Berkley Center

Katherine Marshall, a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, leads the center’s work on religion and global development. She is also a professor of the practice of development, conflict, and religion in the Walsh School of Foreign Service, teaching diverse courses on the ethics of development work and mentoring students at many levels. She helped to create and now serves as the executive director of the World Faiths Development Dialogue, an NGO that works to enhance bridges between different sectors and institutions. In September 2022, she was appointed as a member of the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid at the U.S. Agency for International Development. Marshall has five decades of experience on a variety of development issues in Africa, Latin America, East Asia, and the Middle East, particularly those facing the world’s poorest countries; one way she shares her expertise is through her blog Faith in Action. She was a World Bank officer from 1971 to 2006, and she led the World Bank’s faith and ethics initiative between 2000 and 2006. Marshall is a member of the Working Group on Child Rights and Family Values and the Working Group on Displaced Persons and Hospitality to the Stranger, both part of the Culture of Encounter Project.

Sister Georgette Sidbewendin Sawadogo, SDD, is a member of the Women Faith Leaders Fellowship 2024-2025 cohort. She is affiliated with the Society of Donum Dei who has been serving in Kenya since 2001. With a Bachelor of Arts in counseling psychology and a Master of Arts in organization management, she is committed to advancing social transformation through educating and empowering young women. As the mission superior and director of St. Therese Technical and Vocational Training Center, she leads a dynamic team that delivers innovative educational programs, promoting academic excellence and holistic development. Her mission also extends to Roussel House, where she fosters an environment that balances spiritual growth with professional development, equipping young women with the skills they need to thrive. Grounded in the belief that education holds the transformative power to reshape communities, she is committed to inspiring the next generation of female leaders.

Maria Lucia Uribe Torres is the executive director of Arigatou International Geneva. She heads the strategic direction of the Ethics Education for Children Initiative as an International Knowledge and Action Hub with partners in more than 40 countries. She is also in charge of developing and maintaining Arigatou International’s engagement in child rights initiatives with human rights mechanisms, UN agencies, and child rights-focused NGOs in Geneva. She currently convenes the International Consortium on Nurturing Values and Spirituality in Early Childhood for the Prevention of Violence, launched in 2018 by Arigatou International with faith-based and civil society organizations, multilateral agencies, and academia to mobilize religious communities to support families in nurturing values and the spiritual development of children in the in the early years. She is also the co-convener of the Working Group on Children and Violence of Child Rights Connect, leading their advocacy work with the United Nations and Human Rights mechanisms in Geneva. Torres is a member of the Working Group on Child Rights and Family Values, part of the Culture of Encounter Project.