Njenga has worked in the community-based natural resource management field for two decades. During this time, he developed a deep network and understanding of community conservation in Kenya. His experience ranges from local-level implementation work to project design and management, land tenure governance research to organizational development, and from policy development to public service.

Prior to joining Maliasili, Njenga previously worked as a Minister for Water, Environment and Natural Resources for the County Government of Laikipia. In this role, he provided both strategic and operational leadership that led to more than 100,000 households accessing clean drinking water, and new policies and laws governing natural resource management at the county level. He also served at the leadership level at the Council of Governors caucus of county ministers in charge of natural resources management. Njenga has previously worked as the Executive Director for the Zeitz Foundation and also worked with Maliasili before as Kenya Portfolio Manager. He is a 2013 Kinship Conservation Leadership Fellow and a 2011 ESRI Society for Conservation GIS Scholar. He has degrees from Moi University and Durell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) at the University of Kent, Canterbury.

Janelle joined Maliasili in October 2019 and provides strategic leadership around financial management, international financial management, grants administration, and human resources. She has more than 20 years of experience in nonprofit administration. Janelle is passionate about building capacity of community-level efforts and serving as a resource for local nonprofit organizations. Previously, Janelle served as the vice president of administration and CFO for Kansas Action for Children in Topeka, Kansas, where she worked at all levels of operations over the course of 15 years. In addition to nonprofit administration, Janelle has experience in governance, capacity building, strategic planning, and advocacy evaluation. She earned her bachelor’s in mathematics from Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Akshay joined Maliasili in June 2020. He has spent most of his career working on the governance aspects of natural resource management in Eastern and Southern Africa. He has wide-ranging experience in the fields of water resource management, landscape and wildlife conservation, community participatory approaches, advocacy and lobbying, and strategic planning. Akshay is passionate about mobilizing people, communities, and organizations to tackle our most pressing environmental challenges. It is to this end that Akshay seeks to combine his experience, background in environmental studies, and his business education to work with Maliasili’s partners to help them on their journey to becoming strong institutions that deliver great impact.

For over a decade, Jestina worked for donors in planning, designing, executing, and monitoring programs and projects in various sectors ranging from Education, Nutrition, WASH, Reproductive and maternal Health, Agriculture, Conservation, and Natural resources Management. She joins Maliasili from USAID, where she first worked as the Budget Specialist in the Economic Growth office, managing over $270M annual budget, and later as the Project Management Specialist in the Environment & NRM portfolio, overseeing the implementation of conservation and NRM projects with an accumulated budget of $52M over five years by International and local NGOs. She also co-led the climate change working group whose mandate was to enforce and monitor the implementation of USAID's whole Agency climate change strategy across all sectors.

Jestina is passionate about local NGOs development in becoming self reliant and having the capacity to deliver what is expected in their communities. One of Jestina’s great achievements was summiting Mt. Kilimanjaro in October 2022.

Gathoni joined Maliasili in June 2020 providing support to the East Africa team and Portfolio partners. She is a Sustainable Development professional with over 9 years of experience working on social development issues across Africa with a strong focus on the use of data, technology, and innovation for development. Having been brought up in Kenya she is passionate about the country, its people, and beyond that seeing Africa thrive. Gathoni has worked for NGOs and social enterprises in Kenya, focusing on developing partnerships for sustainable development and programs focused on environmental conservation, natural resource management, and community development. She holds a Masters’ degree in Sustainable Development and Corporate Responsibility from EOI in Spain and BA in Social Sciences from Durham University.

Peace joined the East Africa portfolio team at Maliasili in March 2022, to follow her life-long passion for nature and conservation. She has experience working across several social and economic development themes in Africa ranging from rural development, livelihood strengthening, economic empowerment, impact measurement, monitoring and evaluation, knowledge management, design and learning, and action research. Peace is passionate about working with communities to create home-grown innovative and disruptive solutions to challenges in Africa for sustainable transformation and development.

Naiya joined Maliasili in March 2022, as a new member of the East Africa Portfolio team. With an undergraduate in Human Geography from the University of Durham, and Masters in Environment, Politics and Development from SOAS, the University of London, Naiya focused her studies on the intersection between community development, wildlife conservation, and livelihood resilience. Her previous experience includes human-elephant conflict and coexistence research and education, and she is interested in the importance of communication for NGO’s, with experience in digital content creation and visual storytelling. She previously worked for Save the Elephants, as the Communications and Education Manager for the Elephants and Bees Project, the Human Elephant Coexistence program. Naiya is passionate about the intersection between indigenous knowledge and natural resource management, developing sustainable solutions for environmental problems and supporting communities. She is on a mission to learn, grow, expand her knowledge of CBNRM, and bring her experience to help with Maliasili’s mission of strengthening partner organisations.

