The Team

Headquartered out of Nairobi, Kenya the majority of our team draws from first-hand life experience, public and private sector experience as well as  health and finance experience in a developing context. We are committed to creating opportunities for the global south, particularly women youth to have a voice to shape and influence the policies that affect them.

The Team

Dr. Angela Gichaga
President & Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Angela Gichaga

President & Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Angela Gichaga is a clinician, health economist. Angela, in coordination with the Financing Alliance's Project Advisory Committee and fiscal sponsor Capital for Good USA, is responsible for strategic development and fundraising, initiative development, stakeholder engagement, recruiting and team development, and management.

She is a public and social sector enthusiast with experience working across civil service, management consulting, NGOs and academia, to improve the quality of peoples’ lives through gender advocacy, leadership training, coaching, mentorship health and education.

Dr. Gichaga completed her undergraduate degree in Medicine, Masters in Health Economics and Policy and Fellowship in Public Sector Management and has served as a frontline clinician, policy maker, and consultant. She served the MOH Kenya as a District Medical Officer of Health (DMOH) and a hospital in charge (MEDSUP) in both Meru and Garbatulla, for ~150 multi-disciplinary team members through coordinating strategic planning, resource mobilization, recruitment, monitoring and capacity building through on job training/ mentorship. She then joined the MOH HQ, where she co-developed national strategies and prepared reports on the country’s health achievements.

She was humbled to receive the Australian Leadership Awards for Africa (2012) and the President Obama’s Mandela Washington Fellowship (2014) in recognition of her exemplary leadership within the civil service and operational track record of excellence in achieving results.

Most recently, Dr. Gichaga worked at McKinsey & Company’s Africa Delivery Hub (ADH) working across multiple sectors, especially on socio-economic and development issues in Africa.

She was named one of Fortune's Worlds Greatest Leaders in 2018

Stephanie Kuyah
Chief of Staff
Stephanie Kuyah

Chief of Staff

Stephanie holds an industrial engineering degree from Northwestern University, USA. She has a knack for process & systems improvement and an ability to quickly learn systems, processes, and modes of operation.

Stephanie began her professional career at Wall Street Investment Bank, North Carolina, USA where she served as IT Business Analyst, Service Excellence & Project Delivery (SEPD). Thereafter she joined One Acre Fund and African Social Enterprise as Program Associate, Business Operations – Systems Division. Stephanie recently worked with Pula Advisors as Chief of Staff where she worked on supporting and managing the office of the CEO.

Stephanie enjoys fashion design, exploring the world and reading psychological thrillers when she’s not working.

Stephanie brings onboard a wealth of experience in the impact space working with organizational leaders and executive committees to craft strategies and deliver operational excellence.

John Maingi
Head, Strategy and Investments
John Maingi

Head, Strategy and Investments

  • John Maingi is a seasoned project finance professional with experience in arranging, structuring and advising on brownfield and greenfield transactions in East Africa. He is very passionate about poverty eradication through pro-poor policies and investments in primary healthcare systems.
  • John completed his undergraduate degree in Finance and is a Chartered Accountant. He has served as Associate, Vice President, Investment Principal and Chief Financial Officer.
  • John served the Standard Bank Africa Group as an Associate within Energy and Infrastructure rising through various other roles to become Senior Vice President, Project Finance for East Africa. During his time at Standard bank, he led a team of professionals through coordinating strategic planning, investment origination, structuring, recruitment, monitoring and capacity building through on job training/ mentorship.
  • He then joined the Everstrong Capital, where he led the investments team in originating, structuring and executing high impact transactions. He was also the strategic lead for the business with a keen focus on Environmental and Social Governance.
  • John also joined Sealtowers Limited as the Chief Financial Officer where he led the company in developing and implementing its turn around strategy as well as capital raising efforts for expansion.
  • He now serves developing country governments globally, in building resilient and sustainably financed health systems as Head of Strategy and Investments of the Financing Alliance for Health. His duties include providing technical and team leadership oversight of day-to-day activities of the Country Investment and Knowledge workstream. In addition, he also provides technical input to advance the Africa Frontline First Initiative’s work.
Sizwile Sibindi
Head of Operations and Risk
Sizwile Sibindi

Head of Operations and Risk

Sizwile Sibindi is an international development practitioner who has worked in various finance and operational areas for international development organizations.

Sizwile completed her masters degree in Professional Accountancy with the university of London, and she is also a Certified Chartered Accountant with the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants. She is also a registered mentor for Oxford Brookes university, mentoring the next generation of accountants as they undertake their degrees

Sizwile has worked extensively with organizations in East and Southern Africa, including Zimbabwe, South Africa, Zambia, Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania and Namibia. Most recently, she worked with Chemonics International, leading the finance the operations team.

Sizwile is a member of the Practitioner Advisory Group for IFR4NPO, which is an initiative to develop the world’s first Internationally applicable Financial Reporting guidance for non-profit organizations (NPOs).

She is passionate about capacity building for community-based organizations and local NGOs and has in the past worked as an organizational development and capacity building consultant, focusing on governance, financial management and compliance.

She now serves as Head of Operations and Risk for the Financing Alliance for Health, responsible for providing strategic leadership to strengthen operations systems, processes and risk management, and driving the implementation of the operations strategy

Cathreen Bukachi
People & Culture Director
Cathreen Bukachi

People & Culture Director

  • Cathreen is a seasoned Human Resources professional who excels in management of human capital agenda, strategy and business development, business partnering, people management, acquisitions and change management as well as operational excellence. Her varied experience in diverse industries includes energy and power, retail, manufacturing, banking and advertising.
  • One of the key impressions, she has gained over the years as an astute HR professional is the amazing potential people have to be resourceful and creative where the environment allows.  For this reason, she has focused attention on the mentorship of young and impressionable talent as a way of unlocking the corporate potential available.
  • In August 2024 she joins the FAH team to lead the People & Culture agenda. Prior to this, she worked at WPP Scangroup as Group HR Director where she led the Africa re-modelling exercise in response to the evolving business to reflect the future needs of the industry.  Other roles held include Head of Human Resources for East & West Africa at Glaxosmithkline (GSK) where she led a lot of projects to optimize on the organizations’ strategic intent.  Most notably, she also worked for Schneider Electric where she set up HR operations in East Africa as well as led various business transformations in line with the post-acquisition strategy. At Nestlé Equatorial African Region her strategic business partnering experience, HR integration skills, insights advocate, capability builder and cultural enabler provided a broad business and commercial understanding required to be effective at strategy execution.
  • Having been at the heart of talent management campaigns from design to successful delivery in the most part of her career, she has developed a great passion to impact people’s lives.
  • She is a Certified John Maxwell Team member as well as a Certified Organizational Effectiveness Coach with Coach Development Institute of Africa which is International Coach Federation (ICF) Accredited. Cathreen is also a Certified Hogan Assessor and Certified Predictive Index (PI) Analyst Assessor. She is also a former Board Member of the College of Human Resource Management.
  • Cathreen Bukachi holds a Master of Science degree in Human Resources from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Juja.
  • She is a mother and has a great entrepreneurial spirit who loves networking.
Daphne Hemily
Chief Operating Officer (COO) for Africa Frontline First
Daphne Hemily

Chief Operating Officer (COO) for Africa Frontline First

Daphne Hemily is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) for Africa Frontline First, where she manages a transformative initiative working to scale and sustain integrated, resilient community health systems across ten African countries. 

Prior to joining the Financing Alliance for Health, she was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company, focusing on public/social sector and people and organizational productivity, including transformations, change management, executive leadership trainings, and pandemic healthcare response. 

During this time, she completed a fellowship with Last Mile Health’s health system strengthening team, including advocacy and health financing for community health. 

Daphne spent seven years with Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) working both on the frontline and in HQ responding to conflicts, outbreaks, and natural disasters.  During this time, she worked in Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan amongst other contexts doing coordination, operations, and innovative initiatives (e.g., telemedicine).

She then completed a term as a Director on MSF Canada’s Board of Directors (2017-2020)

Daphne has an MBA from Rotman School of Management (University of Toronto) and completed a Bachelor of Arts and Science, majoring in Biomedicine and International Development, at McGill University. 

Juliet Odogwu
MD, Operations and Performance
Juliet Odogwu

MD, Operations and Performance

  • Juliet Odogwu is a public health and digital health expert, with over a decade of experience in design and implementation of digital solutions, project management and program delivery in humanitarian settings.
  • She has directed multi-country programs for BMGF, WHO, World Bank, WFP, Global Good Intellectual Ventures and led digital and data-driven health innovation across various development organizations.
  • Juliet was most recently the Executive Director at eHealth Africa, an organization whose mission is to build stronger health systems and improve lives of underserved communities through the implementation of data-driven solutions. She was previously the Director of Programs and Impact, where she oversaw the design, coordination, and administration of all new and ongoing projects/programs, including planning, staffing, leading, and controlling programs and the development of new opportunities.
  • Before joining eHA, she served as the New Technology Lead and Senior Analyst on HIV Laboratory Access at the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) where she led the team that developed and deployed a nationwide Early Infant Diagnosis Laboratory Information Management System and National EID Dashboard to enable FMOH active monitoring of diagnosis and treatment of HIV-exposed infants.
  • She is also a Co-convener of the Digital Health Interoperability Network (DHIN), a peer-led network with the goal of creating an ecosystem for seamless interoperability of digital health solutions.
  • Juliet holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (B.BA) in Computer Information Systems from Howard University, Washington D.C.
  • She is passionate about digital solutions for development in LMICs, ethical and responsible program implementation, innovations in public health, project management and project delivery in humanitarian settings, and building effective virtual teams.
Lizah Masis
Country Investment & Knowledge Director
Lizah Masis

Country Investment & Knowledge Director

Lizah is a global health and finance leader with a passion for increasing access to care in low and middle income countries through finding sustainable financing solutions for health systems and critically assessing where resources are invested to maximize population health.

Lizah previously worked in Wells Fargo’s Global Financial Institutions group as a Country Officer based in San Francisco covering US based Asia-Pacific institutional clients. She later transitioned to European coverage based in London as a Relationship Manager for large and complex bank clients. In both roles, she was responsible for strategically developing and deepening Wells Fargo’s relationships with a portfolio of select clients. She was also responsible for managing credit and compliance risk associated with the portfolio in conjunction with Global Relationship Managers and risk underwriting teams.

