The Einaudi Director's Fellowship, administered by the Institute for African Development (IAD), sponsors exceptional students from Anglophone Africa who are enrolled in advanced studies in law or global development at Cornell.  

Mercy Awazi Abutsa, comes from Nigeria in West Africa. She is pursuing a Master of Professional Studies (MPS) in Global Development, where she is learning how to apply her knowledge and skills to simplify, democratize, and localize strategies for inclusive climate policy design and implementation in low-income countries. Her research aims to investigate how regional factors and climate framings influence people's response to adaptation programs in Northern Nigeria.

Mercy firmly believes that effective adaptation strategies must delve deeper into building resilience to climate change. She advocates for the necessity of national plans that assess how local efforts can harmoniously coexist. She graduated from the University of Jos with a bachelor's degree in mass communication, she learned approaches to development communications during her studies, which piqued her interest in development work. She has worked with several print media to report on the farmers-herders conflict caused by scarce common pool resources in Nigeria.

Upon completing her studies, Mercy joined the Women Environmental Program (WEP) in 2021. Here, she leveraged her communication skills to democratize environmental and climate change issues among rural populations. She accomplished this through media advocacy and field research, working closely with rural farmers and vulnerable groups in the Northern region. In her role at WEP, Mercy gained invaluable insights into international cooperation on climate change and delved into key thematic areas such as adaptation, resilience, and capacity building, which represent significant challenges faced by developing nations in Africa.

Mercy's dedication to her cause led her to actively participate in both national and international workshops and conferences, leading speaking engagements, and campaigns. She also contributed her expertise to consultancy projects in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and CSOs. These projects aimed to tackle emerging challenges and opportunities in the realms of climate change and development."