Empowering Refugees: Interview with Kjerstin Erickson of FORGE

Kjerstin Erickson, the founder and Executive Director of FORGE.  FORGE is a US-based nonprofit organization that facilitates African refugees’ developing and running projects in their communities that range from libraries to health centers to microlending programs to preschools.

Erickson founded FORGE in 2003, when she was a 20 year-old junior studying Public Policy at Stanford University. Now 26, Kjerstin continues to manage FORGE's operations, growth and development. FORGE serves 60,000 refugees in 3 different refugee camps in Southern Africa, and is an official Operating Partner of the United Nations’ refugee agency (UNHCR).  She has been named a Haas Public Service Fellow at Stanford, a "Top 10 College Woman" by Glamour Magazine, and a "Person You Should Know" by CNN.

A transcript of this interview is available on my blog, Have Fun * Do Good.