Melita Sawyer, Director
Leadership Program for Financial Inclusion
Assistant Adjust Professor of Public Policy, The Fletcher School
Melita Sawyer is the Director of the Fletcher Leadership Program for Financial Inclusion. Melita has worked in financial inclusion with commercial banks, microfinance banks, and NGOs in Africa, South and Central America, and Asia. In addition to working with the Fletcher Leadership Program for Financial Inclusion since 2011, she was part of the team that launched the Certificate in Digital Money program in partnership with the Digital Frontiers Institute. Prior to coming to Fletcher, Melita was Technical Advisor in Catholic Relief Services’ microfinance unit, working to expand savings groups for poor households. She has worked for banks such as Banco Solidario in Ecuador and Urwego Bank in Rwanda to develop and deliver savings and credit products for poorer clients. Melita earned her PhD from the Fletcher School, and her research focuses on the impact of financial services for the poor. Melita earned her master’s degree in international economics and international development at Johns Hopkins SAIS and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Stanford University.
Jenny Aker, Senior Advisor
Leadership Program for Financial Inclusion
Professor of Development Economics,
The Fletcher School
Dr. Aker is a Professor of Development Economics at the Fletcher School and Department of Economics at Tufts
University. She is also a Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for Global Development, a member of the Advisory Board for CDA,
Frontline SMS and the Boston Network for International Development (BNID). She also serves as the Deputy Director of the Hitachi Center for Technology and International Affairs and is the Interim Director for the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy (CIERP). After working for Catholic Relief Services as Deputy Regional Director in West and Central Africa between 1998 and 2003, Jenny completed her PhD in agricultural economics at the University of California-Berkeley. Jenny works on economic development in Africa, with a primary focus on the impact of information (and information technology) on development outcomes, particularly in the areas of agriculture, agricultural markets, adult education and financial inclusion; the determinants and impacts of agricultural technology adoption; and the impact of different mechanisms and modalities of social protection (cash and in-kind transfers). Jenny has conducted fieldwork in Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Chad, DRC, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Tanzania, as well as Haiti and Guatemala.
Mir Ahmad Shekib, Research Analyst
Leadership Program for Financial Inclusion
Mir Ahmad Shekib is the Research Analyst for the Fletcher School Leadership Program for Financial Inclusion (FLPFI). Before joining Fletcher/Tufts, Mir worked as the Director General for Financial Inclusion, Deputy Director General for Monetary Policy Department, and Risk Manager for Financial Risk Management Department at the Central Bank of Afghanistan (Da Afghanistan Bank). He has 12 years of experience in Central Banking and has worked closely with commercial banks, Mobile Money Service Providers, and Microfinance Institutions in Afghanistan. Mir has led the efforts of the Central Bank as well as the former Government of Afghanistan in developing the first National Financial Inclusion Strategy for Afghanistan in close collaboration and coordination with the World Bank Group and many public, private, and non-government stakeholders. He has also led the Central Bank of Afghanistan initiatives in the areas of financial consumer protection, agent banking, financial education, access to finance, and financial development. Mir was a 2020 FLPFI fellow and has received his master’s degree in policy economics from Williams College in the United States and holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Kabul University.
Kim Wilson, Senior Technical Advisor
Leadership Program for Financial Inclusion
Sr. Lecturer,
The Fletcher School
Kim Wilson is Sr. Lecturer at The Fletcher School, while also serving on the board of the Hitachi Center for Technology and International Affairs. Prior to joining Fletcher in 2005, she was Program Director for Catholic Relief Services in South Asia as well as Global Director for Microfinance. Since joining Fletcher, she has consulted widely to organizations like CGAP at the World Bank, United Nations Development Fund and many international NGOs. With funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, she launched the Fletcher Leadership Program in Financial Inclusion, a nine-month program designed for financial regulators. While at Fletcher, she has taught courses in market approaches to development, financial inclusion, human security, poverty and development, and qualitative research methods. She has co-edited and authored books on microfinance and more recently has published on the financial aspects of transcontinental migration. Funds from GiZ, Open Society Foundations, the International Rescue Committee and Catholic Relief Services have allowed her to launch The Journeys Project – a web portal showcasing her own research and that of fellow masters and Ph.D. students on the financial journeys of transcontinental migrants and refugees.
Emma Galin-Attleson, Program Manager
Leadership Program for Financial Inclusion
Emma Galin-Attleson is the Program Manager for the Fletcher Leadership Program for Financial Inclusion. Before joining Fletcher, Emma worked in social services as a case manager and program manager in government and nonprofit organizations. She helped low-income populations gain access to shelter, food, healthcare, and employment training. Emma holds a Master of Public Administration from California State University, Northridge and a bachelor’s degree in international studies from the University of California, San Diego.