Dr. Nelly Yatich, Epidemiologist

Dr. Nelly Yatich earned a Doctoral Degree in Epidemiology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2008. She has extensive experience and practical skills in Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance (including in a pandemic context), after working as a Senior Epidemiologist at the Alabama Department of Public Health during the outbreak of the Swine Flu. She has also taken part in enhancing and strengthening African cross-country and cross-institutional collaboration through regional coordination of activities for the prevention and control of both human and animal (zoonotic) diseases under the “One Health” Initiative, an initiative of the Rockefeller Foundation. Furthermore, she has overseen the collaboration between the human health sector and the wildlife sector in West Africa for routine epidemiologic surveillance for Marburg and Ebola viruses a USAID-funded program. She is an expert in Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E), Clinical Trials, Program Design and Implementation, as well as Capacity Building.
She previously worked as Kenya Country Director at the University of Washington, and as Director Monitoring, Evaluation, Surveillance and Research, FHI 360, USA. She is a member of the American Public Health Association, International Society for Infectious Diseases, Global Health Council, and Phi Beta Delta Honor Society for International Scholars and the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health.

Queen Faith Katembu-Gender Advisor - COVID-19 Response and Emergency Health 

Queen Faith Katembu has, a Masters of Arts in Rural Sociology and Community Development from University of Nairobi (2006), Bachelor of Arts in Gender and Development from Institute of African Studies, UON, Diploma in Social work and social Development, UON and two years training in Business administration and management from Kenya Institute of Management. She has been seconded by UNFPA to the Council of Governors (CoG) to advice on mainstreaming gender issues/multi-sectoral GBV/FGM prevention and response strategies in order to adequately cover women and girls’ needs. Before joining the Council of Governors, she worked with UN Women Kenya Country Office as the Team Lead for Women Economic Empowerment with a focus on Climate-Smart Agriculture up to July 2019 after which she took a contract break.
Prior to joining UN Women on 16th July 2018, she had worked with Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for 6 years on supporting the integration of gender in policy advocacy, nutrition, natural resources and Lands initiative, climate change initiatives, crops production, livestock including fisheries. She has worked in various other international organizations which includes World Vision International, ActionAid International, Uraia and carried out several consultancies on gender mainstreaming. She has a wealth of experience in Gender and governance, coordination of GBV prevention and response in emergencies, gender capacity development in various sectors, policy advocacy and dialogue, Programme design, implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation.

Ms. Joyce Momanyi  - Head of the COVID 19 Secretariat

Ms. Joyce Momanyi is a Public health professional with lots of experience in the public health Arena. She has B.A in Health Administration & Policy from the University of Maryland (USA) and an MPH (Masters Of Public Health) from Kaplan University. She has worked in both USA & Kenya, designing, coordinating and overseeing public health programs. Her experience spans from working with the underserved in the District Of Columbia (Washington DC) to Kisii County, where she’s worked in different capacities.
Her positions in the US included being a coordinator of the Community Initiatives in the underserved communities of Washington DC, where she worked on prevention and management of chronic diseases. Her other position was that of project manager for the mobile clinics- taking health services to the community of both the uninsured and underinsured.
Ms. Momanyi also worked as the HIV program Manager at United Medical Center (hospital), (formerly DC general hospital), when the HIV/AIDS pandemic was at its peak and, the District of Columbia was among the leading in the United States in both incidence/prevalence. She provided direction, management and overall leadership for HASTA programs (HIV/AIDS STD, TB Administration) program. In the position of the HIV Prevention Program Manager Ms. Momanyi was responsible for the development, oversight, implementation, evaluation and continuous improvement of the HIV/STD and Hepatitis C prevention and screening programs for the 8 wards of Washington DC. In addition to the AIDS Action Committee (“AAC”) that are primarily directed to gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men and transgender persons. Ms. Momanyi was also part of the Case Management Operations Committee (CMOC) for HIV/AIDS, TB, and STD for the District of Columbia (Washington DC), a committee that oversees the case management for the HIV/AIDS population in the District of Columbia.
Before being seconded to lead COVID-19 at the COG, Ms. Momanyi has been working for the County Government of Kisii in different departments in the capacity of a Director.