Most recently, Lizah served as the Business Development and Finance lead for the internationally renowned London School of Economics (LSE) Africa Summit, a dynamic platform bringing together leading scholars, policy makers, business leaders, entrepreneurs, professionals, and students for a robust conversation on issues impacting the African continent. In this capacity, Lizah was responsible for fundraising through forging compelling partnerships with sponsors and collaborators, and managing all finance matters for the Summit.

She joined the Financing Alliance for Health as the Country Investment & Knowledge Director to engage with a spectrum of stakeholders including governments as primary clients, major NGOs, global funders, banks, and private investors to design, develop and implement financing solutions to address health sector investment gaps in low and middle-income countries. She also leads knowledge management efforts for the organization. She believes closing the health sector investment gap is critical in ensuring access to health for everyone.

Lizah holds a BA in Economics and Mathematics from Swarthmore College (USA) and an MSc in Health Economics & Policy from the London School of Economics (UK). In her free time, she enjoys hiking, traveling, volunteering, and discovering African authors.

Peter Kamau
BIRCH Director
Peter Kamau

BIRCH Director

  • Peter Kamau is a Public Health and Community Development specialist with over 20 years of experience in managing programs in Africa.
  • Peter holds a Master of Arts Degree in Community Health, Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics majoring in Statistics, and a Diploma in Advanced Health Care Management and Marketing. He also holds various certifications in Policy Engagement and Advocacy; Program and Grant Management; Fundraising and donor relations; and Reporting, Documentation, Monitoring and Evaluation.
  • Before joining FAH Peter worked with Amref Health Africa in Kenya as the Community Systems Strengthening (CSS) Advisor. The role sought to support CSOs, community networks and Ministry of Health to build resilient community systems. It provided strategic support at national level on CSS/RSSH, mobilized financial resources for community systems and ensured governance and leadership structures are in place at all levels.
  • Previously worked Deputy Executive Director and Head of Technical Service with KANCO. His main roles included leadership and strategic management of programs; partnership development and management; overseeing and coordination of resource mobilization efforts including proposal development; leading, directing, developing and managing the implementation of all aspects of KANCO operations, programs and projects
  • In addition, Peter worked with International HIV/AIDS Alliance (currently Frontline AIDS Alliance) as Africa Regional Programmes Advisor with focus on technical support to the Linking Organizations in Africa in strategic and programmatic planning; organizational management; contract oversight, program quality assurance; policy engagement; and resource mobilization and donor relations.
  • Peter is passionate in serving key and vulnerable communities and has extensive experience designing and managing programs with funding from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria; GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance; Comic Relief; European Union; and USAID.
Dennis Munguti
Senior Manager – Country Engagement and Health Financing
Dennis Munguti

Senior Manager – Country Engagement and Health Financing

Dennis Munguti is a health financing specialist with extensive experience working in the health sector as a researcher and trainer on cost analysis, health financing policy, and economic evaluation

His primary focus has been on health financing and economic issues in low- and middle income countries, especially in priority health areas and on issues of fiscal policy, insurance, and markets as they pertain to these and broader health domains. 

Dennis has had the opportunity to work as a consultant with various organization such as USAID, WHO, UNFPA, World Bank, and various Ministries of Health in Kenya on assignments revolving around health insurance, health financing reforms, assessment of household effects of out-of-pocket spending, and policy development. 

Dennis holds a Master’s degree in Health Economics and Policy from the University of Nairobi and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Statistics from the Kenyatta University. 

Abuga Monda
Finance And Operations Manager
Abuga Monda

Finance And Operations Manager

  • Abuga Monda is a certified finance professional with experience in various industries such as INGO sector, health & wellness, agriculture and fintech.
  • Abuga completed his undergraduate degree in Finance, and he is a Certified Public Accountant. Currently pursuing an MSC Finance from The University of Nairobi
  • Abuga began his professional career at BOMU Hospital in Mombasa, where he served as an accountant in charge of credit control, ensuring timely payments and invoicing clients.
  • He then joined The Nairobi Hospital, where he supported the credit control department in collecting and allocating of credit invoices.
  • He then joined GIVEDIRECTLY and worked across multiple countries in Africa, supporting finance planning and strategy at the country level. He later led the Treasury and Planning department on a global scale, protecting and growing donor funds, and led the sourcing and implementation of an FP&A system.
  • He then joined TaptapSend UK where he worked on management accounts , tax & audits and financial system improvements.
  • He now serves as Finance and Operations Manager at the Financing Alliance for Health. His duties include Overseeing operations, developing financial department, accounting , financial management and risk management.

 

Dr. Yann Tapsoba
AFF – Country Engagement and Health Financing Specialist
Dr. Yann Tapsoba

AFF – Country Engagement and Health Financing Specialist

    • Dr. Yann Tapsoba is a health economist with experience working across consulting, academia and research to strengthen health financing and human resources for health in African countries.
    • Yann completed her PhD and Master Degree in Health Economics and has essentially served as consultant with several international organization and NGOs.
    • Yann served as international consultant with United Nation System and other bilateral and multilateral partners to support the countries for developing their health financing and health workforce strategies , for improving their health resource planning and for strengthening their public financial management.
    • He now serves as country engagement and health financing specialist for Financing Alliance for Health. His duties consist in co-designing country engagement strategies and program implementation approaches for the various phases of Africa Frontline First Initiative (AFF) project, whilst overseeing and coordinating the day-to-day roll-out to a portfolio of participating AFF countries as well as providing technical supports to the countries for health community improvement.

 

Ann Ithibu
Country Engagement Manager: AFF Catalytic Mechanism
Ann Ithibu

Country Engagement Manager: AFF Catalytic Mechanism

Ann Ithibu is a global health professional with a passion for increasing access to quality health care in developing countries through strong health systems and sustainable health financing.

Ann holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a Master of Science in Medical Statistics degree. She also has certification in Policy Development and Advocacy, Monitoring and Evaluation, and Project Management in Global Health from the University of Washington (US). Ann speaks multiple languages: English, French (intermediate) and Swahili.

Ann has served as a clinical nurse practitioner, researcher, and policy analyst. She served as a clinical nurse in the private and public health sector in Kenya, providing nursing care and engaging communities through outreaches. Ann has also contributed in various capacities to research aimed at strengthening improving infant and child feeding practices, mental health and trauma management policies and practices in Kenya.

For six years, Ann served as the Policy Analyst for Aidspan, which is the independent observer of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM). At Aidspan, Ann analyzed the Global Fund strategies, policies, and processes with the aim of increasing its transparency and effectiveness.

In this role, Ann has also contributed towards strengthening public financial management systems through strengthening the capacity of supreme audit institutions (SAIs) in various countries across sub-Saharan Africa.

At Financing Alliance for Health, conducts required analysis on the various financing instruments and engage key health and finance leaders such as the ministries of health and finance.

Read An interview with Ann Ithibu https://www.aidspan.org/en/c/article/5638

Dr. Mpuma Kamanga
Health Financing Manager- Anglophone
Dr. Mpuma Kamanga

Health Financing Manager- Anglophone

  • Dr. Mpuma Kamanga is a distinguished Public Health physician and Health Economist, bringing over two decades of expertise to the field of International Healthcare Financing and Universal Health Coverage (UHC) consultancy. A dynamic leader, Dr. Kamanga has been instrumental in driving transformative healthcare initiatives and advocating for UHC across Africa, playing key roles in policy development, strategic planning, and health systems strengthening.
  • His educational background includes a Medical Degree (MD) from the University of Zambia and a Master’s in Health Economics with distinction from the University of Cape Town. Dr. Kamanga received the World Health Organization scholarship for Excellence in 2007 during his master's program.
  • Dr. Kamanga's strategic focus spans health financing strategies, public-private partnerships, and large-scale disease control programs. His leadership has been evident in executing multiple UHC and health sector reform projects in South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Liberia.
  • Serving as Executive Program Director of BroadReach Healthcare in South Africa, he spearheaded a USAID/PEPFAR-funded program, supporting the largest HIV/AIDS treatment program globally, showcasing his commitment to impactful interventions in public health.
  • He joined the Ministry of Health in Zambia, as National coordinator and later Director Special duties he pioneered the establishment of Zambia’s National Health Insurance Scheme and served as the Founder Director of Quality Assurance and Accreditation within the National Health Insurance Management Authority (NHIMA). Dr. Kamanga was also the founding Country Manager of Right to Care in Zambia, contributing to innovative HIV treatment interventions, including Test and Start Strategies costing of interventions and decentralized community treatment models.
  • As a Consultant in Healthcare Financing and Universal Health Coverage, he has supported Liberia's Ministry of Health, analyzing health financing environments, establishment of the Liberia Health Equity fund, determining optimal prices for healthcare services, and developing advocacy plans for additional resources. He has also served as World Bank consultant supporting Health financing policy development in Uganda
  • Dr. Kamanga currently serves as the Health Financing Manager-Anglophone, providing leadership, strategic oversight, and technical expertise in the implementation of FAH initiatives across Anglophone portfolio countries. This includes collaboration with Ministries of Health in Sierra Leone and Zambia, focusing on Primary Health Care Programming, Financing, and SRMNCAH advancements.
Dr Parfait Uwaliraye
Health Financing Manager - Francophone Region
Dr Parfait Uwaliraye

Health Financing Manager - Francophone Region

  • Dr. Parfait Uwaliraye is a Public Health expert with vast experience in Health System Strengthening with a focus Policy development & analysis, Evidence Based Strategic Planning, Budgeting and Reporting, Health Financing functions review, Health Systems Research and (Programs Design & Evaluation.
  • He is a medical doctor by background with a Master’s degree in Public Health from the University of the Western Cape in South Africa.
  • He worked as Director General of a provincial hospital, Medical officer in a district hospital and Research assistant at the University of Rwanda/School of Public Health
  • He was appointed as the Head of Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation and Health Financing Department in the Ministry of Health in Rwanda where he served for more 10 years from 2012 to August 2023.
  • While working in the Ministry of health, he technically coordinated the design and implementation of various health financing initiatives (revenues raising, pooling and purchasing) and HRH reforms with the aim of strengthening the primary health care system.
  • He is now Health Financing Manager - Francophone Region with the Financing Alliance for Health.
Jacqueline Wanjiru
Senior Associate: Human Resources Business Partner
Jacqueline Wanjiru

Senior Associate: Human Resources Business Partner

Jacqueline Wanjiru is a Human Resource enthusiast with vast experience having worked in the e-commerce industry, hospitality, Non-Profit organizations and academia. She has offered consultation services, across sectors, to streamline the core human resource functions for optimum productivity and motivation within the teams and amongst company employees. 

