Team – Forced Migration Studies Center For Afghanistan

Founder of FM-SCA
Wais Aria is a versatile leader with comprehensive experience in non-profit management in national and international organizations. Read More

He is an efficient and resourceful expert on issues of gender, development, refugee right, and strategic policy development. He has in-depth experience initiating and setting up organizations, developing and coordinating projects and teams, advocating for child rights, women’s rights, and gender-sensitive laws and policies with local government and international stakeholders in Afghanistan.
He is a graduate student from Kabul medical school and trained in Peacebuilding disaster management in the USA. Wais Aria has 15 years of working experience in Afghanistan, Europe, and Asia. He is well known in many countries to speak against human rights violation.

Ashley Smith

Psychologist
Ashley Smith has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and early childhood education from Pine Manor College (2021). Read More

She is enrolled at Columbia Teachers College to obtain a master’s degree in psychology in education (clinical psychology). Her focus is to help every individual thrive.
Ashley designed and developed psycho-education and awareness-raising material for mental health support of Afghan refugees and new arrival.

Dr. Grace Cheng

Board of Director
Dr. Grace Cheng is the Director of the Center for Human Rights at San Diego State University (SDSU). She also teaches courses on human rights, political violence, global resistance, and Asian politics.Read More

She is also Associate Faculty with the International Security and Conflict Resolution Program, Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies, and Center for Asian and Pacific Studies at SDSU.

Dr. Gladston Xavier

Dr. Gladston Xavier is from India, and he is a Professor of Social Work at Eastern Mennonite University. He has been working for the rights of refugees in South Asia, including Afghanistan, for more than 20 years.

Athena Madan

Board of Director
She was raised in Edmonton, India, by Filipino and Indian parents as a child. Read More

She earned an undergrad degree from Utah and has worked with NGOs such as Doctors Without Borders in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Colombia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is no surprise that Madan – an assistant professor in the School of Humanitarian Studies at Royal Roads University – believes her strength is in the variety of voices and perspectives she brings to her class.

Mr. Qais Heydari

Head of the program
He has a Master’s degree in political science with more than 10 years of experience in program development internationally. Read More

Mr. Heydari has designed and implemented Social Protection Projects with different donors such EU, USAID and more in Afghanistan.

Dr. Nate Kinder

Board of Direct
Nate Kinder is a board-certified Emergency Medicine physician. He lives with his wife and four children in the Northern Virginia area. Read More

His family moved here in 2014 when he was serving as a physician in the USAF. He left the military in 2018 at the rank of Major to pursue his deeper heart and a passion for seeing, “The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself…” (Leviticus 19:34). He seeks to do that through his work at FM-SCA and as a current board member of another local non-profit, ‘For the Nations,’ which serves immigrants and refugees with English language services. He is also deeply involved with acts of mercy through his local church, Alexandria Presbyterian Church. He serves in various leadership roles and has taken this passion for the hurting and broken on many medical missions’ trips to various low-income nations worldwide.

Nazifullah Mirzakhel

Country Representative in Afghanistan
Mr. Mirzakhel is serving as a Country Representative in Afghanistan. He has graduated from Pharmacy Faculty Kabul University and has done Read More

Post-Graduated in psychology and mental health. He has an MBA (Master in Business Administration) specializing in Project Management. Mr. Mirzakhel has more than 12 years of work experience in the humanitarian sector.

Mrs. Pokhrel

Research Adviser:
Mrs. Pokhrel holds a combination of academic accomplishments in LLM degree in International Human Rights Law Read More

from University of Essex United Kingdom, professional certification from Wadham College, University of Oxford, the accredited universities listed in the UNESCO World Higher Education Database and Master’s degree in Inter Asian NGO studies from SungKongHoe University, South Korea and do embrace more than Eighteen years of relevant professional experience working in the human rights and development sector. Throughout her professional career, she has been closely and strategically working/coordinating with governments and multiple sectors for policy and strategy development, planning and implementation of migration management and governance

Sayed Mustafa Saiedy

Director of Cultural house
Mr. Saiedy is an Afghan writer. He possesses a master’s degree in Farsi literature and public policy with many years of experienceRead More

inside and outside Afghanistan. He used to work as Vice-Chancellor of Rena University in Afghanistan, a cultural adviser with Afghanistan president special representative office, Director of Policy and Program at Deputy Ministry of Youth Affairs, and has written many books.

Layma Murtaza

Program Adviser
Layma Murtaza is a professional development expert with experience working in Central and South-East Asia and the Middle East.Read More

She has worked with local NGOs, international governments, and civil society. She holds a BA Degree in Political Science from the University of California, Davis, the USA, and a Master’s in Global Public Policy from the American University in Cairo, Egypt.
With a political background in government affairs (including government representation, community representation, political finance, election campaigns, policy advocate) for 8 years in the U.S., she also has specialized skills in community reform and development, women’s empowerment, civil society, pluralism, CVE, mobilization, communication, advocacy and civil rights in the context for Afghanistan and Syria.
She has studied and worked abroad in England, Egypt, Afghanistan, Jordan (8 years), gaining valuable skills in public relations, government relations, local governance, community development, civil society, social inclusion, capacity building and training, partnerships and donor relations, proposal development, strategic planning and organization, and project management in the arena of international development.

Carey Powers

Board of Direct
Her expertise is in pre-commercial startups to global manufacturers across various categories,Read More

including reimbursed therapeutics and aesthetics. Vice President of Marketing at Visus Therapeutics, she leads its strategy and execution for commercializing its emerging pipeline. In addition to RESTASIS, Carey led consumer marketing for Allergan, Inc., the number one selling prescription eye drop in the U.S. In 2014, Carey received Vision Monday’s Most Influential Women in Optical award and the Top 25 DTC Marketers award from DTC Perspectives.

Become part of our bold and compassionate team aiming to make like better for people on the move and building inclusive communities. FM-SCA offers flexible work conditions if you would like to contribute your skills from any part of the world, please contact us the art technology tools to support remote working.

We provide opportunity for graduate and doctorial level students in psychology, social work, peace building, human right and refugee themes can contact us for their research paper in Afghanistan and around glob.

FM-SCA looking for volunteer for the following position

All applications should be emailed to info@fm-sca.org and include the following:

Our Team Members

Wais Aria

Ashley Smith

Dr. Grace Cheng

Dr. Gladston Xavier

Athena Madan

Mr. Qais Heydari

Dr. Nate Kinder

Nazifullah Mirzakhel

Mrs. Pokhrel

Sayed Mustafa Saiedy

Layma Murtaza

Carey Powers

FM-SCA looking for volunteer for the following position

Salman Ahmed

Dimassi Shatt

Paul Smith

John Thompson

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Joel Orphanage Of Ministry Uganda