Economic Development and Public Policy Consultant

Mr Stephen Wainaina, MBS, is an Economic Policy specialist, with strong background in statistics and Policy formulation, analysis, management and implementation. He possesses wide experience in Strategic Policy formulation, implementation and monitoring, especially in the area of Development planning and Public Policy. He started his career in the Public Sector in the then Central Bureau of Statistics in the Ministry of Planning and Development in October 1981.

He holds an MA Degree in Development Economics, which he attained at the Center for Development Economics, Williams College, Massachusetts, USA in 1985. For his undergraduate studies, he attended the University of Nairobi, Kenya, and was awarded a BA Honours degree in Economics in 1981.

Mr Wainaina served for over 33 years in the Public Service rising to the Position of Economic Planning Secretary in the Ministry of Planning, currently The National Treasury and Planning, a Position he held for 10 years. Before then, he served as the Director of Planning but also as Economist/Statistician and at various other Senior levels. In addition he served as an Alternate/Director in Several State Corporations, including: Egerton University, KNH, NACC, Tobacco Control Board, AFPRB, Kenivest, Kemri, NCPD and KNBS. He also took official leave of absence from Government Service and Served in two UN Agencies, namely UNCHS (Habitat) and an UNCTAD Project, both as a regular staff member and as a Consultant.

In 2008, Mr Wainaina was honored through an Award of the Moran of the Order of the Burning Spear (MBS) by HE the President of the Republic of Kenya for his exemplary Services in the Public Sector, and in recognition of his contribution to the preparation of Kenya Vision 2030.

Since January, 2015, Mr Wainaina has been working full-time as Development and Public Policy Consultant. He served as a Director in the Partnership for Economic Policy (PEP) Network in the period 2013 – 2016. Since 2017 he serves as a Policy Mentor in the PEP Network.  His most recent engagements in Consulting include assignments with:  SIDA, USAID (Futures Group/Palladium Group), IGADD, ACBF/ADB, UNDP, IFAD, World Bank and PEP, among Other Development Agencies. He has also taught briefly at Strathmore Business School (SBS), Strathmore University, as an Adjunct Lecturer.

Dr. Mohamed A. Sheikh

Benson Kiriga is the Director, Macroeconomic Planning in the State Department for Economic Planning. He has been a Senior Policy Analyst and HOD in the Macroeconomics Department in KIPPRA. He is undertaking PhD studies in Economics from the University of Nairobi. He holds a Master of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Nairobi. He has previously worked as a Senior Economist in the Ministry of Finance and in the Ministry of Planning and National Development. His areas of research interest include public finance, macromodelling and macroeconomic policy research. He has been involved in preparation of various Government of Kenya policy documents and is quite experienced in the Central Government fiscal operations.

Ms Rose Towett, a demographer with over 15 years’ experience in monitoring, evaluation and research  has a passion for data-driven insights and evidence-based decision-making.  She currently works as an independent M&E consultant. Before transitioning into consultancy,  Rose worked for over 5 years with mothers2mothers Kenya, where she was responsible for the design and implementation of an integrated planning, monitoring, evaluation and learning system for projects with the aim of facilitating decision-making, promoting accountability, and strengthening results-oriented management.  She has also worked for  other donor-funded and development organisations including Population Services International/Kenya and African Population & Health Research Centre.  Rose holds a first class honors in Bachelor of Education (Mathematics) and  a Master’s of Science (Population Studies) both from the University of Nairobi.  She has also undertaken M&E professional course: Leadership and Managing for Impact: Participatory Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation from  Wageningen University, The Netherlands.

Mr. Samuel Wambugu

Alternate to the Principal Secretary, National Treasury, Samuel is a Chief Economist in Macro and Fiscal Department of the National Treasury and Planning.

Apart from being a Board Member of KNBS, he also represents the CS, National Treasury and Planning at Jomo Kenyatta Foundation (JKF) Board of Directors.

He holds an M.A in Economic Policy Management degree from Makerere University, Uganda and B.A in Economics from University of Nairobi. Besides the above, he has attended Strategic Leadership Development Programme (SLDP) at Kenya School of Government and several courses in Financial and Strategic Management, Leadership and Policy Formulation locally and abroad, and has also undertaken a training on Corporate Governance under Mwongozo facilitated ICS and SCAC.

Francis M Nkako is a graduate of the National Defence College-Kenya, holder of MSc (EIA) from the University of Wales-UK and BSc rom Nairobi University-Kenya. He has attended several short courses, including on corporate governance, security and natural resource management. He is registered as a Lead Expert in EIA for purposes of carrying out environmental assessments and audits in Kenya by the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA).