Jacqueline completed her undergraduate degree in Business Administration and Management; proceeded to Master of Science in Human Resource Management and further acquired her title as a Certified Human Resource Professional- CHRP (K). She is a full member of Institute of Human Resource Management (IHRM) and holds a valid practicing license. 

Jacqueline has recently served Jumia Kenya under the umbrella body of Africa Internet Group as the HR and Administration Assistant where she led the renown ‘Ambassador’s program. 

She then joined Daystar University as an Administrative Assistant where she oversaw the administrative duties of outsourced service providers within the University. Later on, she transitioned to Deliverance Church International and Paul Caffe (JKIA, SGR and Gigiri) as the Lead Human Resource where was responsible for spearheading the human resource department. Notably, her key achievement was the increased employee retention, which she managed to realize through adopting various employee engagement strategies 

Most recently, Jacqueline served as the lead human resource consultant with Dira HR Solutions Ltd. In this capacity, she was responsible for leading recruitment activities in East Africa; provide HR Advisory services on matters compliance, employment contract, and employee onboarding and performance management. 

She now serves as the Talent Management and Administration Fellow of the Financing Alliance for Health. Her duties include; talent management, operations management and administrative management.

Wangui Mbiriti
Senior Associate: Impact Monitoring and Reporting
Wangui Mbiriti

Senior Associate: Impact Monitoring and Reporting

  • Wangui Mbiriti is a results oriented monitoring, evaluation and learning professional with experience working across the international development space, public and private sectors and consulting,  to improve the quality of peoples’ lives through developing robust MEAL tools and processes that ensure what matters is measured.
  • Wangui completed her undergraduate degree in Bachelor of Science, Economics & Statistics and course work in Master of Arts, Project Planning and Management. 
  • Wangui has previously worked at KPMG EA under the International Development Advisory Services Department where she doubled up as a Monitoring and Evaluation Senior Advisor as well as Program Manager for multiple programs in Health, Agribusiness and Financial Inclusion sectors. She was part of a team that delivered multi-million dollar programs that included the African Enterprise Challenge Fund, the Global Resilience Partnership,  the Fund for Rural Prosperity among others. At KPMG Wangui was in charge of building robust tools and processes that ensured impact was tracked, collected, measured/analyzed and results shown in a way that was easy to draw inference from by all audiences. She also contributed to the implementation of knowledge-sharing and communications components of programs which led to the strengthening of exchange of information, lessons learnt and collaboration among various stakeholders. 
  • She then joined the African Management Institute (AMI), where she was the custodian of the organization's impact story and evidence base responsible for providing strategic direction, technical advice and leadership in relation to program quality and continued relevance to the Theory of Change. At AMI, she was also responsible for translating program data into clear impact metrics and narratives for the different stakeholders as well as ensuring that AMI’s impact was communicated powerfully and clearly. 
  • Right before joining FAH, Wangui worked at the Kenya Private Sector Alliance under the Ajira Digital Program as the Impact Manager where she led the development and implementation of a program MEAL plan focused on interrogating key TOC hypotheses and assumptions, determining potential unanticipated impacts and determining implications for program design and course correction in collaboration with the senior leadership team and other Ajira partners 
  • She now serves developing country governments globally, in building resilient and sustainably financed health systems as the Impact Monitoring & Reporting Associate at the Financing Alliance for Health. Her duties include contributing to FAH’s commitments to strengthening approaches to program design, performance and impact monitoring, contributing to thought leadership, staying abreast of external trends and best practice in FAH’s design and impact monitoring. 
Mayra Gramani
Associate Scaling Mechanism
Mayra Gramani

Associate Scaling Mechanism

Mayra Gramani is a public policy expert with experience working in governments, academia, NGOs and international organisations. She is passionate about international development as a tool to achieve social impact.

Mayra completed her undergraduate degree in Law at the University of São Paulo and decided to hone her public policy skills through a Master of Public Policy at the University of Oxford, where she was awarded the Lemann Fellow scholarship.

Mayra worked as a technical advisor at São Paulo’s State Government, where she implemented public policies for partnerships between non-for-profit organisations and the government. She was the leader of a Social Impact Bond project intended on reducing the recidivism of young people who committed offences.

Upon completing her Masters degree, she worked as a research assistant at the Government Outcomes Lab, a research and policy center investigating how governments partner with the private and social sectors to improve social outcomes.

She then joined the Education Outcomes Fund, a UNICEF-hosted fund focused on improving learning and employment outcomes by tying funding to measurable results. She worked in partnership with governments in Africa and the MENA region to design innovative financing mechanism projects.

Mayra has now joined Financing Alliance for Health as an associate to bring to use her experience with government and donor engagement, as well as her expertise with innovative financing mechanisms and international development.

www.linkedin.com/in/mayra-gramani-26b513b2

Emmanuel Block
Senior Associate
Emmanuel Block

Senior Associate

  • With a Bachelor of Business Administration from ESSEC Business School Paris, Emmanuel is a versatile professional with a broad experience in the social sector. He brings together unique perspectives from entrepreneurs, consultants, non-profits, social investors, and donors, enriching his approach to driving positive social impact.
  • Before joining the Financing Alliance for Health, Emmanuel worked at the Education Outcomes Fund, a UNICEF hosted fund, where he designed results-based financing programs for holistic early childhood development in close collaboration with government agencies in Sierra Leone and Ethiopia.
  • Previously, Emmanuel spearheaded Nova Escola's international partnership strategy, securing funding from DFID, Google.org, Imaginable Future, and others, enabling significant impact on 70% of Brazilian teachers and fostering key partnerships with cities and states.
  • In his previous roles, Emmanuel analyzed VC and philanthropical deals as an impact investor at Imaginable Future. At New Ventures Mexico, he established and implemented partnerships with the US State Department and the Swiss Development Cooperation supporting the growth and impact of large health, social, and environmental companies in LATAM.
  • Emmanuel's dedication to system change extends to volunteering at grassroots organizations, where he supports advocacy efforts for housing rights and food security and applies his skills to secure funding from partners such as UNICEF and Novo Nordisk.
Boukary Tapsoba
Senior Health Financing Technical Advisor
Boukary Tapsoba

Senior Health Financing Technical Advisor

Boukary TAPSOBA is an economist with a passion for public health, health systems economics,  human development and health systems financing in developing countries.

Mr. TAPSOBA holds a Master's degree in Economics, specializing in Macroeconomics and Development  Management from the University of Ouagadougou (BFA). He also holds a diploma in Hospital and Health  Services Administration from the National School of Public Health (BFA). He holds a certificate in Health  Systems Economics from the School of Public Health of the Free University of Brussels (Belgium), a  Master's degree in Applied Macroeconomics and International Finance (MAFI) from the University of  Ouagadougou (BFA) and a Master's degree in Public Health, Specialization in Quantitative and  Econometric Methods for Health Research (MQERS) from the University of Aix Marseille (France).

He first served as Monitoring and Evaluation Officer at the Directorate of Studies and Planning of the Ministry of Health of Burkina Faso.

He then worked at the Health Development Support Program for the implementation of Results-Based  Financing (RBF) in the health sector of Burkina Faso. He periodically analyzed the costs and budgetary  implications of the introduction of RBF, proposed institutional arrangements for the development of RBF,  and proposed approaches to promote RBF to stakeholders and partners.

He then joined the Directorate of Partnership for Health Financing where he was in charge of the  development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the national health financing strategy,  strategic purchasing and innovative health financing strategies.

Mr. TAPSOBA then joined the Royal Tropical Institute of the Netherlands as Technical Assistant, PBF  Expert at the central level of the Ministry of Health of Mauritania in the framework of the  accompaniment of this country for the implementation of PBF in health. He provided technical support  for the design, costing, coaching, training, monitoring and evaluation, and capitalization of the PBF pilot  project called "INAYA".

Currently, he has joined the Financing Alliance for Health as a Costing and Investment Associate for the  Francophone region. In this capacity, he assists the government in building a resilient and sustainably  funded health system.

Simon Kimura
Grants and Subcontracts Specialist
Simon Kimura

Grants and Subcontracts Specialist

  • Simon Kimura is a grant management professional with experience working in international development sectors such as health, agribusiness, renewable energy, adaptation to climate change, and financial inclusion.
  • Simon completed his undergraduate degree in Arts – Economics and Mathematics, Masters in Business Administration in Finance, is a Certified Public Accountant of Kenya and a PRINCE2 Certified Project Manager. He is currently pursuing a PMP certification.
  • He began his career as a Financial Accountant at Afrika Investment Bank. He later joined PricewaterhouseCoopers as a Grant Officer in the Total War Against HIV/AIDS Program. Simon supported the civil society organizations from contracting, disbursements, capacity building, report review, monitoring and evaluation to close out.
  • Simon later joined KPMG EA under the International Development Services as a Senior Associate in Grants management in the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund and later served as a Finance, Grant, Risk and Operations Manager in the Funds for Rural Prosperity among other programs. He supported end-to-end processes in grant management including evaluating applications, due diligence, contracting, grantee reports review, disbursements, monitoring and evaluation, and donor reporting. He was also a Project Manager to selected projects.
  • He then joined NIRAS Consulting, where he supported the set-up phase of the KIEP 250+ program.
  • Simon rejoined PricewaterhouseCoopers as a Manager and supported business development and management of programs and subcontractors.
  • He then rejoined KPMG to serve as a Grants and Portfolio Manager in the US$1.5B Mastercard Foundation and Africa CDC COVID-19 Saving Lives and Livelihoods Program.
  • He is passionate about social impact programs and now serves as the Grants and Subcontracts Specialist, where he reviews and analyzes grant applications, compiles and submits donor reports, manages contracts, and tracks the performance of sub awardees and subcontractors.
Wendy Wakhusama
Partnership and Grant Management Associate
Wendy Wakhusama

