Kjerstin Erickson

Kjerstin Erickson (born May 24, 1983) is the founder and Executive Director of FORGE, an international non-profit organization that builds upon the capacity of African refugees to cultivate empowered communities and lay the foundation for peace and prosperity in their home countries. Erickson created FORGE in 2003, as a 20-year-old junior at Stanford University, to serve a dire need that no other non-profit was tackling: transforming the lives of refugees through education, empowerment, and economic self-sufficiency.

Kjerstin Erickson has been a featured speaker at several national conferences and events. Accolades include being awarded a Haas Public Service Fellowship from Stanford, being featured in "Glamour" as one of their Top Ten College Women, and most recently being a finalist for the Teen Choice 2008 BR!CK Do Something Award.

Influences, Early Training

Before founding FORGE, Erickson worked in Dukwi refugee camp in Botswana implementing a literacy project and teaching business. As an intern at the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health, she conducted analysis of the US government’s success at providing women with HIV/AIDS research training and opportunities through its grant process. She has also worked as a teacher’s aid, a summer volunteer program coordinator, chair of a Youth Volunteer Corps, and in high school she created a Montessori-based math tutoring program for homeless children.

Founding FORGE

As a student on Semester at Sea, Erickson led a voyage to visit refugees in Tanzania.There she recognized that just as much as having their basic needs met, refugees needed ways to empower and educate themselves while in exile from their homelands, in ways that will also serve their native homes and communities whenever they are able to return. Kjerstin Erickson developed an operational model for FORGE that focused on entrepreneurial innovation, resource maximization, and tangible return to maximize the assistance to refugees. Her focus on financial ethics has allowed her to triple FORGE’s program budgets and keep overhead down to just 7%—the kind of financial responsibility that bests other non-profits by a wide margin.

Current Situation

Kjerstin Erickson recently completed her final undergraduate requirements at Stanford and continues to focus her efforts on building and developing FORGE. Since 2003, FORGE has been an official partner of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), and worked with local governments to bring FORGE’s work to four different refugee camps in Southern Africa. As Executive Director, Kjerstin oversees FORGE’s effectiveness, strategic direction, fiscal efficiency, and public presence.

After traveling in 40+ countries across the globe and 13 trips to Africa, Kjerstin is convinced of the urgent need for FORGE to expand its supremely effective community development programs and operational efficiency to every country that needs post-conflict solutions.

In addition to her work with FORGE, Kjerstin is a former Miss Sonoma County, and a fellow at The Oakland Institute.