Worku Behonegne, Regional Director
Worku holds a Masters degree in Business Administration in Industrial Policy and Corporate Strategy; a Bachelors of Arts degree in Management of Business Administration; and a diploma in Commerce. Worku Joined SNV East and Southern Africa as regional director in January 2006. Before then he worked for SNV in different capacities: country director for SNV Ghana; member of the transition management team responsible for 10 countries in East and Southern Africa (based in Zimbabwe); Regional management advisor for East and Southern Africa (based first in Botswana, later in Zimbabwe); and Program Officer for Integrated Rural Development Programs (Ethiopia). Worku is also the account manager for the corporate partnership with the Fair Trade Labelling Organisation.

Worku is a team player and believes in capacity development to bring tangible and sustainable benefits for the poor. He also believes that SNV has the capacity to forge effective partnerships with like minded organizations, based on trust and respect, which are key values for any genuine partnership.

Country Directors

Ethiopia: Rem Neefjes
Rem holds a Masters degree in Macro Economics, with specialisation in Development Economics and International Economic Relations and a BSc in Business Economics.  He has more than 25 years of professional experience, mainly in Africa, in the fields of economic planning, rural economic development, organisational and institutional support, change management, value chain development and governance.

He joined SNV in 1993, first in Zimbabwe and later in Uganda and Kenya in different advisory and management positions. Before joining SNV, he worked for the International Trade Centre (ITC) in Geneva and Côte d’Ivoire for an export promotion programme, and for United Nations Department of Technical Co-Operation for Development in the Comoro Islands.

Rem has been the Country Director for SNV Ethiopia since April 2006. Within SNV South Eastern Africa Region, he also holds the position of Head of Agriculture - Economic Development. He is responsible for the strategy and knowledge development of the SNV East and Southern Africa practice in the agricultural value chains and maintaining a network with other VC practitioners.

Rem’s ambition is to develop SNV Ethiopia as one of the leading organisations in Ethiopia in the fields of value chain development, biogas and governance approach in water, sanitation and hygiene. His vision is to see SNV Ethiopia’s work gradually but steadily taken over by local organisations. SNV Ethiopia itself will foster and guide centres of excellence in economic development and service delivery.

Kenya: Stuart Worsley
Stuart holds a Masters degree in Development Economics and Planning and a Bachelors degree in Agriculture. He has 20 years of international working experience having worked for both non governmental and government institutions, in South and Southeast Asia, East Africa and the UK. He previously worked for CARE International in various roles including Country Director, Programme Director and Project Manager. Stuart is an excellent strategic leader, with keen political acumen that has been honed over many years of working in both stable and conflict affected environments. He leads SNV’s regional Water and Sanitation sector and Livestock value chain. He has worked with SNV Kenya and Sudan since July 2005.

Mozambique: Quirin Laumans
Quirin joined SNV in 2001 as Country Director in Benin. In 2005 he moved to Mozambique as Country Director for . In September 2006 his responsibilities extended to Zimbabwe where he also serves as Country Director. He is responsible for the region’s tourism and horticulture value chains.

Before joining SNV, Quirin worked for FAO, The Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) and the Netherlands International Cooperation for Development (DGIS) in several projects in the Caribbean, Asia and Latin America. Throughout his career, he has experienced the gradual changes in international development cooperation: from the implementation of externally induced/imposed projects that were managed by big teams of international experts to the support for local (home grown) development initiatives and programs, and the focus on capacity development.

Rwanda: Jean de Matha Ouédraogo
Jean de Matha holds a Masters degree in rural development and engineering with a specific focus on water and forests, a post-university degree in soft water management and fishery and a diploma in environment and Shelia land management systems. He started his career as a researcher in a game ranch specialising in animal nutrition and population. He has given lectures to secondary school students on human and earth science, physics and chemistry. He contributed towards the development of policies in Burkina Faso in the areas of water, halieutic resources, forests and wildlife. As regional director for Region de Boucle du Mouhoun he was responsible for forestry techniques, tourism in the region.

Jean de Matha joined SNV Burkina Faso as a senior advisor in 1997. He then took up the position of programme officer, deputy director and thereafter SNV Burkina Faso programme director. He joined SNV Rwanda in 2006 as Country Director. He is responsible for the region’s renewable energy sector and is also the Corporate Head for Renewable Energy.

