About Us

The Wangari Maathai Foundation is a non-for-profit organisation dedicated to championing the legacy of Wangari Muta Maathai and developing courageous and responsible leadership amongst children and youth.

 

The Foundation invests in Kenya’s future leaders building character, and personal leadership towards achieving a more fair society. Through dialogue and partnerships with a broad range of actors, we work to build social and emotional competencies, empower self development and engender collective action in the next generation. Driving people to take action and solve problems in their own communities, passing on Wangari’s spirit.

Our Vision

The vision of the Wangari Maathai Foundation is a world in which individuals acknowledge their capacity to be a force for positive transformation, like Wangari Maathai. The Foundation seeks to amplify Professor Maathai’s message by supporting ideas and initiatives that demonstrate that each of us, no matter how small, can make a difference.

Our Team

Elizabeth Wathuti

HEAD OF CAMPAIGNS & DAIMA CONSORTIUM COORDINATOR

Elizabeth Wathuti is a celebrated 24 years old environmentalist and climate activist. She is the fourth recipient of Wangari Maathai Scholarship Award and founder of Green Generation Initiative (GGI). She is a member of The Greenbelt Movement, board member of the Elephant Neighbors Center and a youth council member of the International Reserva: The Youth Land Trust. Elizabeth is also a UN young champion of the earth and a commonwealth youth awards finalist. She raises environmental awareness through her social media platforms and has showcased her climate action solutions in over 10 high level international conferences such as; Global Landscapes Forum in Germany, 12th International seminar on sustainable regions in Spain and also the UNFCCC resilient frontiers conference in Songdo, South Korea.

Irene Kerubo

PROGRAM MANAGER

Irene Kerubo is an administrative and new media young professional with seven years of professional experience in NGO and private sector management. Irene is currently the Program Officer for the Wangari Maathai Foundation.

Mercy Otieno

COMMUNICATIONS

Mercy Otieno is part of the communication team at the Wangari Maathai Foundation. She holds a degree in BAs. in public relations from Daystar University. She has worked before with Philip Ennis Production, a production company based in the U.S as a script producer.

Our Board

Wanjira Mathai

CHAIRPERSON

Wanjira Mathai is Vice president and Regional Director for Africa at the World Resources Institute. Previously served as Sr. Partnership Advisor, Strategy and Advocacy at wPOWER – Partnership on Women’s Entrepreneurship in Renewables and WRI’s Senior Advisor to the Global Restoration Initiative. She is the current chairperson of the Wangari Maathai Foundation and the former Chairperson of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya. She sits on the Boards of the Wangari Maathai Institute, and the World Agroforestry Agency (ICRAF). She is an advisory council member of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, co-chair of the Global Restoration Council, and a member of the Earth Charter International Council. Honored to be one of a few Six Seconds EQ Practitioners in Kenya and was one of the 100 Most Influential Africans in 2018. She holds degrees from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health and Goizueta School of Business.

Atieno Odhiambo

TECHNICAL LEAD FOR AFRICA FOR THE CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

Atieno is the Technical Lead for the Centre for Reproductive Rights. She was previously the Chief of Party (Kenya) for Public International Law & Policy Group (PILPG) a global pro bono law firm that that provides legal assistance to states, governments and civil society organizations.  Before taking up her position at PILPG, Atieno worked for the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Kenya.  Prior to joining the Supreme Court of Kenya, Atieno worked on immigrant and human rights issues in Washington State at Microsoft Corporation, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and Columbia Legal Services.  Atieno received her undergraduate degree in History from Rice University in Houston, Texas and her law degree from Tulane University School of Law in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Samburu Wa-Shiko

FOUNDER & CEO OF FANAKA CONSULTING AND NAIROBI-BASED SENIOR ADVISOR TO THE BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION

Samburu is the founder & CEO of Fanaka Consulting and Nairobi-based Senior Advisor to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He has worked at the World Economic Forum (Geneva) & with multiple United Nations agencies – including UNHCR (Geneva & Chad), UN Department of Political Affairs (New York) and UN Human Rights Office (Geneva). Additionally, he has cutting-edge private sector consulting and NGO experience spanning across 15 countries in Europe, North America and Africa. He is an Africa expert with strong corporate social investing, (CSI), public health, and government relations experience, having lived and worked in Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, Chad, Nigeria and Senegal. Samburu speaks English, French and Swahili fluently, and possesses highly polished communication and facilitation skills. He is the Founder & CEO of Fanaka Consulting, and a Nairobi-based Senior Advisor to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Sheila Kahaki Muindi

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF DAYKIO PLANTATIONS LTD

Sheila Kahaki Muindi is the Executive Director of Daykio Plantations Ltd, a real estate firm in Nairobi. Prior to joining Daykio, Kahaki worked with Family Bank Ltd in the Human Resources Department as a Senior Human Resources Officer in charge of Staff Benefits. Kahaki is a Hotelier by profession, having undertaken a Bachelors of Business Administration with a focus in Hospitality at the Les Roches International School of Management, Switzerland. Kahaki worked in the Hotel industry for 5 years in both Switzerland and Florida USA. Kahaki is an Alumni of the Fast Forward Leadership Class (2013) with Sunny Bindra one of Kenya’s leading management consultants.

Kahaki sits on the Board of Dhamana Insurance Agency, and is the Chairperson of the Family Bank Staff benefits retirement Scheme. She is also an advisory member of One Lamb, a non for profit organization that works with marginalized communities to end child prostitution.

Nyaguthii Chege

DIRECTOR, EAST AFRICA HUB, NATURAL JUSTICE

Nyaguthii Chege is Director of the Natural Justice East Africa Hub, where she leads a team of lawyers and researchers who support Indigenous people and local communities to know, use and shape the law to secure their land and protect and govern their natural resources. Previously she served as the Executive Director of the Greenbelt Movement and as a Lecturer in Law and Director of Human Rights and International Law at the Office for Social Justice Initiatives at Columbia University School of Law in New York. Nyaguthii has also worked with Peking University School of Transnational Law in China, and Natural Resources Defense Council and The World Bank in Washington, DC. She currently sits on the board of the Restor Foundation and formerly served as a board member of Greenbelt Movement International. Nyaguthii received degrees from Columbia University School of Law and School of International and Public Affairs and Dartmouth College.

Waweru Mathai

LAWYER & FOUNDER MEMBER REPRESENTATIVE

Waweru Mathai is an Attorney at Law and the Founder member representative of the Wangari Maathai Foundation. Waweru received his Bachelor of Science from Morgan State University, his Masters in Chemistry from Drexel University and a Law Degree from New York Law School.  He is also the son of the late Wangari Maathai.

Our Partners

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