Message from our Founder
I founded Team Spirit International at Harvard University as a moonshot attempt to create a venture for strengthening refugee systems that recognizes their knowledge and centers their voices, promoting more entrepreneurial solutions built on self-reliance that question the status quo model of aid dependency. Having worked on TSI for the past years, collaborating with many refugee leaders and seeing the reality on the ground, it has further strengthened our vision for a future where refugee communities are regarded as equitable and powerful partners co-creating new pathways towards self-sufficiency, cultural wealth, shared prosperity, and innovative potential. We now have the chance to turn the challenges of climate change and global politics into opportunities for collective well-being, grassroots innovation, and collaborative change-making. The time to act is now, and we are excited to help lay the foundations for a new age of development and belonging and, in the end, create a new age of thriving.
Team
Chantal Braunwalder
CEO and Founder
As a development activist-practitioner and social entrepreneur, I am committed to fostering justice, innovative collaboration, and co-creating holistic, sustainable solutions globally. As the force behind Team Spirit International, I help amplify refugees' work to reimagine a different development paradigm, addressing systemic dependencies amid exacerbated global conflicts and climate catastrophes. Academically trained at Harvard, Georgetown University, and the University of St. Gallen, I combine rigorous training in program Design, evaluation, and mixed-method research with my extensive field experience in community-led and feminist development across East Africa and Southeast Asia. Embracing a moonshot mindset grounded in solidarity and justice, I aim to co-create a brighter future.
Prajna Naidoo
COO and Impact Lead
Passionate academic professional and effective altruist with 4+ years in non-profit capacity building, specializing in global development. As an independent consultant, I've contributed to refugee entrepreneurship in South Africa and smallholder farmers in Uganda. My expertise in Monitoring & Evaluation includes designing cross-cultural community development models. As President of One For The World GW, I led discussions on ethical philanthropy.
Our Advisors
Jacqueline Bhabha
Professor of the Practice of Health, Migration and Human Rights
Jacqueline Bhabha is FXB Director of Research, Professor of the Practice of Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health, the Jeremiah Smith Jr. Lecturer in Law at Harvard Law School, and an Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. She has published extensively on issues of transnational child migration, refugee protection, children's rights and citizenship. Bhabha serves on the board of the Scholars at Risk Network, the World Peace Foundation and the Journal of Refugee Studies.
Justin Richmond
Social Entrepreneur and Executive
Before starting impl. project, Justin was a Forward Deployed Engineer at Palantir Technologies, where he led field implementation during both the Typhoon Haiyan and Typhoon Hagupit responses in the Philippines. Previously, he served two tours in Afghanistan as USAID’s District Stability Framework coordinator, mentoring joint civilian/military/Afghan teams on stabilization implementation in eastern Afghanistan. Prior to USAID, he served in the U.S. Army as a special operations team leader in the southern Philippines, focusing on stabilization, counterinsurgency, and information operations.