In 2005 was awarded the Knight of the Burkinabe Order award in recognition of his efforts in the development sector. He has published papers during his career.

Sudan: Nigel Cross
Nigel is a social historian (PhD London) with 25 years experience in programme management and international NGO leadership. He has a special interest in culture and communications, and environment issues. After working as a journalist and at the Open University, he set up SOS Sahel UK in 1983, an international NGO focusing on community development and natural resource management in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa, working in five countries including Sudan. He has been director of the Panos Institute, which works to strengthen media capacity and pluralism in Africa and South Asia, and executive director of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), a leading policy institute in the field of sustainable development. He was a professorial research fellow at the School of African and Oriental Studies London and consultant to the IDL group prior to joining SNV. He has been a board member of a number of international NGOs and consultant and adviser to bilateral and multilateral agencies. He has been an editor and writer on development issues.

He was appointed SNV Sudan’s country director in 2008, setting up the Juba country office, expanding the geographical reach of activities, and developing the programme to link economic development to reducing conflict, especially among pastoral communities. Nigel is also responsible for SNV East and Southern Africa’s Communication for Development activities.

Tanzania: Jan de Witte
Jan’s professional background is in theology, arts and management. He first joined SNV as country director in Yemen between 1986 and 1989. He left SNV and returned in 1997 as country director in Tanzania until 2000.  He then moved to Nepal in the same capacity until 1997.  From 2005 – 2008, Jan was the regional director for SNV West and Central Africa. He moved to Tanzania as country director in April 2008.

Besides SNV, Jan has had extensive work experience with Hivos (Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries where he worked in various capacities: coordinator for rural development programs in Tunisia between 1970 and 1978; project officer for Asia from 1978 to 1985; and director projects and programs and member of the Board of Directors from 1990 to 1996.   

Uganda: Jeannette de Regt
Jeannette holds a Master of Social Science (MSc) degree in Human Geography from the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands. She has extensive experience in development cooperation with particular expertise in policy making; strategic and operational planning; monitoring and evaluation; human resource development; and leadership and partnership development. Jeannette first worked as a project coordinator for the Netherlands Association of Country Women. She joined SNV in 1993 has since worked in West Africa, The Hague and The Balkans in various capacities including Country Director for Mali/ Niger and Bosnia-Herzegovina/ Montenegro. She moved to Uganda in August 2009 as Country Director. 

Zambia: Jennifer Willis
Jennifer is a professional environmental planner and geographer with 30 years of international experience in designing, managing and implementing projects and programmes in the fields of local economic development, environmental planning, natural resources management, tourism, infrastructure development and institution building. She has 25 years experience in Eastern and Southern Africa where she has managed her own development planning consultancy for 13 years working at international, central and local levels to build capacity of government institutions, organisations and small businesses. In recent years, as a senior manager, she has directed her knowledge of the socioeconomic and technical aspects of development interventions to building and coordination of multi-disciplinary teams for a range of development actors including multilateral and bilateral donors, governments at central and local levels, international NGOs and the private sector. She joined SNV in January 2006. Jennifer is responsible for the region’s education sector and is also the Corporate Head for education.

Zimbabwe: Lawrence Attipoe

He joined SNV in 2004 as a Senior Advisor and started the private sector development programme in Ghana. He later became a Portfolio Coordinator. He moved to Zimbabwe as Country Director in November 2009. He is also the Coordinator of the FLO Partnership. 

Prior to joining SNV, Lawrence worked for two years with the Cape Coast Business Advisory Centre of Ghana’s National Board for Small Scale Industries, where he was responsible for developing the entrepreneurial capacity of owners of Small and Medium Enterprises in Ghana’s Central Region.  He also spent a considerable amount of time as a Senior Consultant with Spectrum International, a management consulting firm with a focus on supporting growth-oriented private sector initiatives and promoting public private partnerships. While with Spectrum, Larry coordinated the African Telecom Summit, an annual gathering of African Telecom Ministers, policy makers, regulators and operators to review the development of African Telecommunications.  He also spent four years coordinating the Ghana Club 100; a listing of Ghana’s top 100 companies and produced the accompanying Magazine. 

Larry has a passion for teamwork and enjoys working with people across cultures and disciplines. He strives for excellence and constructively deals with challenges that come his way.  He likes to keep all tasks simple and motivates colleagues to give their best.

