Ambasa Elijah
Board Member
Ambasa Elijah
Ambasa Elijah is a governance and policy expert with over 14 years’ experience on Human Rights, Access to Justice, Accountability and Inclusion. He is also an expert in legislative procedure & practice, ethics, and policy and legislative drafting. He is currently Parliamentary Lead for Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) on Inclusion and Accountable Politics.
He has worked with African Parliamentarians Network Against Corruption as a National Coordinator, Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) as Chapters & County Affairs Manager, Transparency International Kenya as a Governance & Policy Advisor, Task Force on Devolved Government (TFDG) in 2011 as a Research Officer, State University of New York (SUNY Kenya) seconded to the Kenya National Assembly as a Junior Legislative Fellow, Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) and the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC).
He holds Master of Arts Degree in Political Science and Public Administration (University of Nairobi), Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science and Public Administration (Moi University) and Diploma in Business Administration (Kisumu National Polytechnic) and currently completing his Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science and Public Administration at the University of Nairobi.
Yvonne E. Mwende
Board Member
Yvonne E. Mwende
Yvonne E. Mwende is a Development Communication Specialist with a decade of experience (10 years) designing and implementing communications and advocacy strategies and storytelling with a nose for impact stories. She has extensive experience with multi-stakeholder communication initiatives, supporting non-governmental organizations, government agencies, and the private sector in Kenya and internationally. A thought leader, she has authored publications on women’s rights, social justice, human rights, and inequality, among other social development issues.
She has actively engaged in influencing women’s socio-political gains in Kenya through profiling women political aspirants, aggravating for policy implementation around the two-thirds gender principle, and advocating for women’s economic empowerment programs. She is an alumna of the African Women’s Leadership and Mentoring Initiative (AWLMI) by Urgent Action Fund-Africa in collaboration with Coady International Institute.
Her mission is to create enabling environments that sustain gender transformative leadership and equitable development. She serves as a Board Member with the Association of Media Women in Kenya (AMWIK)
Mbuki Mburu
Board Member
Mbuki Mburu
Mbuki Mburu is a Public policy and youth development advocate with significant experience in participatory development strategies, public policy research and analysis underpinned by a deep commitment to social justice. Ms. Mbuki currently serves as the National Coordinator of “Sauti Sasa Campaign” at AMREF Health Africa.
Ms. Mbuki has worked at national, regional and International levels where she has, among others, addressed the United Nations General assembly (UNGA) during the International Conference on Population and Development and a speaker at High Level Political Forum during the review of SDGs and UN 75th Commemoration at the United Nations Headquarters. Locally, she has co-founded youth initiatives, participated in development and review of policies affecting young people and championed Public Interest Litigation in favor of young people’s interest. Mbuki is an Africa Laureate on Advocacy and Community Action recognized by Africa Kitoko and serves as a board Member at Siasa Place.
David Shamala
Board Member
David Shamala
David Shamala is a human rights activist and community advocate. He is committed to combating social exclusion at both the grassroots and international levels, particularly in the areas of youth, children and women’s rights.
He is also an independent Human Resource Management Consultant for Not-for-Profits.
Amisa Rashid
Board Member
Amisa Rashid
Amisa is the Founder and Executive Director of Nivishe Foundation whose main objective is building community resilient using Trauma informed programs for peaceful social cohesion to her community by creating safe spaces and offering psychosocial support to victims of violence. Being an individual who values inclusivity she has pioneered Nivishe in offering Mental Health services through sign languages which since its commencement has managed to serve 200 individuals with hearing Aid challenges.
To have a holistic approach in her field she is also a 2020 IPHRD (International Peace and Human Rights Development) Africa Fellow as a young woman Mediator Ambassador. She is the also the only Kenyan chosen among 10 participants globally to participate in the 2021 Orygen Global fellowship for young Mental Health Advocates as well as the top 10 finalist of the Global students prize.
