Scholars

Duncan Chando is a motivated professional with six years of experience in project and program management in international and local settings. Over the years he has worked with CSOs and UN agencies implementing media and advocacy, refugee and migration, peace and reconciliation, sponsorship, and educational projects from a right-based approach at all levels. He currently works as a Consultant on South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC) for the International Labour Organization and a Program Assistant (M&E) at UNDP in Nairobi. Duncan is a seasoned development practitioner with in-depth experience in integrated programs and understanding of project management, lobbying and advocacy, monitoring and evaluation, partnership development, capacity building, and community development. Duncan holds a Master’s degree in Development Policy from KDI School of Public Policy and Management (South Korea), an Erasmus Mundus Master of Arts in Advanced Development in Social Work from the University of Lincoln (United Kingdom), a Bachelor of Arts in Social Work from the University of Nairobi (Kenya), and a Postgraduate Diploma in Project Management from the Kenya Institute of Management.

Current Organization: Consultant at International Labour Organization

Geoffrey Omondi Otieno has over six years of experience working in the nonprofit sector. Geoffrey earned a Bachelor of Science in Population Health from Kenyatta University and a Certificate in Civic Leadership from the YALI Regional Leadership Center, East Africa. He is a Co-founder of the Begin Life Safely Community-Based Organization, which educates expectant mothers in rural parts of western Kenya on safe practices for motherhood. Geoffrey currently serves as a Youth Advisory Board Member at Youth Combating Neglected Tropical Diseases and recently worked with the Aga Khan Development Network as a Country Monitoring and Evaluation Officer. Geoffrey previously worked with Abt Associates Inc. as a Monitoring and Evaluation Assistant, where he was mainly responsible for data collection and verification, training of community mobilizers, and report writing. He also previously worked with Education Effect Africa as a WASH Training Consultant for four years, during which he was responsible for developing WASH training curricula, training school health committees on the prevention of WASH diseases, and monitoring the implementation of the school sanitation plans. Geoffrey is highly skilled in development of data collection tools and quality checklists and data collection and analysis. Geoffrey also has deep experience in proposal development, research preparation, data quality assessment, training of data collectors, and coordination of data collection exercises.

Current Organization: Public Health Professional at Youth Combating Neglected Tropical Diseases

Olive Wangui Kirigo is a 24-year-old female climate-change activist with a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work. Her passion for environmental conservation inspired her to start an initiative known as FridaysForFuture-Kenya that advocates for environmental conservation in Kenya. Olive and her team were able to organize several clean-up activities, climate marches, and community sensitization meetings. In 2019, they were able to plant over 1000 trees in Eldoret, Kenya. The huge impact of Olive’s work has inspired journalists from Goethe Institute-Kenya to write articles about her work. Additionally, she was selected as one of the participants in the 2019 American Express Leadership Academy, a member of the Commonwealth Youth Gender & Equality Network, and a 2020 YALI EA RLC participant. Olive has a dream for her country Kenya and that is for it to be green and clean. This year FridaysForFuture-Kenya has partnered with an initiative called “Girl Up” to donate sanitary pads to girls in high school to fight against period poverty. At the same time, FridaysForFuture-Kenya will plant trees in every school that Girl Up donates sanitary pads to. Olive believes that this unique partnership will address the issues of period poverty and climate change all at once. Together, they aim to plant 6000 trees and support over 5000 girls in Nairobi in 2020.

Current Organization: Undergraduate Student in Social Work at Moi University

Redempta Mwende is a monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning professional with over 6 years’ experience working in the international development sector. Redempta is currently serving as a Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator for the East Africa and Yemen Region at Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). In her current roles, she provides strategic and technical support to NRC’s Monitoring and Evaluation efforts across ten countries. This includes supporting the implementation of NRC’s M&E standards, systems, and practices to produce, measure, and demonstrate improvements in program performance and inform evidence-based decision making. Redempta previously served as Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Officer at Mercy Corps supporting the Google-funded Youth Impact Labs and DFID-funded Kenya Catalytic Jobs Fund programmes in Kenya. In these roles, she led all M&E functions in both programmes. Through the wide array of programmes implemented, she has a proven record of designing and execution of M&E systems, quantitative and qualitative data analysis, data management, operations research, evaluations, development of knowledge management systems, and M&E compliance. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree double major in Integrated Community Development and Social Work from Daystar University. She also holds a Master’s degree in Project Management and Evaluation from Kenyatta University. Additionally, she has a Monitoring and Evaluation Certificate from Global Learning Institute and African Medical and Research Foundation International Training Centre. Redempta enjoys focusing on youth employment and heath development programs, and has a strong passion for women empowerment.

Current Organization: Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator – East Africa and Yemen at Norwegian Refugee Council

Shamima Omwayi is a vibrant young Kenyan woman with a strong passion for humanitarian affairs, notably in the areas of community development, human rights, and peace and sustainability. Shamima holds a Bachelor’s of Commerce Degree in Finance and a Diploma in Accountancy from Technical University of Kenya. Shamima helped revive a community-based charitable organization, Villa Teag Children’s Home, where she has been volunteering for close to seven years providing administrative support. She has contributed immensely overall to the welfare of the homeless children. Previously, Shamima has volunteered as a facilitator for several organizations, including Global Communities in partnership with USAID and Hope World Wide. She also facilitated for Plan International in the areas of women and youth empowerment and peace and security under the Kenya Tuna Uwezo program, leading to an award as a champion of peace efforts in Nairobi City. By actively engaging in community work, she has developed skills in community organization and action, planning and implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and humanitarian communication. Her goal is to network on social entrepreneurship while focusing on the role of women in sustainable economic development. When Shamima is not ironing out community issues, she is expanding her knowledge on various subjects. During her free time, she engages her social media followers on current affairs. Shamima is currently working on a project proposal for Young Mothers Innovator Entrepreneurs.

Current Organization: Administrative Assistant at Villa Teag Children’s Home