INTERCULTURAL

LEADERS

Nicole Banister
Training & Partnerships Support Coordinator, Grassroot Soccer, 2017 UNAOC EUNA Fellow

Fellowship Programme

Nicole Banister is a globally-minded, collaborative professional with 8 years of experience implementing community development projects across 12 countries. Adept at cross-cultural communication and integrating into diverse international communities, Nicole is passionate about leveraging the existing resources of marginalized communities to enact sustainable empowerment initiatives. Originally from the United States, Nicole is currently based in Cape Town, South Africa, where she is the Training & Partnerships Support Coordinator for Grassroot Soccer. In this role she liaises with global partners to execute sports-based youth programming and she facilitates international workshops on gender equity and sexual and reproductive health. Prior to this, Nicole served as the Partnerships Associate at Atlas Corps in Washington, DC, where she liaised with American civil society, business, and government stakeholders to host emerging international social change leaders for a yearlong professional Fellowship. Nicole also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in South Africa where she worked alongside local counterparts to develop literacy and public health interventions for over 300 youth in rural, low-resource communities. Nicole speaks English, Spanish, and Sepedi, and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Culture and Politics from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. Through these experiences, Nicole has gained expertise in partnership building, training development and facilitation, intercultural dialogue, and youth and community capacity building.