Our Team

Alina Potts is the Interim Director of the Humanitarian Action Initiative. She also works at the Global Women’s Institute, where she aims to center women and girls in asking and answering questions around how to better address gender-based violence (GBV) in humanitarian settings. Previously, Alina coordinated violence prevention research at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and explored intersections between GBV and child protection in emergencies. As a practitioner, Alina led GBV programming for the International Rescue Committee in a number of humanitarian responses over the last 10-plus years — including Bangladesh (Cox’s Bazar), Lebanon, Syria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya (Dadaab) and Sudan (Darfur). Her experience in forced migration extends to refugee resettlement in the U.S., asylum advocacy in Europe, and addressing grave violations in conflict settings.

Alina holds a B.A. in anthropology and international development from Boston University and a master's of public health in forced migration and health from Columbia University. She welcomes opportunities for shared learning and teaches graduate classes on GBV in complex emergencies.

See Alina's Work at the Global Women's Institute

Megan Bevilacqua is the Program Coordinator on the Elliott School’s Special Initiatives team, overseeing initiatives on Humanitarian Action, Human Security, and Latin American and Caribbean studies. She is also a second-year M.A. student in Global Communications with a concentration in Global Gender Policy at the Elliott School and is passionate about intercultural communications, international education, and promoting gender equality. 

Zaynab is an Administrative Assistant for the Humanitarian Action Initiative and a senior at GW studying International Affairs with a concentration in the Middle East and a Statistics minor. Her interests center on intersectional understandings of how institutions and policy systems shape inequality, especially in communities facing heightened conflict.

Zoe Bernales is a Student Administrative Assistant at the Elliott School of International Affairs, where she supports LACS, HAI, and Athena. A junior at GW, she studies Political Science with a minor in Marketing. Originally from Puerto Rico, Zoe developed an early interest in international affairs and is active in GW’s pre-law community and plans to pursue a career in law.