Felix Murira
Team Leader in Public Health and eclectic development

Felix Murira is a seasoned Team Leader in Public Health and eclectic development. For 11 years, he has led bold, innovative, gender-responsive, multipronged and results-based Public Health programs at community, service delivery, technical assistance and policy fronts targeting underserved, vulnerable and special populations. He is well versed in institutional capacity strengthening, technical support to government and growing organizations as well as partnerships building. Felix holds a Bachelor of Science degree in public health (Hons), a diploma in psychology and a Master of Science degree in epidemiology.
At ThinkWell, Felix works as a Senior Program Analyst supporting Strategic Purchasing for Primary Health and health financing within the public health service delivery sphere as an important catalytic tool to achieving universal health coverage in Kenya.

Dr. Shem Yator Kiptoon - Public Health Expert

Dr. Shem Yator Kiptoon is Medical Doctor by training whose area of specialization is in Public Health, a graduate of the University of Nairobi (MBChB, 1998) and University of Edinburgh (MSC-PH, 2003). He has been working with the World Health Organization (WHO) since 2008 dealing with disease surveillance focusing on vaccine-preventable diseases, vaccination & immunization programmes and polio eradication. Prior to that, he worked with the Ministry of Health at various levels from clinical medical work in hospitals, health service management and as a program officer at the national level dealing with policy formulation and implementation. Outside his professional work, he enjoys the outdoors, hiking, trail running, traveling & sightseeing and mountain climbing

Boniface Mbuthia - Public Finance Management, Thinkwell Global

Boniface Mbuthia is a healthcare financing specialist with vast experience in the Public and Private health sectors. He has played a key role in strengthening health systems at the National and Sub-National level set in the last 20 years. Some of the programs that he has worked in include a) Strategic Purchasing for Primary Healthcare (SP4PHC) implemented by Thinkwell Global and funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) currently being implemented in Kilifi, Makueni and Isiolo, b) Planning Budgeting Monitoring and Reporting (PBMR) that is funded by the Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) that is jointly administered by the World-Bank and Mannio-Danniels to support County Governments Departments of Health to capacity towards improving their role in implementing Public Finance Management Act (2012) and the RMNCAH investment case, c) Maternal and New-born Improvement (MANI) implemented in Bungoma, Kakamega, Homabay, Garissa and Turkana through Options Consultancy and funded by Department for International Development (DFID), d) Reproductive Health Output-Based Approach (RH-OBA) funded by the German Development Bank (KfW) and implemented by PricewaterhouseCoopers. e) AAR health services in managing health schemes in the private health sector.

Pauline Maingi - Programme Policy Officer WFP

Pauline Maingi holds a degree in Land Economics from the University of Nairobi. At WFP, Pauline works as a Programme Policy Officer responsible for ensuring a clear and strong connection between WFP Nairobi and the field offices based in different Counties in Kenya. She provides advice and ensures activities being implemented are consistent with WFP policies and are coherent across different strategic outcomes. She has extensive experience in the areas of strategic and operational planning, coordination, communication, and reporting on food security matters. Prior to joining WFP, she briefly worked for CitiBank in E-Banking support and was a junior researcher for the UN-Habitat. She has been seconded to the CoG secretariat by the World Food Programme (WFP), to support the agriculture and trade committees.

Allan Kute - Food & Nutrition Security Analyst

Allan Kute heads the Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (VAM) team at the World Food Programme. He has 22 years of experience in the coordination of Food and Nutrition Security Analysis. He co-chairs the Kenya Food Security Steering Group (KFSSG) that is chaired by the Government and is tasked with ensuring the flow of all food security information in the Country and providing technical advice and guidance on food and nutrition security to the Government partners, donors, partners and stakeholders. The KFSSG oversees the bi-annual food and nutrition seasonal assessments. He also supports capacity strengthening in the field of food security sectors of Agriculture and Livestock, Markets, Water, Health and Nutrition. Currently, he is providing technical support to the Agriculture and Trade Committee of the Council of Governors in relation to the COVID-19 response and recovery efforts.

Stephen Osingo - Knowledge Management Expert

Stephen Osingo holds a Professional Master’s Degree in Geo-information Science and Earth Observation, ICT Netherlands; BSC Degree in Natural Resources Management, Egerton University; and has undertaken part of MSC Degree in Entrepreneurship at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT). With a full understanding of devolution, he effectively integrates scientific knowledge and governance and makes the messages and knowledge products relevant for Counties to apply in improving delivery of devolved functions.
In his prior assignment, Stephen was a Manager at Maarifa Centre, at the Council of Governors - the knowledge sharing and learning platform that captures lessons and experiences from the 47 Count Governments. Maarifa Centre was established to effect the Council’s mandate on sharing information on the performance of Counties in execution of their functions with the objective of learning and promotion of best practice. Stephen provided leadership to COG Sector Committees in promoting two key aspects of knowledge management, i.e., gathering credible data and factual evidence from research, surveys, assessments and pilots and secondly, promoting sharing of experiences, lessons (including lessons from failure), best practices and innovations among Counties. He also supported in resource mobilization and engagement of partners for technical and logistical support to COG knowledge sharing initiatives.