Francis has 30 years’ experience mainly in the environmental management; rural development, integrated development.  Others Conservation and natural resources management, wildlife/Forests/ water towers  management (policy, legal, security and enforcement aspects), tourism; protected area (parks and reserve) management and human-wildlife conflicts and  institutional management.

He has successfully worked with projects funded World Bank Tana GEF, USAID, WWF Traffic (illegal trade) EWALS/KFWG/UNEP  WWF, British Army, the Royal Netherlands Embassy (Tana Delta), JICA, He among  others. He has interacted and collaborated with various development partners, government departments, and local communities, NGOs, policy makers, CBOs and various other stakeholder agencies.

He has gained significant experience in river basin management and integrated development through the Tana Delta projects, Tana River Basin through the Tana GEF projects, Integrated river basin development as the Managing Director -ENSDA  e.g. Mara River Basin with WWF, Ewaso Ngiro River basin, Lake Naivasha, Nakuru, among others..

He has experience in policy, organizational development; participatory methodologies to development as well as rights and community based approaches to development. He has extensive experience managing and working on projects related to community development, natural resource management and pro-poor development strategies.

He is also a Consultant on policy, environment, NRM and development, having undertaken several consultancies rover the years. Client include WWF (Policy review USAID funded Mara River Basin project) for EAC/LVBC, Tetra Tech/ARD USA (on regional Proposal Research: East Africa – Planning for Resilience in East Africa through Policy, Adaptation, Research and Economic Development (PREPARED) for EAC/LVBC, and FAO on policy review GIAHS (Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems) implemented by National Museums of Kenya, private sector among others.

Molu Tepo is a community development specialist with practical experience of working with pastoralists, agro-pastoralists and grassroots communities.

He has professional interest in strengthening the capacities of the community institutions to cushion themselves against hazards facing them from time to time; drought, floods, Resource Based Conflicts, Human and Livestock Diseases, Desert Locust. The disasters resulting from the hazards have become frequent partly due to the negative impact of Climate Change. He has worked as a facilitator, community development practitioner, and project/programme manager for non-profit organizations in Kenya.

He is currently the Executive Director at Merti Integrated Development Programme (MID-P). He is Secretary to the Board of Directors (BOD) and executing the decisions of BOD. MID-P is a local NGO working in Isiolo County with focus on; Sustainable Natural Resource Management, Sustainable Livelihoods, local Governance and Youth Education and Empowerment. He convenes Isiolo County Civil Society Network.

He has provided Voluntary services to different community institutions. He was a member of the Board of Governors of schools. He was a member of the Board of Commissioners of Kenya Meat Commissioner. He is currently the Chairperson of the Isiolo County Education Board (CEB). CEB is mandated by The Basic Education Act to manage education in a County.

Molu previously worked with the Teachers Service Commission, Garba Tula Development Organization, Minority Rights Group International (MRG) as a Project Consultant for EU funded Governance Project, Catholic Organisation for Relied and Development Aid (Cordaid) as Project Manager. He is currently a Master candidate, Kampala International University. He holds a Bachelor of Education degree from Egerton University.

Richard has considerable experience in the field of Biotechnology, and brings to the Board extensive expertise in research and biostatistics. His active research focuses on using modern biotechnologies including genetic engineering to confer innate tolerance to local staple food crops against diseases, drought, aflatoxin and Striga. He holds a patent on a stress-inducible promoter with the World Intellectual Property Organization and Chairs the Kenya University Biotechnology Consortium; a professional body that brings together experts in Biotechnology from public and private universities to promote safe use and application of modern biotechnology in Kenya. Richard sits in the Board of The Global Biotechnology Transfer Foundation. In 2017, he was among the 52 African Scientists celebrated by the South African Department of Science and Technology for their outstanding contributions in advancing research in the continent.  Richard has won several research grants, supervised several graduate students and published widely in the discipline. Apart from being an Associate Professor of Molecular Biology in the Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Biotechnology, Richard also serves as the Director, Research Support and Dissemination at Kenyatta University. Richard holds a PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology from University of Cape Town, an MSc (Biotechnology) and BSc (Biochemistry) both from Kenyatta University, Kenya. In addition, Richard has a postdoctoral training, in drug discovery from Pfizer, UK. He also holds an Executive MSc in Management and Organizational Development from United States International University, Africa, a Graduate Diploma in Forensic Sciences from Blackford Institute, UK and a Certificate in Science communication from the University of Cape Town. He is currently an Honorary Visiting Fellow of the University of Leicester.