Partnership and Grant Management Associate

Wendy Wakhusama is a communication specialist with 12 years of experience spanning from Stakeholder Engagement, Resource Mobilization, Project Management, Event Management, and Media Relations. She has a proven track record in managing and maintaining relationships with a portfolio of clients ranging from the Private sector, Public Sector, and Non-Governmental organizations.  Wendy completed her undergraduate degree in International Relations with a minor in Management from United States International University Africa and currently undertaking her MA in Development Communications at Daystar University. In her career, she has worked for an array of clients having led invigorating, innovative communication & Partnership strategies for various brand identities to maximize their brand exposure. Clients she has worked for include - Beyond Zero – Kenya’s First Lady’s Half Marathon, Central Bank of Kenya, KenGen, Britam, Ministry of Public Service Youth and Gender Affairs, Kenya Tourism Board, UAP Old Mutual, Magical Kenya Open, AfDB, Google, Facebook, British Council, Segal Family Foundation, among others and has raised funds worth over USD 5 million.
Wendy recently worked at Co-Creation Hub – Africa’s largest innovation center dedicated to accelerating the application of social capital and technology for economic prosperity. She was the Partnership and Engagement Specialist where she successfully set up, operationalized, and led partnership efforts for an incubation and innovation center which was funded by African Development Bank (AfDB) worth USD 45 million.
She now serves as the Partnership and Grant Management Associate - CHU4UHC at Financing Alliance for Health. In her capacity, she will support identifying and building funding relationships with public (bilateral and multilateral) donors in Africa (in-country and regional missions) and lead the grants management process at the FAH. Her leadership approach is a combination of careful assessments, project management, maintaining and building stakeholder relationships, and driving impact in changing environments.  Her mantra is - If it is to be, It is up to me.

Rhoda Linda Adundo
Finance and Operations Associate
Rhoda Linda Adundo

Finance and Operations Associate

  • Rhoda Linda A. is an experienced development practitioner in Finance, operations, grants, and business development management. She possesses a profound understanding of donor-funded projects, international development, and a proven track record in promoting innovative solutions within an African context.
  • With an undergraduate degree in Business Management (Finance and Banking) and a Certified Public Accountant designation, Rhoda is currently pursuing a Project Management for Development Professionals (PMD Pro).
  • Rhoda began her professional career in the private sector then subsequently transitioned to the international non-governmental sector (INGO) namely ACDI/VOCA and Development Initiatives (DI). During her tenure, she held diverse roles within the Finance, Operations and Grants Department, demonstrating her versatility and expertise in this domain.
  • Prior to joining Financing Alliance for Health, she worked at Internews Network as a Regional Business Officer for Sub-Saharan Africa under the Program Management Unit. In her role she was instrumental in securing new projects as being the lead in budget development in (Madagascar, Kenya, Ethiopia, DRC, Liberia ,Tanzania, South Sudan), supporting project leads and field teams in project management, financial administration and management, compliance and sub-grant management.
  • She now serves as Finance and Operations associate at Financing Alliance for Health. Her duties include Financial Management, Grants Administration, Compliance and Audit and Operations. Outside of work Rhoda is passionate about creating a positive social impact. Her interests extend to exploring new cultures through travel, expanding her horizons through literature, and mastering the art of diverse cuisines.
Caroline Njuguna
Country Investment Associate
Caroline Njuguna

Country Investment Associate

  • Caroline Njuguna is an impact investment and development finance enthusiast who is passionate about driving innovative finance for impact. She has experience in investment and financial advisory, developing and implementing business development strategies, project management, stakeholder management and structuring blended finance initiatives.
  • After completing her degree in Economics from the University of Nairobi and CPA qualification, Caroline worked with KPMG East Africa in various capacities including as a Senior Tax Advisor, coupled by secondment stints at East African Breweries Limited and IBM East Africa. She successfully led overseeing tax compliance processes and operations as well as offering strategic tax planning and tax advisory services in mergers, acquisitions and reorganizations to various clients drawn from different sectors
  • Having developed a strong interest in transaction and investment advisory, she joined Deal Advisory at KPMG East Africa and worked as a Transaction Services Manager. She provided clients with a range of consultancy services including independent business reviews, feasibility studies, business valuation, financial and commercial due diligence, strategy as well as implementing development finance initiatives for development partners. One of her notable engagements includes successfully overseeing investment attraction in five municipalities for a UK Aid funded 5 year 70-million-pound blended finance initiative looking to develop sustainable urban economic development in 12 municipalities in Kenya. She was instrumental in the deal origination, structuring and negotiation coupled by facilitating financial agreements, between the British High Commission, private investors, county governments for purposes of setting-up of climate resilient value-chain and infrastructure projects.
  • Her experience spans across public and private sector, having advised county governments, private investors, development partners, third party financiers and corporations in a wide range of industries including healthcare, agriculture, consumer and industrial, telecommunications, financial, FMCG, energy and natural resources and retail industry.
  • She now serves as the Country Investment Associate where she engages with senior Ministry of Health and Ministry of Finance representatives in building resilient and sustainable finance health system.
  • During her free time, Caroline enjoys travelling, spending time with family and loves to host people over home-cooked meals, lots of laughter and board games.
Mukami Ireri
Proposal Writing Specialist
Mukami Ireri

Proposal Writing Specialist

  • Mukami completed her undergraduate degree in Business Management, and trainings in Leadership and has worked in Commercial Operations, Marketing and communications
  • Mukami served as the Commercial operations Manager at Pula Advisors Limited, an insuretech working to insure smallholder farmers globally. In that capacity, she facilitated the sales team in surpassing a significant revenue milestone of over 6 million USD in 2022. She was also responsible for managing all tendering and proposal writing activities within the commercial team.
Maya Hayakawa
Communications and Brand Specialist
Maya Hayakawa

Communications and Brand Specialist

  • Ms.Maya Hayakawa is a versatile and accomplished communications professional, Clinical Psychologist and Journalist, with over 12 years of experience, leveraging  strategic communications for impactful change.
  • Maya Hayakawa holds an undergraduate degree in Clinical Psychology, a Masters Degree in Clinical Psychology, and is currently pursuing her doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology.
  • She Began her career as a Program Coordinator at Nafisika Trust, a not-for-profit organisation striving to reduce recidivism rates among prisoners in Kenya.
  • Maya then served Mediamax one of the biggest media outlets in Kenya as a, News Presenter and Reporter. where she gave editorial direction in the coverage of a wide range of topics.
  • Maya Joined BBC as Senior Multimedia Broadcast Journalist and Lead Presenter, creating and contributing to the well known BBC Money Daily that covers the African continent..
  • As a freelance Public Relations and Communications Specialist /Consultant- since June 2014, Maya excelled in brand building, event organization, crisis management, and media relationships across diverse industries.s.
  • As Communications Director, Bridge International Academies, Maya Drove strategic internal/external communication strategies for Kenya & Uganda markets. Oversaw 112 schools, engaged in government relations, and managed crises.
  • Maya sits on the leadership of the Child Safeguarding Alliance of Kenya, and is a member of Media Council of Kenya (MCK), Foreign Press Association Africa (FPAA), Financial Journalists Society of Kenya (FJSK), Public Relations Society of Kenya (PRSK).
  • Maya has won two notable awards, Top 100 Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD) - 2021, and, Media Council of Kenya’s Annual Journalism Excellence Award - 2017.
  • Maya Hayakawa currently serves as the Communications and Brand Specialist at Financing Alliance for Health. In this role, she leads communication strategies, brand management, media initiatives, advocacy efforts, content development, and stakeholder engagement
Muyapekwa Amatende
Talent Acquisition & Retention Analyst
Muyapekwa Amatende

Talent Acquisition & Retention Analyst

  • Muyapekwa Amatende is an HR professional with over 9 years of invaluable experience in HR administration within the Humanitarian and NGO sector.
  • Muyapekwa holds a Bachelor of Arts in Development Studies and Public Administration and a Management Studies Diploma.
  • Muyapekwa possesses a comprehensive skill set including expertise in Recruitment, Performance Management, Employee Relations, Staff Training and Development, HR Policy Development and Implementation, HR Information Systems among other areas of specialization.
  • Previously, Muyapekwa has served as Human Resource Assistant at FHI 360 and Concern Worldwide, where she honed her expertise in HR practice.
  • She later worked with JSI Research and Training Institute as Human Resource Specialist, with her most recent role being Divisional Human Resource Manager at Right to Care in Zambia.
  • Muyapekwa continues to demonstrate commitment to advancing healthcare initiatives though the HR function. She joins Financing Alliance for Health as Talent Acquisition and Retention Analyst. Her duties include implementing the talent acquisition strategy, driving the recruitment process, implementing employee retention and engagement programs.
Silas Tuitoek
Finance and Operations Business Partner
Silas Tuitoek

Finance and Operations Business Partner

  • Silas Tuitoek is a seasoned professional in finance and administration with 15+ years’ experience in the UN System having worked for International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and International Labour Organization (ILO).
  • Mr. Tuitoek holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Mathematics from Egerton University, Masters in Economics (Finance and Economics) from Kenyatta University. He is also a Certified Accountant registered under the ICPAK and he has wide experience in several financial accounting packages (SAPS) & ERPs.
  • Prior to joining FAH, Silas served as the Senior Finance Officer at IPPF based in Nairobi and led the implementation of ERP system (NetSuite), Implemented and updated financial systems and procedures in line with IPPFAR finance policy and accounting practices. He led audit processes with external auditors, ensuring smooth audits and providing necessary documentation and management responses.
  • During free time, Silas loves reading the bible, motivational novels and listening to gospel songs. He is also a football fan and loves watching the EPL supporting team Arsenal.
June Musau
Country Engagement and Support Coordinator
June Musau

Country Engagement and Support Coordinator

June Mwende is a development and humanitarian worker with over 12 years work  experience working across public, private, NGOs and consulting at County, national, regional  and international levels. My goal is to work with communities towards improved livelihoods  and better health outcomes.

June has an undergraduate degree in education and is an MSc. Health Systems Management  candidate. June is also pursuing a Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification  course. She was in 2018/2019-2019/2020 appointed to the Nairobi City County (now Nairobi  Metropolitan Services) health sector Mid Term Expenditure Framework technical working  group, responsible for writing and reporting; an experience providing her the exposure into  health care financing. Briefly in 2018/2019 June was involved in providing technical input for  the Community Health Bill for Nairobi County.

