Fred Ssewamala

Fred Ssewamala is Associate Professor of Social Work and International Affairs at Columbia University School of Social Work; a Global Thought Fellow with Columbia University; and a Senior Research Fellow with New America Foundation.

Ssewamala has several years of practice in the International Social Development field. His practice experience includes serving at the Red Cross (Uganda), where he acted in several programmatic positions related to designing projects and programs for poverty alleviation and community development, and at Justine Petersen Housing and Reinvestment Corporation, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation in Missouri that assists low-to-moderate income individuals and families become homeowners, access financial institutions, start their own micro-businesses, and accumulate assets.

Ssewamala''s current research on Africa is funded by a consortium of organizations, including the National Institute of Health, and New America Foundation. This research focuses on asset-ownership development and creating life options through economic empowerment models for Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC) in sub-Saharan Africa. Ssewamala is also currently researching the acceptability and feasibility of economic empowerment interventions in poor African immigrant communities in the urban U.S.