Transforming Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Response Systems in Kenya

 

Situation: Three counties in Kenya faced critical gaps in GBV prevention and response services, with fragmented systems, limited workforce capacity, mental health challenges across the frontline staff providing care.  

 

Task: As Chief Technical Advisor, my role was to facilitate the design and implementation of a comprehensive capacity strengthening strategy across multiple government departments (children's services, police, health, justice, gender, education) to improve coordination and expand access to quality GBV services.

 

Approach:

• Conducted extensive stakeholder consultations (including with GBV survivors) to understand system bottlenecks, workforce needs, and locations (sub-county, ward, village) with the highest prevalence or risk of GBV.

• Co-created a multi-sectoral capacity strengthening strategy incorporating certified training, personal therapy for frontline service providers, and multi-sectoral professional networks.

• Established a critical mass of professionally trained service providers in each of the high-priority wards, breaking down siloes with mixed training cohorts, and establishing a common language and standard of care.

• Conducted a communication campaign (radio, community meetings) to influence social norms – building awareness and promoting access to services, with positive examples of trained personnel and healing and recovery among survivors.

 

Results:

• 3,000+ officers completed certified training programs and gained access to ongoing professional support

• Services expanded to 56 high-priority wards

• 94% increase in service utilization within 18 months

• Program innovations adopted for scale-up by two development agencies

​​

​​​

​

Revolutionizing Social Work Standards in Uganda

​

Context: Uganda's social service workforce lacked standardized education requirements, creating inconsistencies in child protection service quality and limiting professional development pathways.

 

Task: My role as the Program Director was to help stakeholders recognize the urgency of the situation and then commit to harmonize social work education standards across all higher education institutions offering social work degree or diploma programs to establish a national standard which could be adopted into law.

 

Approach:

• Convened stakeholders including all 18 universities, National Council for Higher Education, UNICEF, government ministries, and social work professionals.

• Established a national level working group to steer the process of reviewing and harmonizing social work standards.

• Conducted a tracer study of social work graduates and supported a blind peer review of all curricula in the diploma and degree programs in the country.

• Facilitated collaborative standard-setting process incorporating international best practices and local expertise.

 

Results:

• Secured adoption of new social work education standards into law

• Standardized social work curriculum across all universities nationwide

• Positioned organization as sector leader in workforce strengthening

• Created sustainable framework for ongoing quality improvement

​

​​

​

Scaling Early Childhood Development Through Community Playgroups in Rwanda

​

Context: In the early 2000s, Rwanda had few early childhood development facilities with prohibitive costs and low enrollment, leaving vulnerable children under 5 (especially those in the lowest socio-economic demographics) without access to critical early learning opportunities.

 

Task: As the Team Leader for Health & Social Services/Program Coordinator, my task was to support local civil society organizations to develop a cost-effective, community-based approach to improve school readiness and life skills for vulnerable young children while building parent engagement.

 

Approach:

• Reviewed local and global best practice in community-based ECD.

• Designed playgroup methodology combining structured and unstructured play with parent participation – drawing on research and experience.

• Developed comprehensive training materials (in the local language) and volunteer support systems

• Conducted research comparing outcomes for participating vs. non-participating children

• Created replicable model requiring minimal resources (volunteers, basic play materials)

• Documented evidence of impact through external evaluation

 

Results:

• Within six months of roll-out, playgroups served over 10,000 children under-five.

• Psychosocial and physical development gains demonstrated through comparative study

• Model featured at multiple international conferences as a promising practice for improving life skills scores of vulnerable children to match those from higher-income households

• Parents reported increased knowledge of child development and improved family engagement

​

​​

Strengthening Child Protection Systems Through Technology in Uganda

​

Context: Uganda's social service workforce lacked access to current laws, policies and guidelines, leading to inconsistent service delivery and poor referral completion rates.

​

Task: As the Program Director for a $5M systems strengthening program, my task was to partner with  government in the development of scalable solutions to improve child protection services – including advocacy, representation, and referrals. 

 

Approach:

• Conducted a functional review of the social service workforce to gain a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms for onboarding, guiding and supervising staff.

• Developed a mobile app providing offline access to child protection policies, guidelines, and resources, and contacts for key service providers in all districts of the country.

• Used Google Analytics to track app engagement and inform continuous improvement

• Scaled app nationwide following successful pilot results

• Complemented technology with comprehensive reviews on case management practice and supervision.

 

Results:

• App scaled nationwide reaching social service workforce across Uganda

• Qualitative study demonstrated improved confidence and capacity in upholding the child protection mandate as a result of this digital solution.

• Technology adoption demonstrated through analytics showing consistent usage patterns

• Model presented at international ICT4D and social work conferences as a cost-effective model to scale.

• Innovation recognized by donors with $787,000 additional funding for scale-up

​