June has grown in her career in health systems strengthening having served from junior to  mid-level and technical advisory roles. Organizations that June has worked for include: Care  International Kenya, World Food Programme, Merlin UK, Intrahealth International, The  Fred Hollows Foundation and IMA World Health.

June was recently awarded a fellowship position with the Financing Alliance for Health as a  fellow in health financing for community health based in Kenya. Her role will be working in  close collaboration with County governments to develop and cost community health  strategies, resource mapping and mobilization and stakeholder coordination and  management for community health.

Dr. Désiré Néboua
Country Engagement and Health Financing Specialist
Dr. Désiré Néboua

Country Engagement and Health Financing Specialist

  • Dr. Désiré Néboua is a physician specialized in International public health with extensive experiences in medical & humanitarian NGO, several consulting experiences on various health issues (HIV/AIDS, family planning, International Health Regulations IHR 2005, etc.).
  • His is also graduated in Diplomacy & International Relations with many certificates: Health diplomacy, humanitarian diplomacy, Health economics in developing countries focusing on strengthening health systems, Health monitoring and evaluation in a dynamic context.
  • Désiré began his professional career as a study physician in an international clinical Trial in Prevention Mother-to-child HIV transmission. In 2014, he started his international career in Guinea With Solthis as medical & scientific coordinator as medical and scientific coordinator in charge of supporting HIV national programme by strengthening the capacities of health workers and developing national guidelines. In 2017, he joined the ALIMA NGO (The Alliance for International Medical Action) in Guinea mission and at its HQ in Senegal. From September 2019 to January 2023, with ALIMA, he was the regional medical coordinator of AIRE project, a multicounty project (Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, and Niger) aims at improving child under 5 years ‘ health by introducing pulse oximeters in primary health centres, with a perspective of scaling up . In addition to coordinating the implementation of the project's medical strategy, He was deeply involved in supporting the four countries in developing their project transition and scaling-up plans, disseminating the project's research results, advocating for the adoption of pulse oximetry in IMCI. He is very familiar with working in collaboration with Ministries of Health, technical partners, civil society, and donors.
  • Désiré is an expert of health diplomacy. He is working to get diplomatic actions more involved in health issues. He is the co-funder and coordinator of GRADES (Groupe de Recherche et d’Action en Diplomatie et Santé) which mission is to promote health diplomacy as a key instrument for tackling current and future health challenges.
  • He is a Fellow of the prestigious Kofi Annan Global Health Leadership Programme, second cohort, organized but Africa Union & Africa CDC, May 2022 to June 2023
Pierre-Marie DOGBRE
C.E Health Financing specialist francophone Africa
Pierre-Marie DOGBRE

C.E Health Financing specialist francophone Africa

  • Pierre-Marie is a financial professional with a background in project management and strategy who believe that effective public finance management is the key to achieve sustainable goals in Africa. Before joining FAH, Pierre-Marie worked for several years in the private sector (mining, oil & gas, communications, etc.) in purely financial positions, then in the development sector in NGOs, including consultancy assignments. Previously Multi-Country Technical Advisor on Public Investment in Children at Save The Children International (SCI), Pierre-Marie was responsible for providing leadership on thematic activities and project implementation, as well as on donor engagement and resource mobilization.
  • He has accompanied SCI in several budget analysis initiatives at country and local levels in Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso, to advocate with the authorities for a better allocation of public resources in favor of children in the social sectors (education, health, social protection, WASH and child protection).
  • Prior to this experience, he also served the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) as a Health Financing Senior Associate/Coordinator, based in Senegal, then in Burkina Faso, with occasional support in Benin and in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). There, he supported ministries of health in the development and digitization of their dynamic wide-sector resource mapping initiatives, as well as in improving their public financial management at the peripheral level and enhancing their operational planning and budgeting processes.
  • Pierre-Marie has joined FAH as a Country Engagement Health Financing Specialist for Francophone Africa countries, where he will provide ministries of Health with support and advisory in the effective delivery of their community health Financing goals. In his spare time, Pierre-Marie enjoys spending time with his family, playing basketball and traveling.
  • He holds a master's degree in finance from the Centre Africain d'Etudes Supérieures en Gestion (CESAG), as well as several executive programs & certifications, including a certification in Strategy from HEC Paris, in Financial Modeling from the Corporate Finance Institute (CFI), in Public Finance Management from ACCA, in Public Policy Analysis from the London school of Economics and political science (LSE) and a PMP (Project Management Professional) from Project Management institute.
Roman Mukendi
Country Engagement & Health Financing Specialist
Roman Mukendi

Country Engagement & Health Financing Specialist

  • Roman is an international development expert with experience garnered from working for local and global NGOs in the areas of health systems strengthening, policy advocacy, capacity building, business development, Global Fund support, and project cycle management.
  • Roman possesses’ an undergraduate degree in economics and finance, an MA in Global Public Policy, and another MA in Media Studies. He previously served as Country Lead for Abt Associates overseeing an FCDO flagship program on NTDs called ASCEND and as Country Representative for Broadreach Healthcare managing a USAID-funded Leadership and Management program targeting health professionals in the Zambian health sector. He also served as the Regional Technical Hub Manager for East and Southern Africa for the Frontline Aids among other portfolios. Roman has also delivered several consultancies for a wide range of international NGOs such as PACT, Oxfam, African Constituency Bureau for the Global Fund, ChildFund, the National Democratic Institute, Aidspan, SAfAIDS, etc.
  • Roman has joined FAH as a Country Engagement & Health Financing Specialist. His main role will be to co-design country engagement strategies and program implementation approaches for the various phases of the AFF, whilst overseeing and coordinating the day-to-day roll-out to a portfolio of participating AFF countries. He will support country implementing partners by providing technical advice, guidance, oversight, and monitoring of activities, etc.
  • In his free time, Roman loves to cook, read books, travel, hang out with friends, exercise, and spend time with his family.
Rebecca Thomas
AFF – Scaling Mechanism Analyst
Rebecca Thomas

AFF – Scaling Mechanism Analyst

  • Rebecca Thomas is a seasoned public health expert dedicated to enhancing healthcare access, affordability, quality, and equity across emerging and frontier markets. She holds an MBA in Health Sector Management and an MPH from Boston University, specializing in Global Health Program Monitoring and Evaluation.

 

  • Rebecca started her career at ViMedicus, managing programs to improve chronic care outcomes for low-income communities in the US Midwest. She then continued her career in Bogotá, Colombia, where she designed and developed a social innovation hub at Juan N. Corpas University, collaborating with medical students and public health researchers to build business plans for novel health solutions to serve underserved communities.

 

  • She then worked as a Technical Consultant for the Social Innovation in Health Initiative’s Latin America and Caribbean Hub, selecting top social healthcare innovations and creating sustainability plans for novel healthcare models. She continued on to serve Movement Health Foundation, where she ran diligence on 400+ ventures focused on health systems strengthening in emerging markets and co-developed a financial sustainability plan for the organization.

 

  • She then joined Baraka Impact Finance as Senior Consultant for Health Impact, where she conducted due diligence on growth-stage healthcare entrepreneurs across Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Latin America, presented to a broad investment network, and authored reports on healthcare trends in the Global South.

 

  • In parallel, she has led discussions on healthcare leadership, entrepreneurship and healthcare solution implementation as a Subject Matter Expert and Program Leader for over 150 international executives monthly , supporting academic programs at Columbia Business School, Harvard Medical School, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, and Emory Goizueta Business School.

 

  • Rebecca Thomas now serves on the Scaling Mechanism team at Africa Frontline First, where she is responsible for developing and refining a collective financing approach for community health, managing in-country projects, cultivating partnerships, and supporting country-specific engagement and investment cases.

 

  • https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-m-thomas/
Lucy Muriithi
Health Financing Technical Advisor
Lucy Muriithi

Health Financing Technical Advisor

Lucy Muriithi is a Health Economist with experience working NGOs, she has a great passion  to contribute to Africa’s dream of universal health coverage to improve the quality of live of  all people. 

Lucy completed her undergraduate degree in Health Services management from Kenyatta  University and her Masters degree in Health Economics and Policy from the university of  Nairobi. 

Lucy previously worked as a programs coordinator with Freedom from Fistula Foundation  where she lead the programs team to see the successful repair of 300 women suffering from  obstetric Fistula. She also worked with the Kenyan counties to create partnerships and to  train the Community Health Workers on fistula management. 

Later Lucy joined UNICEF ESAR office as a health economics and financing Intern where  she supported the health financing team to cost programs, carry out resource mapping  and conduct bottleneck analysis across the Eastern and southern Africa region. 

Lucy later worked as consultant with the UNICEF office where in a team of 3 they conducted a Human resources for health analysis in Tanzania to identify the current existing gap in the HRH and cost models that could be used to bridge the gap. 

Lucy is a great advocate of women and girls health and education. She was humbled to  receive the Young African Leadership Initiative fellowship for her exemplary work in  supporting women receive medical treatment for obstetric fistula in her community . 

In her free time, Lucy enjoys mentoring young girls, reading, traveling and spending time  with her family. 

Dorothy Mwengei
Health Financing Technical Advisor
Dorothy Mwengei

Health Financing Technical Advisor

Dorothy Wavinya Mwengei has extensive experience in healthcare financing in Kenya for health programs that have made positive contributions in strengthening health systems and improving better access to quality health services in collaboration with both national ministry of health and county departments of health. 

Dorothy holds a diploma in clinical medicine and surgery, degree in social sciences and currently in pursuit of masters in development studies and has served as a clinician and in health financing project design, implementation and monitoring and evaluation. 

Dorothy has served as a Field project manager working for PricewaterhouseCoopers Reproductive Health Output Based Aid Approach voucher project in Kisumu, Vihiga, Uasin Gishu and Kericho counties . She supervised 89 health facilities and 2100 community Health Volunteers in partnership with ministry of health, participated in community and facility health systems quality assurance, accreditation in collaboration with NHIF and Ministry of  Health, medical claims processing. 

Dorothy also served as a field project manager PwC/ UNICEF Performance Based Financing and Demand Side Financing in Homabay and Turkana counties, respectively . 

She then joined Save the Children International/USAID in Kitui county, where she worked as  Community Service delivery technical officer ,she supported the county in addressing the gaps in PATUMA community and Kitui County Health Insurance model , capacity build Community Health Volunteers on community kangaroo mother care, ICCM and Family Planning commodity  distribution at community level. She also has experience in implementing Community Health  Volunteers performance Based stipend in Meru county funded by DFID/Child International . 