Amisa is also a Public Policy Enthusiast as she aims in creating more changes in her space using Policies hence a fellow for the Future Africa program.
Francis Kairu
Board Member
Francis Kairu
Francis Kairu is a lawyer currently focusing on Illicit Financial and Economic Crime, Corporate Transparency and Beneficial Ownership, Anticorruption, Asset Recovery, Natural Resource Governance and Access to Justice.
He has had varid experience working with government agencies, civil society organizations, multilateral institutions, media groups and communities strengthening technical capacity to respond to emerging and complex legal issues.
He is advocate of the High Court of Kenya and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Law (LLB) and Master’s degree in law (LLM) from the University of Washington.
Jenny Njuki
Board Member
Jenny Njuki
Jenny Njuki is a conversational starter and is known as a firecracker! She is passionate about meaningful youth engagement, youth ingenuity and creativity. She champions the innovation of youth in using technology to solve global challenges and accelerate economic growth in Africa. Jenny has over five years of experience in youth-led programs. This includes strengthening advocacy for youth inclusion in decision making.
Jenny serves as the Africa Program Manager at Malaria No More UK. At a global level she represents the youth voices in the Self-care Trailblazer Group in the steering committee and represents Africa on the Global Youth Council: Tech for Health. In this role, she advises the global coalition on leveraging digital innovation for universal health coverage: Digital Transformation for UHC 2030.
During the pandemic contributed to the article on Knowledge, attitudes, practices, and the effects of COVID-19 among the youth in Kenya. https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-021-11067-2
Most recently she was appointed by the Executive Office of the President of Kenya to represent youth and serve on the Generation Unlimited Kenya Steering Committee. Jenny provides strategic leadership and oversight on the initiative to achieve the GenU strategic objectives in Kenya.
Barbara Wamunyokoli
Board Member
Barbara Wamunyokoli
Barbara is a HR professional with cumulative experience spanning 24 years in the Administration and HR role having worked in the Education sector for the past 10 years. She is currently working as a Human Resource Manager at Kitengela International Schools.
A holder of BCom degree from University of Nairobi and undertaking MSc. In Human Resource Management at University of Nairobi. She is also a full member of IHRM and board member at Siasa Place.
Akello Onyango
Board Member
Akello Onyango
Akello Onyango holds a Bachelor of Education from Kenyatta University. For the last twelve years, she has traded the French classroom for “democracy and elections classrooms” in her work in voter education and partnerships at the IEBC.
She is passionate about mental health and the empowerment and inclusion of women, youth and persons with disabilities in political processes. She loves to write and often uses her love for writing to tell stories about mental health and wellness.
Ephraim Percy Kenyanito
Board Member
Ephraim Percy Kenyanito
Ephraim is a trained lawyer, a Certified Project Management Professional (PMP – PMI USA), and an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (the UK and Kenya) and a Certified Professional Mediator (MTI East Africa), with over nine (9) years in the African and global International Trade, Technology, Media and Telecommunications industry.
Between 2014 and 2018 he served as the youngest advisor on Internet Governance to two UN Secretary Generals: Ban Ki–moon and António Guterres. Additionally, since 2012 he has executed international development projects with a diverse range of leading international institutions across 46 African Union member countries and served as an Independent Expert to two ICANN Implementation Advisory Groups.
Presently, Ephraim does research on the nexus of Digital Infrastructures, Digital Trade, Electronic Commerce and Data Protection and Open Data with an international institution, ARTICLE 19. He is also a member of the GFCE Advisory Board, Digital Peace Now, Siasa Place, European Commission GIPO advisory group among other board positions. He is also a full member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), the Project Management Institute (PMI) and Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU).
Ephraim is currently pursuing Postgraduate qualifications in Technology, Media and Telecommunications Law at Queen Mary University of London (United Kingdom) and a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) at University of East London (United Kingdom) and holds an LLM in International Trade Law from the University of Turin (Italy) and also holds an LLB (with Honours) and also various certifications in and Business and Human Rights.