Meet the Team

Working Board

A smiling Gambian man with a short beard and mustache, wearing a white shirt, standing against a pink wall.

Co-Founder, Executive Director

Haruna Jallow

Haruna has been a champion of Gambian development efforts for decades. He is currently the Program Manager for the education sector of Peace Corps The Gambia, having spent more than 10 years with Peace Corps. Before that, he founded multiple community schools from scratch, furthering his mission to provide education to all Gambian youth. Haruna uses his education and program management backgrounds to support Fandema farmers in the field and build community among like-minded achievers.

Haruna holds an associates degree in Elementary Education and Teaching from The Gambia College School of Education and a bachelor’s of Education from International Open University.

Close-up of a smiling man wearing a white shirt and a blue plaid tie, with a blurred dark background.

Co-Founder, Board Chair

Jon Hamilton

Jon’s background includes working as a research assistant focused on sustainable development, an aide to a state representative in Massachusetts, and an agriculture and environment extension agent in The Gambia as a Peace Corps Volunteer. During his service, Jon saw many ways in which traditional development activities were not meeting the needs of the community he served, leading to wasted efforts and the persistence of issues like out-migration and environmental degradation. Combining his experiences in academia, government, and community development, Jon partnered with Haruna to co-design a better solution: Fandema International.

Jon holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard University and is currently pursuing a master’s in Development Practice from Emory University.

Board Treasurer

Austin Wood

Austin has hands-on experience across more than a dozen nonprofit and government organizations, including a year as an AmeriCorps Team Leader and two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in The Gambia. That service is where his commitment to this work took root: living alongside Gambian farmers gave him a firsthand look at the daily realities facing rural agriculturalists, and left him determined to find lasting ways to support these communities. As Fandema's treasurer, Austin pairs that personal investment with a rigorous, detail-oriented approach to record keeping and data analysis.

Austin holds a bachelor's of science in Computational and Applied Mathematics from Christopher Newport University.

Fundraising Director

Oreda Chin

Oreda brings more than 20 years of nonprofit leadership and fundraising experience, including seven years as Executive Director of the Imperial Valley Cancer Support Center and two years as Associate Development Director at San Diego State University, where she managed major donor relationships. Earlier in her career, she grew revenue by 60% in nine months as a Revenue Generation & Community Outreach Manager at the American Red Cross. She has been recognized with the San Diego Business Journal's "Women Who Mean Business Award" and named "Woman of the Year" for California's 56th Assembly District.

She holds a bachelor's of science in Business Management from the University of Phoenix.