance in

partnerships that the organization undertakes. Furthermore, she is responsible for providing support

for business development, compliance and policy, training, and grants administration for the entire

organization. The public sector portfolio she oversees contains about $500 million in annual new

revenue, covering donations from organizations such as the United Nations, the Department for

International Development, the government of the United States, and the European Union.13

Nazanin Ash: Vice President, Public Policy and Advocacy

Ms. Ash is in charge of overseeing the global policy and advocacy efforts of the IRC, a capacity that

allows her to create strategies to oversee initiatives that fall in line with the mission and goals of the

IRC.14 Her previous work with the Center for Global Development, ActionAid Kenya, and the United

States Department of State on work related to issues in the Middle East and Africa provides her a

lens into the interactions between shareholders and the relative successes and failures of

international advocacy campaigns.15

Nicole Behnam: Senior Technical Director, Violence Prevention and Response Technical Unit

In her role, Ms. Behnam works to ensure the dispatch of response to situations in which violence

occurs. Her work defines violence broadly: abuse, inter-partner violence, torture, and harsh corporal

punishment. This can be on many levels, from within a family to among different populations. The

response is dispatched in various ways, which Ms. Behnam oversees. The IRC provides case

management services, safe spaces (especially for adolescent girls), and emergency response when

needed as well. Ms. Behnam also works with her team to oversee the development of new initiatives

that respond to violence and work to prevent it.16

13 “Mireille (Cronin) Mather,” https://www.linkedin.com/in/mireille-mather-57466b36/ 14 “Advisory Board: Nazanin Ash,” Foreign Policy for America, https://www.fp4america.org/nazanin-ash 15 “Nazanin Ash,” Centre for International Governance Innovation, https://www.cigionline.org/person/nazanin-ash 16 Nicole Behnam, “The Violence Prevention and Response Unit,” 09/12/2016, https://prezi.com/ug35lnz9obso/the-violence-prevention-and-response-unit/


Patrick Poulin: Acting Regional Director, Pacific West - United States Programs

Mr. Poulin’s work as the Regional Director of the Pacific West – United States Programs means that

he oversees all resettlement efforts in this part of the United States. His jurisdiction extends

throughout ten states and assumes directorship of overseeing the operations at these state-levels as

well as strategic initiatives that equip the Pacific West to provide homes for those fleeing violence.

His previous role as the Executive Director of IRC operations in Salt Lake City, Utah, provides him a

unique lens into the functioning of the IRC on a regional level and the interactions between state,

regional, national, and international levels of the IRC.17

Paul Taylor: Regional Vice President, West Africa

Mr. Taylor’s role focuses on regional efforts in the West Africa region and works to both resettle

people fleeing violence from the region and resettle people in the region fleeing violence from

elsewhere. Work by the IRC in West Africa focuses heavily on issues of domestic and sexual violence,

described by the IRC as the “most urgent, pervasive and significant protection issue for women in

west Africa.”18 Beyond violence against women, Mr. Taylor oversees efforts in West Africa to combat

extreme poverty, corruption, natural disasters, and terror.19 Most recently, the outbreak of the Ebola

virus, concentrated in West Africa, was a major source of efforts by the IRC to assist people and

families plagued by the virus.20

Phil Woollam: Vice President, Strategic Growth

Mr. Woollam works to garner awareness of the IRC’s global efforts and find ways to increase the

extent of these efforts worldwide. A major part of his efforts includes fundraising and grant-writing

for financial support to the IRC so that the IRC can maintain the resources to provide both short-term

emergency response and long-term systemic and structural response. The Resource Alliance writes

17 International Rescue Committee, “IRC in Salt Lake City Welcomes New Executive Director,” 05/17/2019, https://www.rescue.org/announcement/irc-salt-lake-city-welcomes-new-executive-director 18 We Will Speak Out, “IRC Report – West Africa,” https://www.wewillspeakout.org/resources/irc-report-west-africa/ 19 International Rescue Committee, “Nation of Extremes: Nigeria,” https://www.rescue-uk.org/country/nigeria 20 International Rescue Committee, “Everything on her shoulders: rapid assessment on gender and violence against women and girls in the Ebola outbreak in Beni, DRC,” 03/15/2019, https://www.rescue.org/report/everything-her-shoulders-rapid-assessment-gender-and-violence-against-women-and-girls-ebola


that “His current portfolio of work includes; global digital, new market development, emergency

fundraising, departmental project management and governance, data and analytics.”21

