Quick Wins in International Development with Local Investment

Pamela Nathenson has served as Executive Director of World Connect since 2012. Over the past eight years, Pamela has led World Connect’s growth from an idea into a movement centering local leaders across the Global South. In this time, the organization’s budget has grown 10x and it has tripled the number of countries where it works, exponentially increasing the number of field partners sourcing projects. With 1,135 projects launched over the last eight years, the organization has documented impact for 1M+ people across 42 countries in some of the most marginalized areas of the world. World Connect is a disruptive force in the development sector, centering the ideas, networks, and assets that communities in the Global South bring to the global development agenda and shifting power by trusting local communities to lead themselves to progress on their own terms.

Prior to joining World Connect, Pamela was the Director of Program and Resource Development at the Fund for Public Health in New York City, a nonprofit organization founded under the Bloomberg Administration that is dedicated to making New York City a leader in global public health. As the Fund’s first hire, Pamela was integrally involved in all aspects of the Fund's start-up and growth.

Previously, Pamela served as the Director of Programs at the REACH Community Health Foundation, where she designed and led public health programming on children’s oral health, breast and prostate cancer screening, smoking cessation, children’s mental health, and obesity prevention.

Pamela earned her Bachelor's Degree in the Philosophy of Medicine from Boston University's University Professors Program and her Master's degree in Public Health with a concentration in International Health from Boston University's School of Public Health.