Operations · Gender Lens · Systems Thinking · AI Integration
Operations Strategist for NGOs and Social Enterprises
I help mission-driven organisations run better by combining 10+ years of professional experience across the IT, education, development sectors with a growing expertise in AI-augmented systems that free up people to do work that actually matters.
At a glance
Actively pursuing AI operations skills, including prompt engineering, workflow automation, and AI evaluation frameworks, to bridge the gap between operational leadership and the AI-transformed workplace.
Background
I am an operations leader who thinks in systems. That means I do not just fix the problem in front of me. I look at how the parts connect, where the pressure points are, and what changes at root level will hold over time.
A gender lens runs through everything I do. I ask who benefits, who is left out, and how systems can be designed from the start to include rather than compensate. That orientation comes from direct experience with UNDP Somalia's Gender Unit, in HIV prevention work, and in research with vulnerable communities. It shapes how I approach every operational challenge.
My work is grounded in three core convictions: that education is a pathway to liberation; that meaningful development cannot be achieved without gender empowerment;; and that when applied thoughtfully, technology should enhance human capability rather than replace it.. I have carried those principles across school operations, international development programmes, census fieldwork, and research coordination.
I am now deliberately adding AI operations skills to that foundation because the organisations doing the most important work in education and gender empowerment deserve the same operational advantages as the private sector, built responsibly and with equity at the centre.
Career journey
What I offer
Whether you need operational clarity, support integrating AI tools into your work, or gender-responsive systems design, I offer practical engagements designed for NGOs, social enterprises, and development organisations.
A structured review of how your organisation currently runs: workflows, handoffs, documentation and reporting, with a practical roadmap for improvement. A systems lens that examines root causes, not just symptoms. Suitable for organisations scaling, restructuring, or preparing for AI integration.
Help your team understand which operations are ready for AI augmentation, which are not, and how to implement AI tools without breaking what is working. Ethical and governance considerations are built in, with particular attention to gender equity and inclusion in AI-augmented systems.
Operational support for international programmes, field research, training events, and multi-stakeholder initiatives. Drawing on direct experience coordinating programmes across Kenya, East Africa, and with international partners in education, environmental governance, and empowerment.
Work history
Ten-plus years across operations, research, and international development, with each role building skills that are directly relevant to AI-augmented organisational work in education and gender empowerment.
Led end-to-end school operations for 7+ years, from strategic planning and financial oversight to staff management, process design, and stakeholder engagement. In an education context, every operational decision ultimately affects what children learn and how teachers work.
Supported business development, administrative operations, supply chain, and communications for a development consultancy firm working across social impact sectors.
Co-facilitated virtual learning programmes and developed curriculum content for professional development inside one of India's largest technology companies — early experience at the intersection of technology, education, and organisational change.
Managed census operations for over 1,200 enumerators across Juja Sub-County during Kenya's national census. Population data is the backbone of evidence-based development planning and gender-responsive policy.
Coordinated and managed field research at Kangemi Health Centre targeting 212 participants, supervising a team of six. A study at the intersection of gender, health, and social inequality.
Baseline survey for DFPA on LGBTI youth in Kisumu County. Research at the intersection of gender, identity, and empowerment.
Conducted field research for a multi-country DfID-funded project spanning Nairobi, Dhaka, and Kathmandu. Documentation work tied to human rights, justice, and the empowerment of survivors.
Supported UNDP Somalia's Gender Unit: conducting research, developing training frameworks, and coordinating across departments and UN agencies. A formative experience applying a gender lens inside a large international institution in a fragile context.
Planned, coordinated, and implemented an international training programme funded by SIDA, bridging Swedish programme design with Kenyan environmental governance realities. A direct intersection of operations, environment, and international development.
Lived and worked in India for nearly a year, coordinating virtual learning programmes and supporting a global diversity conference inside one of India's largest IT companies at the time.
Lived and worked in Ghana, as a volunteer, conducting HIV and AIDS peer education and supporting people living with the disease. Work at the intersection of gender, health, and community empowerment.
Academic formation
My formal education has been international from the start; attending an internationally-oriented university in Kenya and, gaining a postgraduate qualification in South Africa. These experiences reflect a long-standing orientation toward crossing borders and contexts.
Concentrated in Industrial/Organisational Psychology and Management. USIU's international student body and American liberal arts framework made this a genuinely cross-cultural educational experience, a foundation that shapes how I understand people, systems, and organisational behaviour to this day.
Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, a qualification that formalised skills I had already practised in India and Kenya, and connects directly to my work in education and empowerment. Studying in post-apartheid South Africa added a powerful context for understanding structural inequality and systems-level transformation.
Giving back
A thread running through my entire career: showing up where it matters, even when there is no salary attached. These experiences span education, health, environmental needs, and basic community support; the three pillars made visible.
Ensured consistent monthly water supply for the children's home while addressing food security needs by providing essential staples, beans and maize, as situations required. Practical, unglamorous, necessary work.
Taught English weekly to upper primary school children at the remand centre. Education as a right, even for children the system has already marginalised.
Taught English informally at least once a month to children aged 8 to 18 at the orphanage, while working in Hyderabad. Carrying the education commitment across borders.
Collaborated with a team to support an elderly people's home: engaging residents, fundraising, managing resources, and purchasing essential items.
Conducted HIV and AIDS peer education training in high schools, researched curriculum for youth prevention programmes, and supported self-help groups for people living with HIV/AIDS. Gender and health empowerment in practice.
Writing and thinking
Writing is how I process what I am learning and share it with others navigating the same questions at the intersection of operations, gender, and AI in mission-driven organisations.
Before AI, we called it "silent failure" too, when a process looks correct on paper but something has gone wrong downstream. Here is what operational leadership in education taught me about catching it early.
Coming soonA gender lens is not an add-on to responsible AI, it is foundational. What development sector experience teaches us about designing systems that include by default rather than compensate later.
Coming soonI am not pretending to be an AI expert. I am a senior operations leader who is deliberately and transparently adding AI skills. Here is what that journey actually looks like from Nairobi in 2025.
Coming soonGet in touch
Open to operations consulting, AI readiness engagements, programme management roles, and remote/international opportunities with NGOs and purpose-driven organisations working in education, youth development, public health and social research, gender empowerment and international development.