Regional Office Team

Christine Ogolo, Regional HR Adviser

Christine holds a Bachelor of Science and postgraduate qualifications in Human Resource Management. In addition, she has undergone several professional Human Resources courses. She has over 10 years experience in the Human Resources field in several capacities and is a member of the Institute of Human Resource Management, Kenya.  She has worked in various organisations including Mater Hospital and CARE International in Somalia and Sudan. She joined SNV in 2005 as HR Officer for Kenya and started her current position in April 2009.

Christine is currently supporting countries through the Human Resources Officers make clear choices on our workforce as it relates to the three facets of local capacity builders, consultants and staff; specifically, providing guidance to ensure that we have the right mix of competencies going forth for implementation of our strategy.

Edward Indiazi, Receptionist
Edward joined SNV in 1997 as a caretaker in the Kenya country office. He has qualifications in electrical installations and is a skilled landscaper. He was responsible for general office maintenance. In 2006, he took up reception duties for the regional and Kenya country offices. He also undertakes logistical assignments for the office.

Erwin Sluijter, Regional Controller
Erwin joined SNV in April 2006. Previously, he worked for Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) in Côte d’Ivoire, South Sudan and Kenya as controller covering both finance and human resources. Prior to that, he was financial consultant for McDonald’s head office in The Netherlands. He also worked for Price Waterhouse in the Netherlands as an audit associate in the international business unit. After three years in the audit practice, he worked one year as a human resource consultant, broadening his administrative outlook.

As controller, Erwin is responsible in general for finance and accounting, compliance and internal control and legal issues. He works together with his team to remain fully compliant with SNV’s rules, regulations and protocols, which has resulted in a full in control statement from the internal audit unit on ESA’s latest management audit. Erwin heads the ESA region’s finance unit, currently comprising nine country controllers, the head of the regional admin centre, three SAP administrators and the regional business analyst. Together they strive to provide the clients of the finance unit with high quality reports and full support on all issues presented to them. Erwin aims to also be of service to head office and at present serves in the steering committee for connectivity and is focal Regional controller for the Managing for Results project.

Henry Owaga, SAP Administrator
Henry holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree and is finalizing his Certified Public Accounting qualifications.

He joined SNV Finance and Administration in January 2007. He is responsible for reviewing data from the Portfolio Offices and processing Finance and HR information in the system to reflect changes that are useful for decision making.   

He has several years experience in the preparation and analysis of management reports, implementing system change, and SAP financial data processing. In addition he has been active as a teacher in a commercial college, a Street Girls Rehabilitation Centre and in Morogoro Tanzania where he tried his hand in an adult-education programme. His experiences both in the office and in the field working with people at all levels have enabled him to acquire great interpersonal skills and developed in him a deep appreciation of every effort made to bring about a more equitable and quality life for the world’s poor populations.

John Ngujiri Makimei, Driver

John is currently undertaking an Advanced Diploma in Purchasing and Supply Management. He also holds a certificate in Range Management.

He holds over 15 years experience as a driver and logistician. He and has worked for VSF Belgium, AU-IBAR, Area Development Programme and the private sector. He also worked as a farm manager. He joined SNV in 1999 and was stationed in Turkana under the Community Based Animal Health Services programme. He later moved the North Rift and has been with the East and Southern Africa Regional Office since 2006. While with the SNV Community Based Animal Health Services programme and AU/IBAR, John was also involved in field work. He facilitated field visits and distributed veterinary supplies to animal health field workers. 

Julia Ekong, Senior Regional Advisor
Julia holds a PhD in Social Anthropology and a degree in Development Studies from Freiburg University in Germany. In 2009 she celebrated 30 years of working in Africa (as well as South and Central Asia) in the field of research, capacity development, donor relations, European development policy and advocacy. Before joining SNV ESA in January 2006, Julia was Senior Advocacy Manager for a UK based international NGO, responsible for advocacy strategy at the EU and UN level as well as capacity development for advocacy with partners in Africa and Central Asia on reproductive health. Prior to that, she coordinated an organisational development programme across seven West African countries involving some 60 local NGOs served by a pool of local capacity builders.

Working closely with other members of the regional team, Country Directors and Knowledge Network Leaders Julia ensures quality and coherence of the planning, monitoring and evaluation processes in the region as well as of reporting on results and the regional knowledge agenda. In addition she lends support to the Education and Renewable Energy Corporate networks hosted by ESA. She also has responsibility for the strategic partnership with UNDP and the MDG Center. She has a passion for understanding the wider policy context in which SNV operates and particularly enjoys involvement in the Advisory Learning Programme to enable advisors appreciate the wider relevance of SNV’s approach and the importance of their contribution.

