WOLDE WESA

1. Strategic Policy & Governance Alignment

• Institutionalize conservancy-level by-laws that align with the Marsabit County DRM Bill and Food Security & Nutrition Policy, ensuring a seamless legal framework from the grassroots to the County Executive.
• Act as the Senior Liaison between MAWICA, the National Government, County Government and none state agencies to harmonize rangeland management with the County food security targets.

2. Climate-Smart Livelihoods & Nature-Based Solutions (NbS)

• Scale up Triple-Win interventions (Apiculture, Climate Smart Agriculture and Nature Conservation) that provide immediate household income, long-term climate adaptation and biodiversity conservation.
• Design the Beneficiary Transitioning pathway for conservancy members, moving households from aid-dependency to market-integrated livelihoods through youth and women-led community structures.
• Oversee the establishment of Climate-Smart Agriculture and Bee Management hubs in Shurr and Logologo as centers of excellence for ASAL resilience.

3. Anticipatory Action & Emergency Preparedness

• Utilize rangeland health data and wildlife migration patterns as "Early Warning" indicators for drought, integrating these into the County Anticipatory Action (AA) Protocol.
• Design the re-positioning of resilience assets through creation and maintenance of community assets (water pans, honey processing plants and hay stores) as "cushions" against climate-induced shocks.

4. Strategic Partnership & Resource Mobilization

• Mobilize Domestic Resource streams by advocating for the integration of conservancy rangeland management into the County and National budgets.

1. Resource Mobilization & Leadership (TWG Chair)

• Spearheaded the establishment and strategic direction of the Resource Mobilization Technical Working Group (TWG) as Pioneer Chair, creating a unified architecture for multi-sectoral funding at the County level.

• Engineered a streamlined coordination framework under the Marsabit County steering Group (CSG), reducing duplicative efforts and increasing the efficiency of stakeholder/donor engagement.

• Cultivated and managed a high-value portfolio of stakeholder relationships, transforming fragmented plans and funding streams into a cohesive investment strategy for county resilience.

2. Crisis Response & Drought Appeals (Marsabit County)

• Orchestrated the design and launch of high-priority humanitarian appeals in response to the historic Marsabit drought emergency of 2021-2023, securing food items and essential supplies from various actors.

• Coordinated rapid-response logistics and stakeholder mapping and targeting using the WFP criterion that ensured collective emergency resources reached the most vulnerable last-mile communities.

3. Strategic Project Design (Netherlands Embassy/Lake Turkana)

• Marsabit County focal person for the Strategic Architect for the Netherlands Embassy project on the Sustainable Economic Exploitation of Lake Turkana Fisheries, focusing on long-term blue economy growth and food security.

• Facilitated mobilization and partook in several multi-stakeholder design process that balanced commercial viability, environmental sustainability, County Government and community buy-in securing investment for lake Turkana fisheries value chain economic transformation.

• Led several scoping missions together with; WFP, Netherlands Embassy and UNESCO to Identify and mitigate key value-chain bottlenecks, positioning the Lake Turkana fishery sector as a primary driver of sustainable livelihoods for pastoralist communities on the Eastern shores of lake Turkana and beyond.

1. High-Level Diplomacy & Senior Government Engagement

• Served as the primary County Government focal point for National Government and the non-state actors (WFP, WHH, UNESCO, UNICEF, ILRI, FAO, IGAD etc.), transforming fragmented NGO projects into a unified, government-led development portfolio.

• Leveraged diplomatic tact to navigate complex inter-agency dynamics, ensuring that humanitarian interventions respected local governance structures while meeting international standards.

2. Led the conceptualization, drafting, and successful passage of a comprehensive suite of legislative instruments designed to anchor food security and resilience into Marsabit county law supported by WFP that included;

• The Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Bill Transitioned the county from reactive crisis management to a proactive, legislated DRM framework.

• The Food Security and Nutrition Policy & ECDE Meals Bill Established the legal basis for school-based nutrition, ensuring sustainable funding for child health.

• Sustainable Food Systems Strategy & Food Safety and quality Strategy Designed the roadmap for long-term food sovereignty, integrating safety standards and market-led production.

• Beneficiary Transitioning Strategy to strengthened county-level feedback mechanisms for social safety nets and to provide a clear, policy-driven pathway for households to move from humanitarian assistance to self-reliance and economic graduation.
• Trade and Investment Policy to cultivate a one-Government approach to trade and investment by aligning local economic growth with food value chains like the; Livestock, Honey, Gum and Resins, Blue Economy of Lake Turkana etc.

3. Spearheaded a historic fiscal milestone by mobilizing the County Assembly Budget Committee to integrate and ring-fence a dedicated budget line of Ksh 40 million (USD 310,000) for Nutrition for the first time in Marsabit County’s history, ensuring the sustainability of nutrition related health interventions beyond donor funding.