Dorothy was engaged by PricewaterhouseCoopers in designing and costing analysis for Health  for All Kenyans' project in Kwale county 

She is passionate about connecting public health finances to improve quality service  delivery, especially as the world discusses the implementation of universal health coverage 

Jemuge Kandie
Health Financing Technical Advisor
Jemuge Kandie

Health Financing Technical Advisor

  • Jemuge Kandie is a passionate change agent and health systems specialist with many years of experience in the industry. Her distinguished career is marked by her leadership in high-impact transformative projects and her ability to forge strong, collaborative relationships with national and sub-national governments. Through these efforts, she has significantly contributed to the strengthening of health systems and the delivery of high-quality healthcare in Kenya.
  • She completed her diploma in Clinical Medicine, community Health and Surgery, undergraduate degree in Health Systems Management, Master of Science Public Health. She has served as a clinician, researcher, leader, faculty member and technical expert
  • Early Career, Jemuge served as a research Assistant at USAMRU Kenya-The Walter Reed Project involved in malaria vaccine studies for both children and adults.
  • For over a 15 years, she did full time teaching at Lake Institute of Tropical Medicine, Kenya Methodist University and parttime at Meru university of Science and Technology. She educated and mentored the next generation of healthcare professionals, leaving a lasting impact on the academic and practical aspects of health systems management and clinical medicine.
  • Jemuge Joined ThinkWell and grew to the position of Technical Advisor and has proven track record in leading; health projects, policy reforms, design and implementation of result-based financing and strengthening health systems through strategic collaborations with governments.
  • As a leader, she also transformed KEMU SACCO where she served as a Director and Hon. Secretary to the Executive and Management Committee (2017-2021).
  • She now serves as a Health Financing Technical Advisor at Financing Alliance focusing on improving community health systems and financing in Kenya. Working closely with the Ministry of Health and other key stakeholders, she is providing technical expertise and strategic guidance in the execution of the strategic Initiative priorities and activities.
Dr.Thierry Salumu
Health Financing Technical Advisor
Dr.Thierry Salumu

Health Financing Technical Advisor

  • Dr Thierry Salumu, is a medical doctor and Public Health Specialist (MD, MPH), who has dedicated 16 years of his life to public health in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Uganda, including 10 years as a Field office Director (FOD), Technical Advisor and capacity building Specialist for USAID-funded projects. He has developed, managed, implemented, and advised numerous successful health programs in DRC, Rwanda, and for the last ten years in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
  • Dr. Thierry Salumu has demonstrated his expertise in successfully starting up and implementing reproductive, maternal, neonatal and child health projects in complex, unstable environments, and in the development of effective national health strategies and policies for FP/RH, MNCH; nutrition; malaria; TB; HIV/AIDS,PBF(Performance based on financing) and WASH.
  • Dr. Thierry Salumu has been responsible for providing overall technical direction and for achieving project results in addition to taking the lead in engaging with Ministry of Health and Provincial government leadership, USAID. He has also been responsible for producing project deliverables on time and within the approved budget, complying with regulations, and safeguarding and reporting on the use of resources.
  • Dr. THIERRY SALUMU has built and maintained strong teams and relationships with numerous stakeholders, serving as Field office Director and regional coordinator for Management Sciences for Health, Abt associates(in the USAID Integrated health projects) in the DRC.
  • He has demonstrated his capacity to work at the policy and implementation levels, representing projects at regional, provincial and local levels, including engaging the Ministry of Health (MOH), donors, US cooperating agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the field and private voluntary organizations to achieve the USAID strategic objective of strengthening the capacity of Congolese institutions and communities to deliver quality, integrated health services to sustainably improve the health status of Congolese citizens.
  • He left his position as Central Africa Regional Director to join FAH as Health Financing Technical Advisor in Senegal.
Joseph Chiluba
Health Financing Technical Advisor- Zambia
Joseph Chiluba

Health Financing Technical Advisor- Zambia

  • Joseph is a Public Health Expert, Lecturer, Public Health and Social Policy Analyst, Governance Consultant, Social Researcher, Civil Society Practitioner, Youth and Gender Advocate,  by profession who has a rare privilege of having worked in the NGO sector at management and board levels respectively.
  • Joseph completed his undergraduate degree in Public Health, a Master’s in „ project Management, Post Graduate Diploma Health Systems Strengthening  leadership & Management, Advanced Diploma in Social Work,  Project Management Project-DPro Practioner.
  • Joseph worked with Abt. Associates, as Family Planning and Adolescent Health Capacity Strengthening Advisor and also Health Systems strengthening Specialist ,leading 200 multidisplinary team in 7 provinces in Provision of Technical Assistance in Planning, Coordination, Monitoring, Mentorship , capacity building, community health Planning and systems strengthening.
  • Joseph worked with Clinton Health Access initiative as Senior Program officer( SRMNH , Pediatric and Adolescent HIV) working across program areas in providing Technical Assistance to MOH in Health Financing, stakeholders engagement, policy coordination and planning.
  • Joseph served Jhpiego as Technical Lead- Health Systems Strengthening working across programs to facilitate Strengthened health systems at national and sub-national levels for effective RMNCAH/WASH service delivery through provision of Technical Assistance MOH in Planning and resource allocation, Performance Assessment, Service Quality Assessment, HMIS, Performance reviews, Community Health Systems strengthening and adaptive management and Learning.
  • Joseph was humbled to receive the Abt Associate (2015) and the Center for global Health Partnership Award-Mixed team  (2022) award in recognition of his exemplary leadership within the Health Programming and accomplishments above and beyond expected duties.
Pascal Birindabagabo
Health Financing Technical Advisor - Central Africa Republic
Pascal Birindabagabo

Health Financing Technical Advisor - Central Africa Republic

  • Pascal Birindabagabo is a seasoned Health Economist with almost 15 years of experience in Public Health Policy and Health System Strengthening with specific focus in Health Financing, Health Planning and Domestic Resource mobilization at various levels including continental, regional, national and decentralized levels.
  • He has been instrumental in providing capacity building to enhance efficient use of resources in the health sector, and equity in the use of the scarce resource to optimize value for money.
  • Pascal has been a free-lance consultant in various area of health system strengthening where he provided technical support to international organizations including the African Union Commission as a Senior Public Health Specialist focusing on developing Domestic Health Financing.
  • Prior to join the African Union Commission, He serves as Health Financing Specialist, Health Insurance policy Expert and District Health Advisor in charge of strengthening decentralized healthcare, work force capacity in health planning, health facilities financial management, as well as, advised districts on implementation of health-related policies, namely the Community Based Health Insurance (CBHI) and Performance-Based Financing and how to create fiscal space for health at local level.
  • Pascals long-standing experience in the health sector ranges from the implementation of Community Based Health Insurance, Performance Based Financing, developing and implementing Health Sector Policies and Planning, strengthening health system with emphasis in Public Financial Management, Healthcare planning, Human Resource for Health Management both at central and decentralized level, Healthcare Resource Mobilization, Social Protection and Community Welfare.
  • He a candidate for an MPH with specialization in health economics from the University of Cape town and Global Network for Health Equity (GNHE) Alumni.
  • Pascal joins the Financing Alliance for Health as Health Financing Technical Advisor for the Central Africa Republic.
Dr. NJI Valery CHE
Health Financing Technical Advisor – Sierra Leone
Dr. NJI Valery CHE

Health Financing Technical Advisor – Sierra Leone

  • Dr. NJI Valery CHE is a Senior Public Health Financing Advisor, with over 14 years of experience working in the fields of Health Financing, Results-Based Financing, strategic purchasing and Health System Strengthening. He has performed direct service for health ministries, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, public and private settings, nongovernmental organizations international, National and Local at levels.
  • Valery holds a PhD in Public Health, Master’s Degree in Public Health and Bachelors of Science degree in Nursing.
  • In one of the multimillion-dollar World Bank-funded programs in Cameroon and Nigeria, Valery participated in the design and implementation of performance-Based Financing(PBF) and has extensive expertise executing Health Financing initiatives.
  • In the implementation of PBF in Cameroon, Valery designed Community Performance-Based Financing initiative with the use of Community Health Workers serving in the communities to improve access and utilization of quality health care services. The results of the pilot informed decision and recommendations were made by the World Bank for a scale up of Community Performance-Based Financing to the entire country.
  • He has served in the domains of f Maternal and Child Health, Immunization, Malaria, HIV/AIDS, Nutrition, Diarrhea, Pneumonia, Non-Communicable disease (diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension), and family planning.
  • While in Nigeria, Valery participated actively in curriculum development and facilitation of a one year Fellowship program in Result-Based Financing aimed at transferring competencies to Nigerian Nationals. This fellowship was quite successful and served as a best practice.
  • Valery served as a Short Term Consultant to the World Bank, supporting the Myanmar UNOPS Access to Health Team in the design, costing and implementation of Strategic Purchasing.
  • Currently, Valery has been recruited as a Health Financing Technical Advisor with Financing Alliance for Health to serve in Sierra Leone.
Shivani Shukla
Country Investment and Knowledge Analyst
Shivani Shukla

Country Investment and Knowledge Analyst

I hold a Master's in Health and International Development (Applied Development Economics) from LSE, with a background in healthcare, international development and economics. Collaborating with organizations like Karnataka Health Promotions Trust and Enzia Ventures, I've driven various impactful initiatives.

During the pandemic, I led research on digital health technologies with HITLAB and Columbia Business School and developed training material for Front Line Workers in Bihar, India, gaining insights into healthcare complexities. In my postgraduate studies, I led a research study for the United Nations ESCAP, addressing birth registration inequalities in Asia and the Pacific. My master's thesis focused on the impact of reduced health aid on low-income countries, demonstrating how economic analysis can help address real-world challenges.

I then earned the LGT Impact fellowship and now as part of the Country Investment and Knowledge team at the Financing Alliance for Health (FAH), contribute to shaping innovative financing mechanisms and enhancing governmental capacities, reflecting my commitment to sustainable impact.