Margaret Wanjiku, Public Sector Specialist

Margaret holds an MA and BA in Humanities from the University of Nairobi and professional qualifications in Public Policy and Governance from the University of London.

She has 11 years working experience in the area of Gender, Governance and Development. She worked with, among others, Collaborative Centre for Gender and Development, Kenya as Programme Manager in the Gender and pro-poor Budgeting Programme.

She joined SNV in 2003 as an Advisor in Local Governance and Gender in Kenya’s North Rift Region. In 2006, she moved to The MDG Centre for East and Southern Africa, as a Public Sector Specialist on secondment. She currently focuses on supporting MDG integration in governance institutions, partnership development and liaison between MDG Centre, SNV and other partners. She supports governments in MDG planning at National, meso and sectoral levels and explores strategic partnerships and joint action, between The MDG Centre, development organizations and Government institutions. This mainly focuses on influencing public policy around MDG related best practice, as well as ensuring knowledge development and learning.

Martin Wanga Anabera, SAP Finance & HR Administrator 
Martin holds a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce and is undertaking professional qualifications in Accounting. He joined SNV in June 2006 as a SAP Administrator in Finance, handling accounts for Uganda, Rwanda and Ethiopia. His work mainly involves processing GLSUs(monthly), maintaining master data records and giving any kind of support required by the countries he supports. Previously, Martin worked for Nairobi Bottlers, one of the franchise holders for Coca Cola in Kenya.

Mary Ashila, Office Assistant
Mary holds secretarial qualifications. She joined SNV Kenya in 1991 as an office assistant. Her duties later extended to clerical duties in the accounts office. She is also responsible for managing and purchasing stationery and office consumable. Mary also helps in confirming air tickets, arranging workshop materials and refreshments. In 2006, she took up reception duties for the regional and Kenya country offices in addition to her work as office assistant.

Molly Ayiemba, Regional HR Manager
Molly holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in French and Linguistics from University of Nairobi and a MBA from University of Warwick. She is a member of the Institute of Human Resource Management, Kenya. She has over eight years in experience as a HR generalist and in general office administration.  She has a wealth of experience in directing all aspects of human resources development with particularly strong skills in capacity development of staff and HR consulting for ‘internal clients’. She previously worked for WorldSpace, an international media network organisation and later joined Concern Worldwide, an international non-governmental organisation, in a similar capacity.  In both positions, she was charged with the responsibility of driving the Human Resource strategy as well as giving leadership and guidance on all HR issues.

She joined SNV in September, 2006 as Regional HR Advisor.  During this time she has helped the HR unit become more visible and responsive to ‘internal clients’.  The region has made significant progress in staff learning and development by implementing Advisory Learnig Programme, Introduction to Senior Management, and initiated a leadership and succession learning programme during this period.

She later took up the Regional HRM position in November 2008. Her goal in this position is to ensure that we have the right people on the bus and in the right seats. Her passion is identifying talent and harnessing potential in staff.

Philip Muthungu, SAP Finance & HR Administrator
Philip holds a degree in economics and is also a qualified Certified Public Accountant (CPA). He gained wide experience in accounting, banking, investment identification, appraisal and promotion from previous engagements with the banking, industrial and investment sectors.

He joined SNV in June 2006. He is responsible for processing finance and HR data for Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe. He ensues that the data reflects a true accurate and complete picture to the persons who depend on this information for decision making.

Roy Van der Drift, Senior Partnerships and Resource Mobilisation Officer
Roy holds a PhD in Social Anthropology and Development Sociology. He has accumulated over 20 years of working experience in African countries. He has built up expertise in analysing socio-economic change processes in macro-micro levels of rural African societies. In addition, he has gained research and consultancy experience in rural development, agriculture and food security.  He has analytical and advisory skills and expertise in Institutional and Organisational Development and Governance, including the design of strategies for multi stakeholder collaboration at local governance level. Roy has served in various capacities including researcher, university lecturer and research supervisor, consultant, manager and advisor with the Free University of Amsterdam, the State University of Leiden, the Royal Tropical Institute Amsterdam, European commission, UNDP, UNICEF, the National Research institute Guinea-Bissau.

