Training

Hussein completed his BSc (Botany and Zoology) at the (Kenya) in 2002 and obtained his MSc in Natural Resource Management and Sustainable Agriculture at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (Norway) in 2006. He conducted his Ph.D. research at DITSL. Hussein holds Bachelor of Science degree from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology Masters in Natural Resource Management and Sustainable Agriculture from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway and Ph.D. in Agricultural Sciences from the University of Kassel, Germany

Career

Hussein has over 13 years of experience in development and research work among the pastoral communities of Northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia. He has worked for CARE International in Kenya for over 4 years in Northern Kenya. During his time with CARE, Hussein worked in various projects. He worked as project officer for Institutional capacity building project (2007-2008) and in 2009 coordinated a project with multiple components such as livelihood activities, water and sanitation and education among refugee-hosting communities in North Eastern Kenya. In 2010 he worked as a program officer in a Global fund funded project in Nairobi and later in 2011 joined the Adaptation Learning Program as a disaster risk reduction officer. After completing his doctoral studies worked for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in its Natural Resource Management sector in Kenya as National Environment and NRM Officer. During this time, he mainly worked on Land governance and natural resource management. Hussein current heads the Center for Research and Development in Drylands as the Executive Director. He is charged with providing strategic leadership in administrative and programmatic development of the center while working in close collaboration with the organization’s board of management.

Research Interests

His main research interest is on areas of pastoral land-use systems, communal grazing resource management, resource use conflicts, communal land governance, local knowledge, and climate change adaptation

Training

Diba completed his B. Arts (majors in Economics and Minors in Sociology) at Catholic University of Eastern Africa and obtained second-class honours upper division. He also has certificate on Adult training and facilitation skills, Agribusiness value chain finance training certificate.

Career

Diba has over 12 years of experience in development and research work among the pastoral communities of Northern Kenya. He worked for National Taxpayers Association as a research supervisor in Economic stimulus Programme within Isiolo and Marsabit counties in the year 2010. He has worked for CARE International in Kenya for over 5 years in Marsabit County (2011-2016). While in CARE, he implemented a livelihood and Financial inclusion programs. He worked with International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Natural Resource Management and Land use planning (2016-2017), he also worked as project officer with African Development solution in the year 2017 in livelihood and natural resource management and later worked with National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) as a Research Supervisor with Hunger safety net Programme (2017- 2019).

Diba currently a Project Officer with the Center for Research and Development in Dry lands (CRDD). He is currently a focal position in the implementation of the Biovision funded Seeds4Range Project and supports implementation of Navinut Project. He also does Project Reporting, Monitoring and Evaluation. In addition, he also supports coordination and partnership with stakeholders.

Research Interests

His main research interest is on areas of pastoral land use systems, communal grazing resource management, Community Resource mobilization and self-reliance, Gender based resource use and resource use conflicts, communal land governance, local knowledge and climate change adaptation.

He has several years of research work experience in different field in arid and semi-arid lands.

Training

Patricia completed her BSc. Foods, Nutrition and Dietetics at Egerton University, Kenya in 2015 and obtained her MSc Nutrition from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel (HUJI) in 2020. Additionally, she pursued a Postgraduate Diploma in Global Health from The University of Manchester (2017-2019) and prior to that was awarded a Postgraduate Certificate in Humanitarian Operations Programs from Oxford Brookes University and Save the Children International (2017). She is currently undertaking her PhD research at DITSL, Germany, and CRDD, Kenya.

Career

Patricia has experience in humanitarian, research, and development programs. She started her career as a humanitarian trainee at Save the Children hosted by Trocaire, Sudan where she worked on projects in health, nutrition, education, WASH, and women empowerment. She also supported other country programs during drought response among the ASAL areas. Towards completion of her MSc, she joined One Acre Fund, Kenya as a Nutrition Program Specialist where she led and coordinated the implementation of two multi-site longitudinal nutrition research studies that assessed an integrated nutrition and agriculture intervention. She also designed a Social Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) project concentrating on nutrition and gender dynamics where multiple strategies were adopted including digitized communication channels. Patricia has also worked as a research assistant and volunteer in different health & nutrition projects and organizations/institutes. She is currently a doctoral researcher with NaviNut project at DITSL and CRDD focusing on the identification of local women innovations in child feeding practices in Africa drylands applying transdisciplinary research approaches.

Research Interests

Her research interests are in maternal and child nutrition, food security, local knowledge, and innovations among the marginalized and vulnerable populations.

Training

She graduated in 2014 with a Bachelor of Science degree in nutrition and dietetics from Mt. Kenya University. She worked for World Vision Kenya in food security and child protection programs for 4 years. She is enrolled at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology to pursue a master's degree in Public health. She joins the Navinut project components currently implemented by the German Institute of Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture (DITSL) Germany and the Center for Research and Development in Drylands, under which she will undertake her research work.

