Cai Thomas Email & Phone Number

• Manages $5.7 mill S/GWI-funded SHE’s GREAT! (SG!) program that is a holistic community-based gender responsive program for youth aiming to identify and transform gender stereotypes and build inclusive communities where students are equipped with the networks, Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts/Design, and Math (STEAM) training, confidence, and leadership skills.• Leads a program team of eight global staff of the SG! Program across the Kyrgyz Republic, Jordan, Georgia, St. Lucia, Guatemala, and Ukraine.• Responsible for overseeing the MEL plan, managing subawards, leading virtual workshops, and ensuring compliance with IREX and donor policies and regulations.• Contributes to organizational-wide learning on topics of GESI and safeguarding, including designing internal learning modules on GESI topics and offering assistance to youth programs designing and developing their safeguarding policies.

• For the SG! Program, led a program team of eight, monitored day-to-day program operations, oversaw the MEL plan, managed subawards with partners, led virtual workshops to train our implementing partners, represented IREX in program funder meetings, and developed and designed programmatic components and curriculum. • Presented at the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) Conference in April 2022 on the impacts of the SG! program • Served as co-chair and secretary of the Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Committee from June 2020 to December 2021, launching the first employee resource group for LGBTI+ employees and allies and the first organization-wide diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training; facilitating safe spaces for colleagues when needed; leading cultural heritage event planning; and serving on the hiring panel for the first DEI Director • Served as a trainer on Training Champs, which included training teams on Positive Youth Development (PYD) and co-designing a Youth Engagement Elective for the Community Solutions Program (CSP)

SHE’s GREAT! is a holistic community-based gender responsive program for youth aiming to identify and transform gender stereotypes and build inclusive communities where students are equipped with the networks, Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts/Design, and Math (STEAM) training, confidence, and leadership skills. The goal is that these skills will help them fully participate in their communities and careers, within their home communities in the Kyrgyz Republic, Jordan, Georgia, Ethiopia, St. Lucia, and Indonesia. In this role, I lead and manage the monitoring, evaluating, and learning (MEL) team, lead workshops to train our implementing partners, and develop and design programmatic components.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

Fulbright Teacher Exchange Programs offer educators short-term and long-term professional development opportunities in the United States and abroad to develop their educational practices and bring global perspectives to their classrooms. In this role, I managed a special cohort of 44 teachers each year from eastern Europe and central Asia specializing in media literacy and combating disinformation in their classroom.

The Global Center is a non-profit that envisions a world in which LGBTI+ youth are free. Through advocacy, research, and support, we work with all stakeholders, from educators to health care professionals, who play a role in the lives of LGBTI+ youth (defined as 0-35) to create a world where LGBTI+ youth are not only safe, they are free and flourishing. In this role, I co-founded and co-built the organization, designing the strategic vision, using collaborative and iterative approaches in setting goals, values, vision, and theory of change.

Mexico City Area, Mexico

In this role, I created a quarterly newsletter to update all clients and teachers on significant updates, activities, and highlight stellar teachers.

Mexican House of Languages is a language school based in Mexico City whose vision is to unite the world through the universal power of language. In this role, I taught English classes in-person from September 2018 to January 2019.

Greater New York City Area

TR@TC prepares highly qualified teachers to teach in New York City public schools. In this role, I supported the Project Director in managing Teaching Residents at Teachers College program with ~20 students per year, by ensuring all students met school-wide and state-wide graduation requirements, by planning logistical details of orientations, trainings, and graduations for cohorts.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

Peace Corps Headquarters manages and supports programming for Peace Corps, a service opportunity for motivated changemakers to immerse themselves in a community abroad, working side by side with local leaders to tackle the most pressing challenges of our generation. In my role at headquarters, I served on the Legal Team within the Placement office, ensuring the 4000+ volunteers per year were legally cleared for service.

Mongolia

Lake Buena Vista, Florida

Master Of Arts - Ma, International And Comparative Education

Activities and Societies: Passports to Peace, Co-Founder & Director 2016-2018Thesis: School Climate for LGBTI Students in Mongolia

Education record

Activities and Societies: DECA, Varsity Lacrosse, JV/Varsity Field Hockey, JV Track

Bachelor Of Arts (B.A.), International/Global Studies, Business Concentration, Spanish Minor

Activities and Societies: Varsity Lacrosse