Evans George Onyiego

Accomplished and values-driven Development, Peacebuilding, and Humanitarian professional with over 20 years of strategic leadership experience across fragile and conflict-affected contexts in East Africa. I bring a proven track record in designing and delivering transformative, community-centered programs in resilience, governance, conflict transformation, and humanitarian response. In my last assignment, I served as Partnerships and Networks Coordination Lead under USAID’s Resilience Learning Activity. I have successfully directed multisectoral initiatives across Kenya, Somalia, and the Horn of Africa—demonstrating strong capabilities in adaptive management, systems thinking, and evidence-based learning. My leadership is grounded in inclusivity, integrity, and impact. As Field Director for the USAID Nawiri Program under Mercy Corps, I led a high-performing team of over 100 staff and 270 community volunteers to implement a complex, multi-million-dollar, multisectoral initiative to sustainably reduce persistent acute malnutrition in Northern Kenya. My leadership was instrumental in managing a broad and ambitious program portfolio that integrated nutrition, health, WASH, food security, livelihoods, and systems strengthening in a complex setting. Over two years, I spearheaded an intensive research and learning phase to uncover chronic malnutrition's root causes across 14 key thematic areas. This included deep engagement with communities, local governments, and technical partners to identify malnutrition's social, economic, environmental, and systemic drivers. I coordinated qualitative and quantitative studies, stakeholder consultations, and participatory assessments that provided a holistic understanding of nutrition vulnerabilities in arid and semi-arid areas. Using this evidence base, I led the design of an innovative, locally contextualized, multisectoral program strategy to close critical nutrition gaps. This included interventions across household income, maternal and child health, gender dynamics, food systems, and governance structures. My leadership ensured that the program aligned with USAID guidelines while being rooted in community needs and systems resilience. This experience sharpened my ability to lead large-scale, evidence-driven programs in challenging contexts, while building strategic partnerships and ensuring program quality, accountability, and systemic change.