Deborah Okumu - Executive Director

Ms. Deborah Anyango Okumu holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Nairobi and a UN fellowship Masters Degree in Demography and Population Planning from the University of Ghana – Legon. Ms. Okumu has a wealth of experience in policy analysis, programme planning, management and Evaluation. She has been in the forefront in advocating for economically and socially just gendered government policies and has played a key role in the development and use of Statistics in influencing government policy nationally and in many national documents emanating from major UN conferences held since the Nairobi Conference of 1985. She is a well trained administrator and technocrat whose experience draws from working in key government Ministries in Kenya which include the Ministry of Planning and National Development, the Central Bureau of Statistics and the Ministry of Gender Sports Culture and Social Services. She has demonstrated her ability to manage and lead in government, UN, private and NGO sectors.

Prior to joining the Caucus Ms Okumu served as a Senior Gender Consultant for various NGOs among the, FEMNET, ANCPAN and CLEAR. As a UNFPA National Programme Officer her assignment covered the area of a technical advisor on use of Gender statistics for planning and programming. These assignments give her a chance to prove her effectiveness as a programme manager who is capable of combining her job requirements with international assignments related to her work. Ms. Okumu has given invaluable technical assistance to the government, non – governmental organizations, community based organization and individual women leaders. She has contributed considerably to policy including contributing in the writings of Development Plans, Economic Surveys, Population Census technical Reports and Government UN documents. She has served as a consultant, volunteer, technical advisor and board member of many institutions. Ms. Okumu has a good negotiation, drafting, and training and writings skills.

She commands broad experience in the fields of research, and has written and presented many technical papers among them, Women’s Employment and Fertility in Kenya (1987 M.A. Thesis) Population Data Base in Kenya (1989 – Voorburg Holland seminar paper) Measurement of Women’s Contribution to the Economy (1991 – Paper presented at the International Workshop on Gender Statistics in Arusha – Tanzania) among others. To date in her position at the Caucus she continues to be an ardent researcher on Gender and Women issues and is at the moment wring a book on the search towards a new paradigm on Gender mainstreaming and Women’ Empowerment.

Peter Ochola - Programme Officer
Joined the KWPC from Kenton College Preparatory School where he was a visiting teacher, working with young children from ages 6 - 15 yrs for close to 4 years. Peter joined the KWPC as Programme Officer, in- charge of the Gender & Governance Programme, which aims to ensure a focused, coordinated and long term support towards enjoyment of human rights and participation in democratic governance.

An ardent fundraiser, he has vast experience in working with peoples from diverse cultures and nationalities, hence his close involvement with the Women's Regional Assemblies project of the KWPC.

He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Commerce, majoring in Accounting from La Trobe University, Australia. A dual Kenya International in both swimming and rugby, Peter also enjoys working in the aforementioned areas. He was appointed national coach of the Kenya Women's Rugby team in 2005, further his desire to make a change in the lives of the women folk of this country. A TV commentator for NTV sport and DSTV's Supersport. Loves out door activity and professional fieldwork.

Joy Masheti : Programme Officer
Has a B.A in social sciences from the University of Nairobi and an M.A in Literature from the same University. Prior to coming to Caucus, she worked with Straight Talk, an Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health program, as an assistant program manager. Joy has long experience in community work and development and she has worked with many communities in East Africa . She has consulted for many organisations among them, British council, Action Aid, World Vision, and several government departments. Joy is an accomplished actress and theatre critic. She has facilitated many workshops and presented several papers in conferences both regionally and internationally.

Hassan Otieno