Who we are

Observatory Advisory Group

Brenda Lazarus: Brenda is an Economist with FAO’s Subregional Office for Eastern Office in Nairobi, Kenya. Brenda advises on emergency needs assessments, early warning systems, and food security analysis to advance FAO’s Early Warning Early Action (EWEA) programmes in the East Africa region. She also co-leads with IGAD the regional Food Security and Nutrition Working Group (FSNWG). In addition to her current position with FAO, Brenda has also previously worked for both WFP and FEWS NET and has extensive experience with all three agencies in setting up food security early warning systems in a variety of contexts including East and West Africa, as well as Yemen.

Galma Dabasso: Galma is Vice Chair of the Marsabit County Pastoral Association, a Community-Based Organization established to address the challenges facing pastoral communities in the county. He was a teacher and educational administrator by profession, working for many years in Sololo in northern Kenya. After his public service, he worked in conflict resolution and peacebuilding roles in his community, serving as Chairman of Peace in his sub-County and collectively resolving many years of conflicts among pastoral communities through mediation and arbitration so pastoral communities today share resources and resolve issues through dialogue.

Hassan Bashir: Hassan has held executive positions over the last 25 years in the insurance and technology sectors in East Africa. He is an entrepreneur with a deep interest in the linkages between research, enterprise value creation, social-economic development, and good governance. He has founded a number of startups and scaled several successful enterprises in insurance, takaful, pharmaceutical, healthcare, and tech and innovation sectors.  He is currently the Founder and Executive Director of Agent for Inclusive Insurance Development (AIID) focusing on mitigating climate risk and preparing society to deal better and sustainably with the adverse effects of climate risk.

Jarso Mokku: Jarso is Chief Executive Officer of the Drylands Learning and Capacity Building Initiative (DLCI) – a knowledge management and advocacy resource organization registered in Kenya with the aim of improving policy and practice in the Horn of Africa – and Secretary of the Pastoralist Parliament Group in Kenya’s Parliament. Born in the drylands of Kenya, he is an accomplished pastoralist leader with over 30 years of experience in development management, amplifying the voices of Indigenous and dryland communities, championing rights-based approaches and advocating for pro-pastoralist policy reforms that improve the well-being of dryland communities. He is passionate about community cohesion, climate change resilience, human rights, and dryland poverty eradication.   His leadership embodies integrity, innovation, and a deep care for humanity, nature, and the environment.

Joy Kiiru: Joy is Senior Lecturer at the University of Nairobi School of Economics. She is also technical advisor for Research Institutions Strengthening (SRIA) under the Research and Innovation Systems in Africa (RISA) programme funded by the FCDO. Her research interests are in Social Protection, Trade Policy, Microfinance, Gender and Development and Food security. Joy is an expert in evaluative research, using RCTs among other evaluation methodologies. She is passionate about linking research to policy with a view to inform evidence-based policy making.   She is a nominated working group member of the African Scientific Research and Innovation Council (ASRIC), which is the research and innovation body of the African Union. She was formerly part time Policy and Research Advisor for J-PAL Gender and Economic Agency Initiative.

Khadar Sheik Mohamed Nur: Khadar  is Director for Disaster Risk Management in the Somalia Disaster Management Agency (SoDMA) – where he has worked in different disaster risk reduction (DRR) roles since 2011. He is also National Sendai DRR focal point for the Federal Republic of Somalia; Government Coordinator for the African Risk Capacity Program in Somalia; Chair of the National Technical Working Group for Anticipatory Action; Leader of the National Task Force for the Implementation of the Early Warnings for All Initiative in Somalia; Chair of the National Hydrometeorology Working Group; and member of the IGAD Disaster Risk Management Technical Advisory Committee. He is passionate about fighting poverty by reducing vulnerability through quality services. 

Nelly Maonde: Nelly is Regional Advisor for East and Southern Africa at the Start Network. Nelly advises and leads Start Network’s Anticipatory Actions and Early Actions in the two regions. She also coordinates interagency collaborations through regional forums such as the Regional Anticipatory Action Working Groups (RAAWGs), Dialogue Platforms for Anticipatory Action, and Climate and Disaster Risk Financing and Insurance (CDRFI). Nelly has extensive regional experience working in Central, East, West, and Southern Africa and country experience leading humanitarian action and sustainable and resilient food systems initiatives. Nelly’s passion lies in accurate early warning systems and innovative financing for proactive and locally-led humanitarian action. Her relentless commitment to saving lives and overcoming Africa’s climate risks and disasters defines her leadership and contributions.