4. Strategic Project Design (Netherlands Embassy/Lake Turkana)

• Served as Marsabit County focal person for the Netherlands Embassy project on the Sustainable Economic Exploitation of Lake Turkana Fisheries, focusing on long-term blue economy growth and food security.

• Facilitated and partook in several multi-stakeholder design process (In Loiyangalani, Marsabit and Nairobi) that balanced commercial viability, environmental sustainability, County Government and community buy-in securing investment for lake Turkana fisheries value chain economic transformation.

• Led several scoping missions between 2023-2024 together with WFP, Netherlands Embassy and UNESCO to Identify and mitigate key value-chain bottlenecks, positioning the Lake Turkana fishery sector as a primary driver of sustainable livelihoods for pastoralist communities.

5. Pioneering Anticipatory Action (AA) Leadership

• Member of the National multi-agency technical working group that developed the Kenya Anticipatory Action Roadmap (2024-2029) launched in August of 2024, setting the strategic trajectory for the Country’s proactive disaster risk management.

• Served as the Founding Chair of the AA Technical Working Group in Marsabit County, navigating complex political landscapes to position AA as a central pillar of resilience, institutionalizing AA within the County Steering Group (CSG) framework to move beyond ad-hoc interventions.

• Technical Advisory & Mentorship for non-state actors in Marsabit County (WFP, WHH, WVK, PACIDA), steering the design and validation of Early Action Protocols (EAPs) for drought/flood hazards.

• Standardization of the AA methodologies across the partners in Marsabit county for interoperability with National framework and Successfully integrated AA triggers into existing disaster management structures, ensuring alignment between NGO-led EAPs and government contingency plans.

• Partnership Management by navigated complex organizational mandates to create a unified County wide Early Action Protocol, resulting in a cohesive response strategy across the Government and NGO sector.

• Capacity Strengthening by facilitating technical workshops for various partners like; World Food programme, Welthungerhilfe, World vision Kenya and community members in elevating the local standards for data-driven hazard monitoring and reporting.

1. Gender-Responsive Budget Engagement

• Championed Gender-Responsive Budgeting at the National level, ensuring that the budget allocation specifically targeted the unique physiological and economic needs of women and adolescent girls.

2. Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) & Youth/Women Engagement

• Designed inclusive governance models for Nature-Based Solutions, engaging youth Green Brigades in range rehabilitation and women’s groups in sustainable non-timber forest product value chains, blending ecological science with social equity.

• Architected the Social Accountability monitors for the devolved fund, empowering community groups to track budget utilization, ensuring the integrity of the public goods and services dispensed.

• Integrating Governance & Fair trade principles into the sustainable exploitation of livelihood sector, establishing youth and women-led cooperatives with robust internal accountability structures.

3. Policy Advocacy

• Co-designed and implemented national-level advocacy to integrate agro-ecology principles into the National and County level Agricultural frameworks, influencing resource allocation for small-holder farmers.

4. Government Engagement

• Advocated together with other actors for the operationalization of the National Peace building Architecture, leading to the formal recognition of traditional justice systems in resolving land-tenure disputes

• Orchestrated a national coalition that successfully lobbied for the adoption of community-led nature conservation models within the; The community Lans Act of 2016, The Wildlife conservation and Management Act of 2013, The Forest Conservation and Management Act of 2016 and The National Wildlife Strategy 20230

• Agro-ecology & Sustainability Led the design and execution of agro-ecology transition programs, training lead farmers in sustainable land management (SLM) and nature-based solutions (NbS)
• M&E and Compliance Oversaw the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of Last Mile engagement initiatives, ensuring 100% compliance with donor environmental safeguards and social inclusion standards

• Conflict-Sensitive Project Design Managed a portfolio of peace building initiatives, implementing 'Do No Harm' assessments that mitigated risks in the allocation of shared natural resources in coast region.
• Designed and rolled out training modules in collaboration with peace actors for local Early Warning and Early Response (EWER) systems to detect and de-escalate tensions before they turn violent
• Facilitated cross-functional collaboration to improve project outcomes and stakeholder engagement.
• Developed and implemented policies that streamlined operational processes across departments.
• Mentored team members, fostering professional growth and improving overall performance.

• Last Mile Engagement Coordinated regional 'Last Mile' delivery of governance training to community-based organizations in; Coast, North Eastern and Upper Eastern Region empowering them to participate in local climate budget planning.

• Local Governance Strengthened the capacity of Districts/Provincial administration officials and other stakeholders to implement natural resource management (NRM) by-laws, reducing resource-based conflicts.

• Natural Resource Governance Established and mentored Community Peace Committees to manage shared water points and grazing lands to successfully negotiate local peace accords during the drought cycles.

• Conflict Resolution Facilitated mediated dialogues between pastoralist and agrarian communities in the Tana Delta of Tana River.

• Community Development Supervised the regional deployment of youth-led Peace Caravans, utilizing indigenous knowledge and local governance structures to promote social cohesion in hard-to-reach sub-counties of the North Eastern Region.