InterAction is proud to present the Julia V. Taft Outstanding Leadership Award to Dr. Tessie San Martin, Chief Executive Officer of FHI 360, in recognition of her exceptional leadership, lifelong commitment to global health and development, and enduring contributions to strengthening our sector through collaboration, transparency, and effective development practice.

For more than three decades, Tessie has been a respected leader and influential voice in the global development community. Her career has spanned nonprofit leadership, international financial institutions, consulting, academia, and public policy, always guided by a commitment to improving lives and expanding opportunities for people around the world. As CEO of FHI 360, she has led one of the world’s largest development and humanitarian organizations, advancing innovative solutions in global health, education, economic development, humanitarian response, and civil society strengthening.

Tessie is particularly recognized for her leadership in advancing more effective, accountable, and transparent foreign assistance. A longtime leader of the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN), she previously served as co-chair and has been a leading voice in efforts to improve the effectiveness and impact of U.S. development policy. She currently serves as chair of the board of Friends of Publish What You Fund, the aid transparency advocacy organization, helping advance greater openness, accountability, and evidence-based decision-making across the international development sector. Her leadership has helped shape important conversations about how international assistance can better serve communities and deliver lasting results.

A longtime member of the InterAction community and former member of the InterAction Board of Directors, Tessie has consistently championed partnership and collective action. Colleagues across the sector know her as a thoughtful convener, principled leader, and trusted collaborator who brings people together to tackle complex challenges. Whether advancing policy priorities, strengthening organizations, or navigating moments of change, she has exemplified the collaborative spirit that is fundamental to InterAction’s mission.

Prior to joining FHI 360, Tessie served as CEO and President of Plan International USA, where she helped elevate global advocacy for girls’ rights and gender equality. Earlier leadership roles at Abt Associates and the World Bank further demonstrated her ability to bridge policy, practice, and innovation in pursuit of sustainable development outcomes.

Through her vision, integrity, and unwavering commitment to the communities our organizations serve, Tessie has left a lasting mark on the international development and humanitarian sector. Her leadership has strengthened institutions, advanced more effective development practice, and inspired countless colleagues across our community.

InterAction is honored to recognize Dr. Tessie San Martin with the Julia V. Taft Outstanding Leadership Award for her remarkable career, distinguished service, and enduring contributions to our sector.

InterAction is honored to recognize Dr. Alice Mudekereza, a Congolese physician and public health leader whose more than two decades of service have been dedicated to improving the health, dignity and protection of vulnerable communities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Throughout her 23-year career, Dr. Mudekereza has worked across humanitarian and development settings, leading programs focused on health, HIV, nutrition and protection. Over the past decade with IMA World Health, part of Corus International, she has focused particularly on supporting women and girls affected by conflict and gender-based violence.

She led efforts to provide medical care, counseling and psychosocial support to survivors of sexual violence. She also led IMA’s U.S. government-supported work to expand access to post-exposure prophylaxis, or PEP, kits. Through successive programs, this lifesaving intervention reached health facilities and communities across more than two-thirds of the DRC, particularly in areas where conflict, displacement, distance and fragile health systems make timely care difficult to access.

The past year tested that commitment in extraordinary ways. After securing a new $7.5 million award to serve women and girls in some of eastern DRC’s most volatile areas, escalating conflict in and around Goma was followed by the early termination of the project.

She could have stepped away. She didn’t. The project had ended, but the needs of women and girls had not.

Dr. Mudekereza remained focused on the communities at the heart of the work. She collaborated with colleagues and partners to preserve critical resources, support emergency response efforts, strengthen existing relationships, build new partnerships and help restore protection services where needs remained urgent.

That response reflects a principle that has guided her career: humanitarian leadership is ultimately about people. Behind every program, every PEP kit and every statistic is a survivor seeking care, dignity, safety and the opportunity to rebuild her life.

As a Congolese physician who has devoted more than 20 years to serving communities in her own country, Dr. Mudekereza represents a model of humanitarian leadership rooted in technical expertise, partnership, resilience and a deep sense of responsibility to those she serves.

InterAction is proud to recognize Dr. Alice Mudekereza with the Humanitarian Award for her sustained commitment to women and girls, her leadership through changing and difficult circumstances, and her unwavering belief that even in the most challenging environments, dignity and access to care must remain within reach.

InterAction is proud to recognize FAEVU, a community organization based in Oicha, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, with a 2026 InterAction Award for its outstanding leadership in community protection and humanitarian response.

Under the leadership of National Coordinator Vianney Mbusa Sindani, FAEVU has become a trusted local partner, strengthening protection systems, advancing women’s leadership, and helping communities prevent and respond to protection concerns. Working alongside women, youth, community leaders, and grassroots organizations, FAEVU fosters inclusive participation and community-driven solutions.

Since 2019, FAEVU has demonstrated extraordinary leadership during Ebola outbreaks in eastern Congo, remaining alongside affected communities in areas where few organizations were operating. Through community engagement, trust-building, and support for vulnerable populations, the organization ensured that women’s voices and protection concerns remained central to response efforts.

Today, FAEVU continues its critical work in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s 17th Ebola outbreak, leading infection prevention and control efforts, WASH activities, risk communication and community engagement, and community-based surveillance. FAEVU’s work exemplifies the power of locally led action and the essential role community organizations play in building effective, sustainable humanitarian responses.