Dickson joined Maliasili in March 2022 as an Associate for the East Africa Portfolio with the view of supporting organization development for achieving greater conservation impact. He is a Natural resource professional with 9 years of experience during which he has gained a deep understanding of community planning and management, Land governance, organizational development specifically in water services and resource management, and public policy.

Joana joined Maliasili in May 2021, as a new member of the Southern Africa team. She was born and raised in Mozambique, where, from a young age, she developed a passion for nature and the ocean. With a master's in Conservation Biology, Joana worked for the last 7 years with marine conservation in Mozambique and Tanzania. After running a Conservation and Community project in Northern Mozambique, she spent the last two years as the Executive Director of Sea Sense, a Tanzanian organization working with coastal communities and marine wildlife.

Joana joins the Maliasili team to help grow the Southern Africa Portfolio, particularly in Angola and Mozambique. Having led small conservation organizations herself, Joana will use this experience to support the growth and development of partner organizations. Whether surfing, sailing, or diving, Joana spends as much time as she can in the ocean. When on land, she enjoys practicing and teaching yoga, as well as spending time with friends and her dog.

Monicah is an ecologist who loves working at the people-nature interface to safeguard biodiversity and improve the lives of rural communities. She has broad-based experience in community program development and partnership building, conservation education, biodiversity research, and consultancy. She was a Senior Program Manager leading the Thriving Futures programs in Northern Kenya. Prior to that, Monicah was a lecturer in wildlife and rangeland management in Zimbabwe.

Before joining Maliasili, Josia worked as the Environment Manager of a large mining company, with extensive experience in high-level strategic planning, large team performance management, and operations and compliance management. Early in her career, she founded IMPACT Madagascar, a Malagasy organization to foster sustainable environmental change in Madagascar through community-led conservation initiatives. In addition to receiving the prestigious Whitley Award for conservation leaders, she also received the Nature-based Solutions Award, which supports climate-smart community-based programs in Madagascar. Josia completed her Ph.D. in Primatology and Conservation from Oxford Brookes University. At Maliasili, Josia uses her community-driven natural resources management skills and experience to foster the organizational development and capacities of Malagasy grassroots conservation organizations.

Resson will lead Maliasili's efforts to help our partners increase their influence in the conservation space, with a significant focus on increasing the amount of funding going to grassroots organizations driving community conservation solutions. She’s a leader in the community conservation space when it comes to tackling challenging topics in our field, such as colonialism, racism, power, and inequality (with a great TED talk and opinion piece). Resson joins us after having served as the Deputy Director of Ewaso Lions, a Kenyan NGO, and she is a member of our second African Conservation Leadership program cohort.

Beatrice is based in Kenya and has over fifteen years of experience in administration management, most of which have been with conservation organizations. Her time spent in the conservation sector ignited a passion for and understanding of natural resource management and the importance of community involvement and has provided her with a solid background in support functions for funded projects. Beatrice is responsible for the management of Finance and Administration functions within Maliasili, and the administration of contractual relationships with external parties.

Born and raised in Kenya, Salisha has always been passionate about cultural and ecological conservation. She left her corporate career in late 2012 to delve into environmental work, focused on using her entrepreneurial mindset and experience to conserve wildlife. To date, Salisha has led the coordination of an Africa-wide strategy to protect vultures, been a part of a leadership team of an organisation at the forefront of lion conservation and co-founded a grassroots conservation movement in Kenya. She likes to think of herself as a rebel with too many causes - activist, conservationist, and adventurer, dedicated to finding sustainable and novel solutions in community-led conservation. She is also a member of the African Conservation Leadership Network (ACLN) and a Kinship Fellow with an MBA from London Business School and an MPhil in Conservation Leadership from University of Cambridge. Her areas of interest include human-wildlife coexistence, sustainability of community efforts and impact measurement.

Anna’s specific areas of expertise include the design and facilitation of processes that take individuals and organizations to new and different levels of engagement. With 25 years of experience in Namibia and southern Africa, Anna is specialized in leading organizational and personal development and facilitating organizational learning, having built her expertise working with a range of community-based, government, non-government and private sector organizations. After many years working with leading NGOs in the environment, health and education sectors, Anna also brings a wealth of experience in programme design, management and evaluation.