Joyce Wanjeri
Project Officer
Joyce Wanjeri

Project Officer

  • Joyce Wanjeri is an accomplished and creative programmes specialist with demonstrated experience in project design, implementation and monitoring, project-team steering and coordination, internal business partner engagement, client engagement, financial analysis and budgeting. She has demonstrated 10 years’ experience working in social ventures, NGOs, banking, and media sectors.
  • Joyce completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Nairobi with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Economics. She holds a certification in programme management from PRINCE2 Foundation and Practitioner and also certifications in accountancy, finance and business from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).
  • She has designed and managed user-centered, multi-donor, social and behaviour change programs focused on improving the lives of young people in Tanzania and Kenya by addressing access and uptake of health products and services.
  • She also specializes in business partnerships and relationships with management experience in building and nurturing strong partnerships with private and public sector players and managing donor relations.
  • Most recently, Joyce has served in roles leading and coordinating strategy development, strategy implementation, monitoring and evaluation for health programs through media education and community engagement campaigns that inspire and encourage young people - strategies & campaigns that combine empathy, insight & creativity to create long-term changes in individual agency as well as supporting new health attitudes & behaviours. She was also responsible for developing deep strategic relationships with last-mile partners including public health experts, medical professionals and digital health experts.
  • She now supports the Country Investment and Knowledge team in the co-designing, deploying, and impact tracking of financing solutions with a focus on African Frontline First Initiative.

 

 

Bildad Mwanga
Community Health Financing Officer, AFF
Bildad Mwanga

Community Health Financing Officer, AFF

Bildad is Development professional with over 11 years of experience in public health sector having worked under various public health programs funded by  donors and development partners such as USAID, Global Fund, FCDO, BMGF, Rockefeller Foundation, among others.

Bildad trained in Economics and Mathematics at the University of Nairobi at undergraduate level and at the same period, Bildad qualified as Certified Public Accountant of Kenya (CPAK). Bildad is a holder of Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Level 2 qualification obtained from the CFA Institute, USA.

After five year working in public health sector in Finance, Accounting and Grants management,  Bildad developed interest and passion in Health Financing, Health Economics and policy and decided to better his skill set and knowledge in this space. He successfully studied MSc in Health Economics and Policy. Currently, Bildad is finalizing his second masters Degree in Economics at the University of Nairobi.

Bildad has previously worked with AMREF, PATH, IMA World Health, PSI, KPMG and recently with Africa Public Health Foundation (APHF), an independent Foundation of Africa CDC, where he served as Grants and Impact Management Lead.

 

 

 

Dr. Thenjiwe Sisimayi
Gender Advisor
Dr. Thenjiwe Sisimayi

Gender Advisor

  • Dr. Thenjiwe Sisimayi is a Public Health (Community Health & Epidemiology) and Gender Equality Specialist, with expertise in working across the public health, social protection, human development sector (NGOs), and academia in systems strengthening, stakeholder coordination, research and capacity building towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and a Gender Just Society.
  • Thenjiwe completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology, Masters in Clinical Epidemiology and PhD in Public Health specializing in Community Health Education. She has served as development consultant/expert providing advisory and technical assistance and leadership in multi-sectorial response to gender inequality, access and utilization of health and social services, and empowerment of women and girls in East and Southern Africa Region.
  • Thenjiwe served United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Zimbabwe Country Office as a Gender Equality Consultant where she developed the National Gender Equality Strategy and its, Investment Case, and a Resource Mobilization Concept Note. She also led multiple gender and health program developments and evaluations for the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UNWomen) and the World Health Organization (WHO) through partner coordination, alignment to government priorities and sustainable development goals (SDG3 – Health for All) and (SDG5 - Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls), strategic planning, resource mobilization, and joint accountability.
  • Thenjiwe joined the SARDC where she headed the Beyond Inequalities Institute as a Gender Program Manager spearheading the gender equality and women’s empowerment projects covering 16 SADC Countries. She contributed to multiple Research, Gender and Policy Analysis at SADC Regional level and providing management and operational oversight in the Gender Strategy Implementation resulting in the publication of the Biennial SADC Gender and Development Monitor.

Dr Thenjiwe now serves as  Gender Advisor of the Financing Alliance for Health. Her key roles include providing expert advice and guidance on how integrating CHWs into health systems can be done in a more gender responsive way, Capacity strengthening, mentorship of FAH team and promoting organizational change efforts to promote a culture and systems that help advance gender equality.

Cecilia Mwangi
Project Officer - Operations
Cecilia Mwangi

Project Officer - Operations

  • Cecilia Mwangi is a finance enthusiast with 6+ experience in managing accounting and finances for donor funded projects in INGOs.
  • Cecilia is experienced in projects budgetary control, implementation of Internal controls, compliance reporting, cash and treasury operations management for donor funded projects.
  • Cecilia completed her undergraduate degree in International Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from the United States International University Africa and is a Certified Public Accounts Finalist.
  • Cecilia has worked for Intrahealth International as a payroll and finance accountant managing a payroll of over 680 health workers under the Capacity Bridge Project. She has worked for Chemonics International as an accountant under the Afya Ugavi Activity.
  • Her most recent employer being the KEMRI– Wellcome Trust Research Programme where she worked as an assistant accountant in payables and grant management.
  • She’s not only passionate about numbers but also work-flow efficiency.
  • She now joins Financing Alliance for Health as a Health Financing Fellow in Finance and Administration.
Sheillah Mugire
Project Assistant - Logistics and Operations
Sheillah Mugire

Project Assistant - Logistics and Operations

  • Sheillah Mugire is a public/social sector passionate with almost 10 years working with corporate investment institutions, private pension funds, international and  local NGOs specifically in health sector, women and youth empowerment as well as early childhood development where she worked on different roles evolving office management, executive assistance, projects - operations management as well as handling procurement and logistics of big organization.
  • Sheillah’s career journey started in 2013 where she worked at a local NGO called “Strive foundation Rwanda” with a mandate to empower women and advocate for vulnerable children. Sheilla specifically performed administration assistance roles together with operations assistance in the foundation’s projects where her contribution left indelible mark in lives of young family headed children  she supported, through her friendly character, empathetic personality, love for children and passion to advocate for people in critical conditions.
  • Later she joined “Axis pensions limited” in 2017 where she performed office management role with other responsibilities including logistics and procurement that contributed to a successful start-up private pension company in Rwanda.
  • Later in 2019 she joined the Rwandan souverain wealth fund “Agaciro Development Fund” on the role of Executive Assistant and Customer Relations where her high standard professionalism in assisting high level executives and managing customer relations of over 40 subsidiary investment portfolio companies of the fund was demonstrated as strength of excellence.
  • In the beginning of 2023, she got to join “The Commons Project Foundation” an American NGO in digital-health sector with a pan African project named “Health in your hands” funded by Mastercard Foundation with mandate to create jobs for African youth and changing lives of health workers, digitalizing & decentralizing all medical data in the hands of the patients. Sheillah worked as Virtual Assistant - Operations and Logistics Manager on the program. Sheillah’s innovative ideas in  project’s road map and her diplomatic negotiation skills in engaging public sector and private stake holders into the mission  were influential in achieving successful project cocreation.
  • She possesses a Bachelor Degree in Diplomacy & International Relations, a background that influences her diverse management skills , and the motivation behind her purpose driven spirit and  attention to detail. Her passion is to turn the world into a better place with open inclusion for all.
  • She’s currently pursuing her master’s degree in development Studies, she’s bilingual speaking of both French and English, a Rwandese by origine and Ugandan by birth.

Fellows

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Sa’id Gaya
Senior Health Financing Fellow
Sa’id Gaya

Senior Health Financing Fellow

  • Dr. Sa’id Gaya is a public health and health economics enthusiast with experience working in humanitarian, clinical and development contexts within Nigeria to improve access to primary healthcare for women and children.
  • Sa’id completed his undergraduate degree in Medicine, Masters in Health Policy, Planning and Financing and a Fellowship in Public Policy from the Young African Leaders’ Initiative at the Ghana Institute of Public Administration and has since worked in health programs within Nigeria.
  • Sa’id served UNICEF as Maternal Newborn and Child Health Consultant in Borno state, northeast Nigeria to deliver life saving primary health interventions to over 40,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
  • He supported the Kebbi state government, in northwest Nigeria, on a USAID project to adopt and operationalize key health policies – including the Primary Healthcare Under One Roof Policy and the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund – aimed at strengthening primary healthcare.
  • Sa’id also worked in a clinical role at the National Health Service at the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trusts, London, United Kingdom.
  • Given his leadership track record, Sa’id was awarded the Chevening Scholarship funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in the United Kingdom to study at the London School of Economics in 2020.
  • Sa’id is very passionate about shaping the future of health on the African continent and ensuring that countries move closer towards universal health coverage.
Tidah Adhiambo
Senior Fellow, Partnerships & Grants Management
Tidah Adhiambo

Senior Fellow, Partnerships & Grants Management

  • Tidah is a development professional with five years of experience in the non-profit sector. She holds a BSc in Microbiology & Biotechnology from the University of Nairobi and is currently pursuing an MBA in Strategic Management from the same institution.
  • She joins the Financing Alliance for Health from the African Leadership Group (ALG) where she served in the Partnerships and Fundraising Team. As a Senior Associate, Tidah managed and stewarded the Mastercard Foundation Partnership at the Group ensuring timely reporting, bespoke engagements, and optimal grant execution. In addition to stewarding the Mastercard Foundation partnership, she led various new business initiatives securing funding (restricted & unrestricted) to support various programs within the Group toward Health and Conservation training, internships, and general operating support.
  • Prior to the Senior Associate role, Tidah served as an Associate through which she displayed exceptional proficiency in donor relationship management producing high-quality external communication materials, including newsletters, annual reports, and organization-wide reports, while meeting stakeholder expectations.
  • Tidah also served as a Consultant for Daughters of Kenya (DoK), a nonprofit empowering young women through education and entrepreneurship. In this capacity, she project-managed the development and launch of DoK's 2021-2026 Strategic Plan, secured substantial grant funding, and conducted a capacity assessment proposing a restructure of the organization's Social Enterprise Initiative that has gone to benefit numerous low-income young women.
  • With a diverse skill set encompassing project management, fundraising, donor relationship and partnership management, strategic planning, strategic communications, and business analysis, Tidah continues to make significant contributions to the organizations and projects she collaborates with. She strives to continue brokering optimal and impactful partnerships where they are most needed.
Joseph Gakoi Kuria
Senior Fellow – Country Investment and Knowledge
Joseph Gakoi Kuria

Senior Fellow – Country Investment and Knowledge

Joseph Gakoi Kuria is a Finance and Administration specialist with a strong interest in community empowerment and development programs, and data- driven solutions for impact. He is passionate about Financial Planning and Analysis, and risk management. Joseph graduated top of his class from Kenyatta University with a First Class honors degree in Actuarial Science in 2019. He has certifications in Financial Modelling and Valuation Analysis, and Business Intelligence and Reporting (IBM). As a volunteer at Progress for Communities Foundation in Thika, Joseph participated in design and implementation of social impact projects, community and resource mobilization, and Monitoring and evaluation (2018-2020). He joined Cytonn Investments in Feb 2021 as an intern in the Finance and Administration department. He was then appointed an assistant in the same department in May 2021 and later promoted to the Finance and Administration Lead at the firm's hospitality division, CySuites Apartment Hotel. In this role, he was in charge of financial and management accounting, budgeting, audit compliance, cost control and inventory management. Joseph volunteers as a temporary consultant in the Finance, Risk and Compliance department assisting in preparation of financials, FP&A and risk assessments at Dukatech Solutions Limited – a Fintech startup specializing in BNPL products and Digital Lending for SMEs and, low and middle income households. Joseph served as the President of the Actuarial Society of Kenyatta University (ASKU) and was recognized for his outstanding, people-centered leadership during his tenure. He is currently a 2022 McKinsey Youth Forward Program learner focusing on leadership, business, and digital skills.