Career

Rita has experience in implementing nutrition programs. She started her career as a supervisor for a blanket supplementary feeding program carried out by WFP and later as a nutrition project officer in World vision Kenya. She has also implemented a child protection project on an anti-FGM UNICEF-funded grant for 3 years in World vision. This has helped her to realize the role of gender in child nutrition.

Research Interests

Her research interests are in maternal and child nutrition among the Pastoralist community and their indigenous knowledge on the same.

Training

Raphael completed his Certificate in Natural Resource Management from The University of Nairobi in 2012. He has attained other certifications from attending short courses, workshops and conferences such as Tropentag, Bonn University (2011), GrassNet Summer School, DITSL (2011), Farmers field school methodology, ILRI & VSFB (2005) among others.

Career

Raphael has over 20 years of experience in research and community development. From 2000-2004, Raphael worked with PEAR innovations where he supported a series of students and professors from Hohenheim University, Germany as a translator and a community liaison between the researchers and the Rendille community.

He has been working with the German Institute of Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture (DITSL) from 2000 to date. He has been working as a research assistant with several projects conducted by the University of Hohenheim and DITSL, Germany. These projects include; studies focused on livestock and range management, small-scale decentralized solar technology for rural electrification, textbook development on camel management and most recently a project on livestock branding and certification. 

In 2010, he worked with CARE-Kenya under the Hunger Safety Project as a research assistant where he conducted interviews, identified villages & households and mobilized community members for program activities. 

Mr. Gudere is currently working as a research assistant for the Navinut project (Enhancing women’s agency in navigating changing food environments to improve child nutrition in African Drylands). The project is coordinated by DITSL and implemented by CRDD and other partners such as JKUAT and Tropical Institute for Community Health. He supports with mobilization of respondent’s identification of positive deviant mothers, data collection through interviews and translation.

Research interest

His main research interests are in local knowledge, empowerment of the pastoralists, conflict management & resolution and natural resource management such as water and pasture.

Training

David Buke completed his BSc. Human Nutrition and Dietetics at Masinde Muliro University, Kenya in 2015. He has completed his course work in Masters in Public Health at Kenya Methodist University and is currently undertaking his MSc research at Centre for Research and Development in Dryland (CRDD) Kenya.

Career

David Buke Halake has experience in humanitarian, research, and development programs. He started his career as a Nutrition Officer Intern at the Ministry of Health Kenya, where he worked for a year at Thika Level 5 Hospital. He has 6 years of cumulative professional working experience with different organizations. He had worked for International Rescue Committee (IRC) as Emergency Nutrition Officer, directly implementing and coordinating nutrition programs in Turkana during drought emergencies in 2017. He also worked for World food Programme (WFP) as Registration Officer for Chakula kwa Jamii programme in Isiolo County. David had also previously worked for Nairobi University Consultancy services limited, German cooperation (GIZ), Research Guide Africa as a research assistant tasked with collection of data from the field, compiling, analyzing data and report writing. He has been working as Nutrition Officer at the County Government of Marsabit, Ministry of Health since 2018. At the Ministry of health, for the last 3 years, David has served as Nutrition Officer in charge of the Nutrition department at Sub County Hospital and he was tasked with planning and implementing of nutrition activities at the hospital and in the Community too. He has been mentoring Nutrition students through internships and attachments at the Hospital. Additionally, he has been supporting community health strategy by offering training to Community Health Volunteers and Health Extension workers in Sololo Community unit with the aim to strengthen and enhance health service deliveries at community units. He is currently a Masters level researcher with the NaviNut project at DITSL and CRDD focusing on the traditional food products in food and nutrition security in Northern Kenya.

Research Intrest

His research interests are in public health nutrition, food security, local knowledge, and innovations among marginalized and vulnerable populations.

Training

Sulekha Abdulkadir Karu completed her Bachelor of Arts in Community Development at Moi University, Main Campus, Eldoret Kenya and obtained second-class honors, Upper-division in the year 2021. Sulekha has attained other certifications from attending short courses, workshops and conferences such as training on Monitoring and Evaluation by the East African Center of Human rights (EACH Rights).

Career

Sulekha Abdulkadir Karu has experience in humanitarian and development programs. She started her career during her years of study as an attaché and a volunteer at Saku Accountability Forum. She has worked as a project officer (2017-2018) for Marsabit Indigenous Network in drought response. Sulekha is currently a panel member of the UNFPA youth advisory panel representing her county, Marsabit. Sulekha is currently working as a research assistant for the Navinut project (Enhancing Women’s Agency in Navigating Changing Food Environments to improve child nutrition in African Drylands). The project is coordinated by DITSL and implemented by CRDD in partnership with institutions other institutions such as Jomo Kenyata University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) and Tropical Institute for Community Health (TICH).

Research Interest

Her research interests are in Sexual and Reproductive Health(SRH), Food