Janet Chihanga, District Manager
Janet is responsible for the bulk of KOMAZA's administrative work in Kilifi district and serves as proxy director of KOMAZA Kenya in the Executive Director's absence. Janet has played a major role in establishing KOMAZA from its first days in Kenya. Janet brings an extensive background in non-profit administration with her to KOMAZA. Her knowledge of local infrastructure, resources, and cultures is invaluable, and her ability to navigate government bureaucracy borders on awe-inspiring. In addition to her role with KOMAZA, Janet is currently serving as the Vice-Chair of the Kilifi Sema Group, a grassroots district-wide organization working to bridge non-profit organizations with appropriate interested local communities. Janet is also enrolled in courses on accounting and community development.
Gibson Mwarumba, Field Manager
Gibson works with KOMAZA as a Field Manager for our tree farming project. He is responsible for overseeing the KOMAZA demonstration tree farm and he works with our field staff to execute new plantings on community farms. As a certified agriculturalist, Gibson brings years of farming experience and his bright green thumb to our team. Gibson is currently enrolled in a course on project management for community development.
Kennedy M'baraka, Field Manager
Kennedy joined KOMAZA in 2006 and is currently serving as a Field Manager. Like Gibson, his responsibilities include oversight of the KOMAZA demonstration tree farm and coordination of new community plantings with KOMAZA field staff. He has worked as a supervisor on Kenya's National Youth Service Farm and managed his own successful independent farm business. Kennedy also has experience in engineering and has received training in business management.
Seth Blumberg, Project Associate
Seth graduated from Princeton University with a B.A. in mathematics and certificates from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, the Program in African Studies and the Program in Applied and Computational Mathematics. For his senior thesis in public policy, he worked with Innovations for Poverty Action in Ghana to study the barriers to finance in informal markets, interviewing street vendors, bankers, and shopkeepers about rental and financing arrangements for durable goods. At Princeton, Seth was active in Model United Nations, chairing committees on topics ranging from imperial Japan to the Horn of Africa. He also studied abroad at the University of Cape Town in South Africa.
Eric Kouskalis, Project Associate
Eric joined KOMAZA's team of project associates as a Harvard University Richardson Fellow. He brings with him substantial experience in other parts of Africa, which include work on international development projects in Namibia as well as field research in South Africa. Most recently, Eric served as Assistant Field Director for the WorldTeach volunteer organization in Namibia. Eric is a graduate of Harvard University with a B.A. degree in sociology and economics, which was awarded with highest honors in those fields.