Akeyo Joanne Rose
IT & Operations Fellow
Akeyo Joanne Rose

IT & Operations Fellow

  • Ms. Akeyo Joanne Rose is a seasoned IT support engineer with broad experience in financial services, government and manufacturing organizations. She has provided 1st and 2nd level technical support to users, set up and maintained workstations for staff and customized software for organizational needs leading to enhanced productivity of users.
  • Joanne attained her undergraduate degree in Software Engineering from the University of Eastern Africa, Baraton. She also has certifications in Financial Modeling and Valuation Analysis, Project Management and Project Monitoring and Evaluation.
  • She has worked at EABL as an Early Careers Digital and Technology Intern where she received training on providing timely resolution of IT related incidents, installation and configuration of software, hardware and networks. She later transitioned to Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) where she served as a data governance intern.
  • Most recently, she served as a Helpdesk Support Analyst at Trans Business Machines (TBM) seconded to Stanbic Bank Kenya. Her role included identifying, diagnosing and resolving Tier I and Tier II issues in computer hardware and software, set up and configuration of workstations for staff and offering them basic IT training. She was also in charge of preparation and maintenance of the IT asset inventory of the Bank.
  • She now serves as the IT & Operations Fellow at Financing Alliance for Health. This role entails provision of technical support and management of IT systems, troubleshooting technical issues, managing the inventory of all IT assets, coordinating repair and replacement of faulty hardware, assisting in travel arrangements, logistics and procurement and supporting IT projects and ensuring the efficient use of IT systems to advance the organization’s mission.
Mrs. Wang Xinxi (Cici)
Investment Fellow
Mrs. Wang Xinxi (Cici)

Investment Fellow

  • Mrs. Wang Xinxi (Cici) is a development economics professional with experience covering international organizations, consultancy, think tanks, NGOs and media. Her interests lie at the intersection of economic growth, sustainable development and social innovation of emerging economies.
  • Cici completed her Master’s degree in Public Policy (with concentration in Economic Policy) from National University of Singapore. She also has exchange or fellowship experience in South Africa, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.
  • Before joining FAH, Cici worked with the World Bank as an urban economist consultant under Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience Global Practice, conducting socio-economic impact evaluation and technical analysis on relevant projects covering APAC.
  • Cici has also provided business and economic advisory service to a wide range of public and private sector clients, including several Asian national and regional governments, Asian Development Bank, European Commission, Microsoft, Discovery, Hong Kong International Airport, and Hyperloop.
  • Cici has a particular interest in Africa’s innovation landscape – she hosts an Apple-awarded Chinese podcast, featuring the latest socio-economic development and entrepreneurship trend in emerging economies including Africa. She also helps an Africa-focused early-stage venture capital with marketing and communications in China.
  • Cici sits at the Global Impact Advisory Council of World Economic Forum Global Shaper Community, supporting the development of strong hub projects with measurable impact. She is also a founding team member of a leading climate change NGO in China.
Jasmin Higo
Senior Health Financing Fellow
Jasmin Higo

Senior Health Financing Fellow

  • Jasmin Higo is an economist with experience spanning the private sector, multilateral organizations, consulting, NGOs, and academia across various regions.
  • Jasmin holds a MPA from Cornell University in Economic and Financial Policy and completed her undergraduate degree in Business Administration in Germany.
  • As a Consultant at the World Bank, she conducted impact evaluations of digital agriculture projects, and developed the prototype of a digital agriculture advisory facility.
  • Jasmin worked with the NGO Catholic Relief Services in Ethiopia and Malawi and led post-distribution monitoring for governmental assistance programs. She co-developed a comprehensive dashboard, and actively engaged with government stakeholders in Malawi, informing them about the impactful interventions of the organization.
  • Jasmin joined the technology firm SIEMENS as a trainee, and then as an analyst, where she developed and managed a financial reporting system, and worked on the firm’s global sustainability strategy in Germany and Canada.
  • Through her involvement with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in co-authoring a UN Agency report on agrifood systems technologies and leading a team of three researchers in data cleaning, analysis, and visualization, she developed a deep understanding of technology-driven innovations.
  • Jasmin was invited to present her research on poverty and food insecurity monitoring at the Africa Global Health Conference at Harvard University in 2023.
  • Jasmin's remarkable achievements in public service have been acknowledged through various scholarships and fellowships, including the prestigious Fulbright scholarship and esteemed WISE fellowship.
  • She possesses advanced proficiency in technical skills such as STATA, ArcGIS Pro, SQL, and Access. Additionally, she is fluent in German, English, proficient in French, and has intermediate knowledge of Arabic, and Spanish.
Shelby Wailes
Senior Fellow
Shelby Wailes

Senior Fellow

Shelby Wailes is passionate about navigating the intersection of the private and public sector to create positive societal impact. She has experience consulting large corporations, national and local governments and non-profits across areas including health, workforce development, and sanitation.

At Duke University, Shelby majored in Public Policy to learn how governments improve lives for citizens. She paired this major with a Certificate in Innovation and Entrepreneurship to learn how the private sector can also make positive change, particularly through social entrepreneurship.

Shelby joined McKinsey & Company’s San Francisco office in 2017 as a Business Analyst. She consulted on nine projects including negotiations capacity building, cost reduction, mergers and acquisitions, and revenue increase studies.

After a year and half in San Francisco, Shelby was then accepted into McKinsey’s Australia Public Sector Hub as a Senior Public Sector Analyst. There, Shelby was awarded Most Outstanding Client and Team Experience Leader out of 500+ colleagues in Australian and New Zealand. She defined new business model to meet the reskilling needs of the future education market by modelling the potential market, conducting competitor analysis and building go-to-market strategy. She also consulted the national government on crisis response, including for bushfires and COVID.

Shelby then joined the Mayor of Freetown’s Delivery Unit in Sierra Leone as a Policy Advisor. She advised the Mayor on sanitation decisions, including recycling strategy and dumpsite management. She also led the project management for Freetown’s first marathon.

After, Shelby spent 6 months as a McKinsey Fellow for Feeding America. She managed the implementation of workforce development pilots at 8 food banks and re-designed knowledge management. 

Now Shelby serves as a Senior Fellow for Financing Alliance for Health. Her duties include project managing the set up the Africa Frontline First Initiative, a collaboration initiative that supports the scaling and strengthening of integrated and sustainable community health delivery in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Sylvia Owuor
Senior Fellow
Sylvia Owuor

Senior Fellow

Sylvia Owuor is an enthusiastic finance professional with a love for numbers; she is a  dedicated and highly adaptable Finance & Administration Expert with over 10 years of  experience providing comprehensive administrative and operational financial management  support. 

Sylvia has a Bachelor of Commerce(Accounting Option) Degree and is currently pursuing  Section 4 of her Certified Public Accountant(CPA) qualification. 

Sylvia served as the Finance and Administration Coordinator at Kituo Cha Sheria; the  oldest legal aid and access to justice organization in Kenya. 

She has working experience in finance strategy development & implementation, internal  controls enhancement, budgeting & cost management, relationship management,  reconciliations, annual statutory audits, monitoring & evaluation and financial analysis &  reporting. 

Sylvia now serves as the Operations and Impact Fellow-Finance at Financing Alliance for  Health. Her duties include budgeting, donor compliance & reporting, annual statutory  audits and operations & administrative support. 

Linda Simiyu
Fellow
Linda Simiyu

Fellow

Serena Sonderegger
Fellow
Serena Sonderegger

Fellow

Briony Pasipanodya
Fellow
Briony Pasipanodya

Fellow

Dr. Tseday Zerayacob
Fellow
Dr. Tseday Zerayacob

Fellow

Dr. Mwenda Nicholas Mwikairi
Fellow
Dr. Mwenda Nicholas Mwikairi

Fellow

Minnie Jang
Fellow
Minnie Jang

Fellow

Jessica Cook
Fellow
Jessica Cook

Fellow

Dolly Michira
Fellow
Dolly Michira

Fellow

Dr. Uju Mabel Onyes
Fellow
Dr. Uju Mabel Onyes

Fellow

Emily Gruber
Fellow
Emily Gruber

Fellow

Dr. Francis Ayomoh
Fellow
Dr. Francis Ayomoh

Fellow

Emily Plumley
Fellow
Emily Plumley

Fellow

Shalen De Silva
Fellow
Shalen De Silva

Fellow

Nicolas Luzarraga
Fellow
Nicolas Luzarraga

Fellow

Dr. Pragati Jaiswal
Fellow
Dr. Pragati Jaiswal

Fellow

Stephen Nabinger
Fellow
Stephen Nabinger

Fellow

Avery Plough
Fellow
Avery Plough

Fellow

Haroun Habib
Fellow
Haroun Habib

Fellow

Gita Ramamurti
Fellow
Gita Ramamurti

Fellow

Dr. Victoria Bakare
Fellow
Dr. Victoria Bakare

Fellow

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