Kahaso joined Maliasili in January 2022 and brings with him over 18 years of experience working within the private and social sectors across the African continent and the UK. He is an experienced leadership facilitator with a passion for supporting organizations to unlock their full potential through talent. Prior to joining Maliasili, he was the Regional Director for East Africa at the ROOM, one of the African Leadership Group brands, and previously ran the ALX Leadership Lab and Xcelerator program in Nairobi. He also previously ran his training consultancy firm focused on small enterprise development as a certified enterprise coach and trainer with the International Labor Organisation (ILO) under various technical assistance programs supporting youth and women in SMEs and other workplace cooperation interventions.

Kahaso is a graduate of Finance and Business Administration (Dual Honors) from Keele University, Staffordshire, England, and is currently completing his EMBA with Quantic School of Business and Technology. He is also working towards completing his ICF coach certification which he hopes will help support the next generation of African entrepreneurs and leaders.

Lulu recently joined Maliasili as a Leadership program associate based in Arusha. A Maasai woman with a passion for indigenous groups and conservation. She brings her devotion to people and her belief in their potential to the work she does with the Leadership program. Her background in Education, IT, and Communications bring a range of skills to support the program. Her IT skills support the modules and platform run by the program, her communications skills play a supporting bridging role between the action on the field and the communication department, and her professional education background contributes to the development and the facilitation of the program.

Richard is a professional with 15 years' project management experience across a range of business disciplines including information technology, sustainability, and corporate social responsibility, primarily in Eastern and Southern Africa. He previously led the environmental sustainability program of Serena Hotels Group, one of East Africa’s largest tourism operations. Richard worked on sustainability projects with local communities in Kenya near Serena properties, and also spent six years working for Serena in Mozambique. He recently graduated with the first (2019) MBA class of the African Leadership University’s School of Wildlife Conservation, based in Kigali, Rwanda, which is a dynamic new program that is focused on building a new generation of African conservation managers and entrepreneurs. 

Kasmira has spent most of her professional career working for community and indigenous-led conservation organizations in Kenya, with an interest in strengthening links between indigenous knowledge and academic research. This depth of research experience and local knowledge of community conservation strengthens the relationships and organization development support Kasmira provides to Maliasili’s partners. She holds an MSc and BSc from the University of British Columbia in Canada, focused on governance and institutional function of community conservation organizations.

Fransisca is a well-trained and self-motivated senior Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist with excellent research and project design, implementation, project management, and Evaluation skills. Her comparative advantage lies in Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning(MEL) broadly for a wide range of socio-economic, natural resources, and environmental management projects. She has over 12 years of experience working in the MEL field. She possesses practical skills and experiences in research design (including proposal development, data collection, analysis, data interpretation, and report writing), design of Result Frameworks and M&E Plans, and digital data collection and Management.

Fransisca has studied Master of Science in Forestry, and a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife Management, both attained at Sokoine University of Agriculture(SUA) in Morogoro Region East Central part of Tanzania. Before joining Maliasili, Fransisca worked with the Aga Khan Foundation for six years, leading the MERL component for around eight projects related to Climate Resilience, Agriculture, Food Security, Education, Economic Inclusion, Health, and Nutrition. Fransisca has also worked with Swiss contact, a Swiss Foundation, as a Monitoring and Result Measurement Coordinator. Fransisca started her career journey with Care International as a Project officer working in Environment Management and Women and Girls Empowerment programs and later as an M& officer.

Fransisca is motivated to work as a MEL personnel as she believes that MEL allows us to learn and adapt and helps us to know that we do our job successfully.

Wanjiku’s primary role is to provide direct communications support to Maliasili’s portfolio partners and the leadership program. Wanjiku has close to a decade’s experience in high-level communication strategy with a skill set that includes donor communications, digital strategy, organizational branding, and press engagement. Before joining Maliasili she worked with the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy as well as Space for Giants, shaping and supporting their communication efforts.

She is a strong believer that effective communications is critical to helping conservation organizations achieve their goals, amplify their voices, and shape global conversations.

Martin is a passionate advocate of the power of digital systems and impact communications to empower grassroots organizations to share their stories, connect with like-minded change-makers, foster a unified movement for change, and accelerate their impact. Committed to community-led conservation for over 20 years, he is an award-winning writer, published and exhibited photographer, digital designer, front-end developer, and experienced multi-channel marketer.