Catherine Wanjihia- Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Expert

Catherine Wanjihia has more than 16 years of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) experience. She has a first-class honors degree in Civil Engineering, and a Masters’ in Development Studies. Recently Catherine completed nine-year contract with Caritas Switzerland as their Senior WASH Expert. She has extensive experience in hygiene and sanitation promotion both in community and school settings, making use of her knowledge of Community Led Total Sanitation, and Participatory Hygiene and Sanitation Training. She brings solid experience of information management, analysis of qualitative and quantitative data, and documenting best practices and experiences through preparation of fact sheets, videos, manuals to capture strategic lessons learned. She has worked in collaboration with the Water Services Regulatory Board and County Governments in the development, piloting and scaling-up the Integrity Management toolbox for small-scale water supplies. Catherine has taken on a leading role in emergency response planning and coordination of emergency WASH response activities in several countries in the Horn of Africa and beyond (Ethiopia, Somaliland, Nepal, Burkina Faso, South Sudan, Uganda, Ghana, and Mozambique).

Laura Chao - WASH Governance Advisor

Laura Chao has a Master of Arts in Poverty and Development from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex (UK), Bachelor of Commerce Double Major – Business Administration and Marketing (Daystar University) and two years Training in Human Resource Management at the Kenya Institute of Management (KIM) . She currently delivers the coordination function for USAID - the Chair of the Water and Sanitation (WATSAN) Donor Group and the Agriculture and Rural Development (ARD) Donor Group. She joins the Council of Governors (CoG) Covid-19 Secretariat as a WASH Governance Advisor supported by the USAID WASHFIN Programme. She will strengthen WASH interventions by the Tourism and Natural Resources Management Committee of the Council of Governors specifically to facilitate the sustainability of the Water Service Providers (WSPs) in view of current emergencies.
Prior to this current assignment, Laura has served in various capacities for over 15 years gaining development and governance experience and establishing key networks in public and private sector institutions including Embassy of Sweden, USAID - Kenya Integrated Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (KIWASH) Programme, USAID - Financial Inclusion for Micro-Enterprises (FIRM), Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MoAL) Agriculture Sector Coordination Unit (ASCU), USAID – Africa Lead, IEBC, Nation Media Group and approximately 25 foreign missions working in the WASH and Agriculture Sectors in Kenya. She served the Council of Governors Secretariat (Resource Mobilization, Gender and Agriculture Committees) and she has also been the Project Manager for USAID – Safe Coast Programme strengthening governance in ten (10) Institutions within the six (6) coastal counties in Kenya. Her experience includes policy, governance, social protection, power and social change.

Currently, she is consulting for the State Department for Housing and Urban Development on safeguards in the Affordable Housing Program and Kenya Urban Support Program in Kenya.
In her previous engagements, Dr. Oyake-Ombis was until July 2016 the Chief Officer for Environment & Forestry at Nairobi City County where she was providing leadership and policy direction in environmental services including solid waste management, urban greenery and aesthetics, steering the City’s agenda for environmental monitoring, compliance and enforcement.
Dr. Oyake-Ombis besides being an authority in solid waste management through her PhD research (Managing Plastic Waste in Urban Kenya: Niche Innovations in Production and Recycling) (2008-2012) that was obtained from Wageningen University, the Netherlands, has developed waste management and faecal sludge management training manuals, conducted several trainings and solid waste management assessments as a consultant for the UN-Habitat in several towns of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. In addition, she has conducted a number of assessments of other developments on environment, socio and economic domains. Dr. Oyake-Ombis is a Ford Foundation Fellow and it is through the International Fellowship Programme of the Foundation that she obtained her PhD. Besides, she also obtained a World Bank Scholarship for her Masters of Science Degree in water pollution focusing on rivers traversing the City of Nairobi.
Dr. Oyake-Ombis has severally been a guest speaker on forums of sanitation and waste management in African cities, Universities and schools. She is a registered lead environmental impact assessment and audit expert registered with the National Environment Management Authority of Kenya. Recently, she developed training manuals on sanitation and solid waste for the city of Monrovia-Liberia