Robin Dunn Marcos: Senior Director, Resettlement and Processing

Ms. Marcos works on a global level to coordinate resettlement between different resettlement-

focused groups. This coordination includes case management, economic empowerment,

information sharing, interpretation and language access, and community engagement.22 Groups

involved include: Cultural Orientation Resource Exchange (CORE), European Resettlement and

Integration Technical Assistance (EURITA) Project, and Resettlement Support Center (RSC) East

Asia.23 CORE provides pre- and post-arrival cultural orientation for U.S.-bound refugees to help them

better adjust to the realities of living in the United States after fleeing their home countries;24

EURITA does the same in Europe.25 RSC Asia provides case management services for U.S.-bound

refugees from East Asia, especially Thai and Burmese refugees.26

Sanna Johnson: Regional Vice President, Asia

Ms. Johnson oversees all regional operations in Asia for the IRC. Much of the work being done in Asia

contemporarily focuses on the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar. The IRC functions as the largest

healthcare provider in the Rakhine region, and Ms. Johnson has identified the Rohingya crisis as the

most pressing crisis in the world.27 Her work includes the dispatching of aid and supplies to families

fleeing Myanmar and crossing over the border into Bangladesh. Many health issues are of concern in

21 Resource Alliance, “Phil Woollam (USA),” https://resource-alliance.org/speakers/phil-woollam/ 22 Resettlement Resources, “EURITA,” https://www.resettlementresources.org/europe/eurita/ 23 International Rescue Committee, “Recording: The future of refugee resettlement in the US,” 03/18/2019, https://www.rescue.org/announcement/recording-future-refugee-resettlement-us 24 CORE, “Cultural Orientation Resource Exchange,” https://coresourceexchange.org 25 “EURITA” 26 Cultural Orientation Resource Center, “RSC East Asia,” http://www.culturalorientation.net/providing-orientation/overseas/programs/rsc-east-asia 27 “International Rescue Committee, UK: Annual Report,” International Rescue Committee, 09/30/2017, https://aidstream.org/files/documents/ircannualreport2017-20180424090440.pdf


this region, including malnutrition and tuberculosis.28 This demonstrates a comparable situation with

the Thai Refugee Resettlement, and the implications of the latter upon the former are noteworthy.

Sarah Smith: Senior Technical Director, Education

Ms. Smith is responsible for “establishing the vision and direction for the IRC’s education programs

around the world.”29 This educational effort takes place at three levels within the developmental

spectrum: first, for children aged 0-5; second, for school-aged children; and third, for youth and

adults. The education program seeks to ensure the securing of cognitive and social-emotional skills,

literacy and numeracy, and high levels of livelihood.30 Ms. Smith’s background rests in preschool and

early elementary school education, so her insight into educational policy is shaped by her

experiences as a teacher.31

Susan Ringler: Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer

Ms. Ringler serves as a legal head for the IRC, providing all matters of compliance and other counsel

to the organization in its activities and initiatives. This work entails ensuring that the business

development arm of the IRC is in compliance with all state, federal, and international statutes. Her

background is in large corporations and organizations, so her view on compliance for the IRC is

uniquely focused on its status as one of the largest aid-providing organizations in the world.32

Tracy Reines: Regional Director, United States – Atlantic

Ms. Reines manages a team of fifteen US program offices in eight states, performing much of the

same work that regional directors around the United States perform. She assumes directorship of

overseeing the operations at these state-levels as well as strategic initiatives that equip the Atlantic

28 International Rescue Committee, “As 60 Rohingya Refugees Reported to Have Drowned, IRC Raises New Humanitarian Concerns,” Common Dreams, 09/29/2017, https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2017/09/29/60-rohingya-refugees-reported-have-drowned-irc-raises-new-humanitarian-concerns 29 International Rescue Committee, “IRC leaders: Sarah Smith,” International Rescue Committee, https://www.rescue.org/page/sarah-smith 30 “Where we focus: Education” International Rescue Committee, https://www.rescue.org/outcome/education 31 “IRC leaders: Sarah Smith” 32 “Susan Ringler,” https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-ringler-917922a/


region to provide homes for those fleeing violence.33 Her work in emergency aid and disaster

response with the American Red Cross, so she is also intimately involved in the disaster relief efforts

of the IRC.34

33 Alvarez, Elizabeth, “University of San Diego Alumni Award for humanitarian service,” KUSI News, 04/30/2018 34 “Tracy Reines,” Georgetown University


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