Martin has a Ph.D. in climate change adaptation and conservation policy from the Centre for Environmental Change and Human Resilience, focusing on advanced GIS and socio-ecological modeling, working with stakeholders at multiple scales, from site practitioners to international policymakers. His research and teaching on conservation and environmental management took him around the world, from the peat swamps of Kalimantan to community forests in West Africa to living for a year off-grid with the Payamino community in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

Before Maliasili, Martin spent ten years as a senior leader within the international marine conservation social enterprise Blue Ventures, where he built the digital and communications team - playing a central role in the incredible journey of growth they pursued while transforming stories of their work from across their international teams into a wide variety of interactive digital and print media – websites, blogs, photo stories and more – leading Blue Ventures’ open source approach to proactively raise the voices and build the capacity of the coastal communities they work with. Martin is a solutions-oriented, calm, pragmatic and nurturing leader, committed to the well-being and success of his team while remaining driven by the urgency and scale of our mission.

Martin is based in Wales, UK

Ellen Mndima joined Maliasili in December 2021. A self-starter, she joins the team with a role to achieve effective communication within Maliasili and for Maliasili partners through developing meaningful content, design, and measuring the impact of Mailiasili’s online platforms. Previously, Ellen used her skills in developing holistic marketing strategies, creating versatile designs, and realizing brand identities to elevate grassroots non-profit organizations’ strategies, programs, and communication as an Independent Consultant. Before this, she gained valuable experience in Leadership and Management, Project Management, and Program Development within the non-profit ecosystem providing practical knowledge and skillsets to social businesses and innovators in the form of extensive consultations, tailored programs, monitored support, and mentorship.

Ellen is passionate about giving local communities opportunities to become their own challenge solvers. She believes that given the chance, local communities have the capacity to transform their lives through exposure, experience, and valuable opportunities to learn.

Kiogora joined Maliasili in January 2022 bringing with him over 15 years of experience in human resource management in the conservation sector. He has been responsible for HR functions ranging from developing and driving implementation of HR policies that are aligned with the best practices, performance management, learning and development, succession planning, talent acquisition and retention strategies and designing and executing a culture that supports high performance while giving employees a great experience at the workplace. He has previously worked with Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Kenya and is a graduate of Maseno University and holds an MBA from Edinburgh Napier University. Kiogora is passionate about people development for them to exploit their potential to the fullest.

As Administration and Development Manager, Amy focuses on building philanthropic support and the day-to-day operations to advance Maliasili’s mission. Amy has worked in non-profits for over 20 years, guiding the generosity of foundations, corporations, families, and individuals to support a range of causes including the arts, conservation, education, historic preservation, and social enterprise. She has worked as a convener and community organizer leading conferences, committees, and innovating ideas for building local economies that value people and nature. Amy has a Master’s Degree in Natural Resources from the University of Vermont. She is an overambitious gardener and enjoys learning about local flora and fauna wherever she travels.

Charlotte is based in Namibia, and before joining Maliasili, she worked as the Human Resource Associate for the UN World Food Programme. She supports Maliasili with Talent sourcing and Recruitment, Performance Management, and employee wellbeing. Her HR career started at a young age when she served as an HR generalist for Basil read mine and as a Soldier for the Namibia Defense Force. Charlotte is passionate about making a difference in people's life and the environment they live in. She has a genuine love for wildlife, and seeing them grow gives her fulfillment. She holds an Honors in Human resources Management from the Namibia University of Science and technology and several postgraduate qualifications.

Mira is a Partner with ArcTern Ventures, a venture capital fund that invests in early-stage climate technologies.

Mira started her career as an environmentalist in the mines of Africa. From there, she pivoted to big corporate, to the industries which had formed the bedrock of the carbon economy and spent over a decade in the chemical, utility, and oil & gas sectors where she built clean energy business lines. She was on the ground floor of building a battery manufacturing plant for Dow Chemical, a solar and wind portfolio for NRG Energy, and a home energy business for Shell, where she was the head of residential power.

Mira holds a Bachelor’s in Science from Oberlin College and an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley. In addition to Maliasili, Mira serves on three private boards.

Laura Hattendorf is a Senior Advisor with the Mulago Foundation, a key Maliasili supporter, and was formerly their Head of Grants and Investments. She also teaches at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and formerly ran the Bay Area conservation organization Sustainable Conservation. She brings a tremendous experience with many leading international development organizations and social enterprises through her work with Mulago over the past 15 years and knows Maliasili very well through that relationship.