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.

Katherine Chiteri Muoki is a long serving career Civil Servant who has risen through the ranks to the position of Director of Economic Planning responsible for Infrastructure, Science, Technology and Innovations. She has also held the position of Director of Gender for an intermittent period. She holds a Bachelor of Education Degree (Economic & Business Studies), 1^st Class Honours from Kenyatta University and a Masters of Arts (Economics) Degree from the University of Nairobi.

Mrs. Muoki has technical expertise in a number of areas that include; Economic Policy Formulation, Development Planning and Analysis; Strategic Planning; Project Management, Monitoring and Evaluation and Impact Analysis; Speech Writing; Participatory Poverty Assessment; Qualitative and Quantitative Statistics Analysis; Human Development Analysis; Research Techniques; Public Finance Management including Budgeting; and Capacity Building.

Among the key activities that she has initiated and/ or coordinated and provided leadership include the drafting of the Poverty Reduction Paper, the Economic Recovery Paper for Wealth Creation, the Vision 2030 and the three Medium Term Plans for the implementation of the Vision 2030. Further she was a member of the think tank that initiated the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) Budgeting Framework. She has co-convened various MTEF budget Sector Working Groups for several years. Further she has initiated development of other key policy documents such as the National Gender Policy, the Status of Women Report, and Kenya National Human Development Reports among others. She has also provided leadership in Participatory Poverty Analysis Studies.

Over the years, Mrs. Muoki has served on several boards. These include, the pioneer boards of the National Commission for Gender and Development; Women Enterprise Fund Advisory Board; Uwezo Fund Oversight Board; Anti-Female Genital Mutilation Board and Affirmative Action Social Development Fund Board. She has also sat on the National Commission for Science and Technology and the Lake Basin Development Authority Board.

Mrs. Muoki is the recipient of two (2) State Awards; Head of State Commendation (HSC) in 2013 and Order of the Grand Warrior (OGW) in 2016

Mr. Japh has been a Senior Business Consultant since the beginning of 2016 after his tenure at AIG Insurance Company spanning over 36 years. At AIG, he was the Chief Executive in charge of East Africa Region for over 19 years.

During his tenure at AIG he acquired extensive experience in all technical aspects of the business, having worked in all departments including Finance, Claims, Underwriting and Distribution.  He was part of the AIG Africa Executive Committee which was charged with the responsibility of developing and implementing key business strategies for the Africa Zone including expansion of the brand in East, West and Southern Africa

Some of his key achievements included: Modelled AIG into a customer centric organization, with compelling value proposition and excellent service delivery second to none in profitability in the East Africa insurance industry; he was honored by the Kenya Insurance Industry with Life Time Achievement Award for outstanding role in developing the insurance industry in East Africa and mentoring a number of the present industry leaders and played a leading role in shaping the policy direction of the insurance industry including the formation of the college of insurance, a first one of its kind in Africa.

He has an extensive international working experience having worked in Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, New York and South Africa. He has presented papers at a number of international conferences including Brookings Institute in Washington DC & Chatham House in London,

Mr. Japh has played leadership roles in the past as: President of American Chamber of Commerce Kenya Chapter; Director General of the Insurance Institute of Kenya; Director of the Retirement Benefits Authority; Director KEPSA; Director AIG Kenya & Uganda and Muthaiga Golf Club.

He currently holds directorships of a number of companies including:

Barclays Bank Kenya Ltd; Chairman Barclays Insurance Agency; Jadala Investments company; Ler Limited; 25^th Investment Company and Jumbo Chem Company Kenya Ltd.

Mr. Japh Okoth Olonde is a graduate of the University of Nairobi and is a Chartered Insurer of CII London as well as a Member of the Institute of Directors and Certified Trustee.

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.