Sasha Chanoff

Sasha Chanoff (born 1971) is an American humanitarian based in Somerville, Massachusetts who has worked for two decades in refugee rescue, relief, and resettlement operations in Africa and the United States.

Chanoff is the founder and executive director of RefugePoint, an organization that aids refugees and supports the humanitarian community to do the same. Prior to launching RefugePoint, he consulted with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Kenya and worked with the International Organization for Migration throughout Africa, identifying refugees in danger, undertaking rescue missions, and working on refugee protection issues with the US, Canadian, Australian, and other governments.

He often enlists the help of the mass media to spread awareness about refugee issues, and has appeared on ''60 Minutes''. He has also been a featured teller on the popular public radio storytelling program ''The Moth Radio Hour''.

Sasha Chanoff holds a B.A. from Wesleyan University and an M.A. in Humanitarian Assistance, from the Tufts University Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and Friedman School of Nutrition, Science, and Policy. He has received fellowships from Ashoka, the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, and Echoing Green, and is a recipient of the Charles Bronfman Humanitarian Prize, the Harvard Center for Public Leadership Gleitsman International Activist Award, the Schwab Foundation / World Economic Forum Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and the Obama White House Champion of Change award.

He is a Goodwill Ambassador for the million dollar Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity. He is a board member of Network of Engaged International Donors (NEID) Global, and served as a human rights adviser to The Leir Charitable Foundations. He also recently served as an adviser to the Warner Bros. film The Good Lie starring Reese Witherspoon, and helped establish its charitable initiative, The Good Lie Fund, which he advised.

Mr. Chanoff believes resettlement is a vastly superior alternative to refugee camps, since re-settled refugees can support themselves and "get on with their own lives". He views his role as a humanitarian relief organizer to "attempt to help everyone in need."

In 2006, he founded the organization called Mapendo, which was renamed RefugePoint in 2011, to aid at-risk and obscure African refugee groups. Mapendo helped to evacuate more than 10,000 refugees from Sudan, Kenya, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He explained: Provided by Wikipedia