He joined SNV early 2001 as the Western Province Program Officer for SNV Zambia. In 2003, he became a senior advisor in the newly established national team. In April 2008, he joined the Regional Team as the Senior Partnerships and Resource Mobilisation Adviser.

Reuben Mawuli Coffie, Senior Regional Advisor, Investments

Coffie holds degrees in Economics, Business Management and International Economic Relations. He joined SNV in November 2007 as a senior advisor in Economic Development in Uganda and located in the Rwenzori Portfolio. In this role, he provided capacity-building support to meso level organisations in the Horticulture sector and facilitating the setup of the Rwenzori Regional Pineapple Multistakeholders Platform. He extended his initial contract to take up the coordination and management of the implementation of the SNV/SEAF Investment initiative under Value Chain Catalyst Fund (VCCF) and other similar initiatives. He has additional responsibilities to develop an investment brokering and advisory practice within East and Southern Africa.

Richard Amponsah Obuobi, Senior Regional Investment Advisor

Richard holds an MSc in Actuarial Science and a BSc in Civil Engineering. He has five (5) years of investment banking experience and has worked on various multi-million dollar projects including energy, healthcare, mining, oil and gas from deal origination to financial closure notably providing corporate finance advisory services to a firm involved in the development 500MW thermal power plant to be constructed in Kpone, Ghana.

In April 2009, he joined SNV/ESA as a Senior Regional Investment Advisor for East and Southern Africa. In this role, he provides technical support and oversees the marketing and pipeline development of investment opportunities in the region, business diagnostics and analysis, financial review, investment design, risk assessment and dissemination of learning to the investment teams at the country levels.

He enjoys reading business and financial articles/books with a passion for continuous personal development.

Ruth Alexander, Management Assistant

Ruth holds a Diploma in Business Administration. She has over 18 years working experience with non–governmental organisations and the private sector focusing on development and international relations. She has strong skills in administration, guest relations and is an efficient organiser of local and international workshops.  She joined SNV in November 1997 and is dedicated to her work and appreciates diversity of culture.

Before joining SNV, Ruth worked with a media and advertising firm as the client service assistant/training coordinator.  She also worked with a horticultural export firm as Liaison Officer (networking flower growers with the international markets such as Alsmeer and France).

Susan Onyango Omondi, Knowledge Management and Communications Officer
Susan holds a Master of Arts degree in Communication Studies and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. She is also a member of the Public Relations Society of Kenya.

Her career with SNV started in 2000 in an administrative position. She took up the PR and Communications position for Kenya in 2002 until January 2006 when moved to the regional office as the Regional Knowledge Management and Communications Officer. She is responsible for the development and implementation of the region's knowledge management and communication strategies. She has facilitated the production of several profiling materials such as documentaries, annual reports, flash presentations, brochures, staff profiles, calendars and banners. She manages the regional case review process.

Tesfu Ghaber, Regional Head of Administration
Tesfu holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree and is finalising his Masters degree in International Business Administration. He started his career as an internal auditor for a merchandising company in Ethiopia. He joined SNV in Ethiopia in 1991 as an Administrator. He moved to SNV Kenya in 1999 in the same capacity.

In mid 2006, Tesfu took up the Regional Head of Administration position. He is responsible for management information and financial and non-financial data gathering; managing the Administrative Centre (AC) in the Region; and coordinating financial and administrative processes within the Region. In addition, he advices the Regional Controller, Admin Centre staff and Country administrators on financial and administrative issues and participates in relevant projects and meetings.

Timothy Lilumbi, Logistics Officer

Timothy holds a diploma in Purchasing and Supplies, Stores and Logistics Management. He is one of the oldest members of staff having joined SNV Kenya in 1990. He has risen through the ranks in the logistics department and is now responsible for Kenya, Sudan and the Regional Office. Timothy is in charge of work permits, purchasing, imports and exports, asset management, office maintenance and fleet management. He has also served on the Country Council.

Yvonne Arunga, Regional Business Analyst
Yvonne has a wealth of experience in financial management, general administration and project management. In addition to being a chartered accountant with double qualifications from CPA (K) and ACCA, Yvonne holds an MBA (finance), Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Accounting. She is responsible for supporting the Regional Controller in regional vision and results of financial processes by providing thorough reports and analyses, in the disciplines of planning & control; financial accounting; facilities/procurement and ICT.