​Nazrawit (Naz) Medhanie, our International Programs Consultant, formerly held the position of Regional Program Director at Africa Development Promise (ADP). She was pivotal in leading the International Programs department at ADP and is vital to our organization's leadership team.

Naz started her career in international development in Accra, Ghana (West Africa), and continued in Washington, DC.  As Project Coordinator with Right To Play Sport-Health Ghana, her work focused primarily on play-based holistic child development, HIV/AIDS education and prevention, and establishing and maintaining partnerships with local stakeholders and key beneficiaries. In Washington, DC, her roles spanned both project management and performance monitoring, focused on Sub-Saharan Africa economic/enterprise development and trade projects in support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Africa Bureau.

Before joining ADP, she was the Director of Talent and Culture at Rose Community Foundation (RCF), where she was charged with providing human resources and people operations leadership and championing the Foundation’s culture.

And prior to RCF, she was the Director of Human Resources and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at Sky Blue Builders, where she oversaw all aspects of human resources and directed the company’s CSR program, focusing on social, economic, and environmental initiatives.

Over the past 25 years, Naz has served as a mentor, basketball coach, and Board member. She serves as a Board member for Street Fraternity, as Vice Chair for Project Worthmore, and was formerly the Chair and Vice Chair for Sun Valley Youth Center.  She is a member of the 2017 Leadership Denver class. 

She has coached teams in Sweden, Ghana, and the U.S. as a volunteer youth basketball coach, including girls’ recreational and varsity and boys’ competitive teams in Denver.

Originally from Eritrea and raised in Sweden, Naz has a Bachelor of Arts in Comparative Area Studies and Russian from Duke University, where she also played on the Women’s Basketball Team. She was the first of two international players to be offered a scholarship in the women’s program’s history, and helped the team reach the national championship game in 1999. 

She has a Master of Arts in International Development from the University of Denver, Joseph Korbel School of International Studies. She lives in Denver with her husband, Arkan, and their two kids. She enjoys spending time with family, running, cooking, volunteering, reading, playing basketball, and traveling.