ACHCGA Secretariat

Imali Ngusale

strategic lead

ngusale@achcga.org

Imali Ngusale is a a visionary leader with 17+ years’ experience advancing health, gender, and climate equity across the Global South. She drives strategies addressing Loss and Damage, empowering women, youth, and marginalized communities to lead transformative solutions at the intersection of climate, health, and justice.

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Gloria Gwahalla

Technical & Legal Advisor

gwahalla@achcga.org

Damary Gwahala serves as legal advisor to ACHCGA, with a dedicated focus on gender justice, enhanced community livelihoods, and resilience strategy development. She is currently affiliated with Gikandi & Company Advocates. She mobilizes resources, aligns organizational and donor objectives, and implements transformative empowerment projects. Her work advances community interests through strategic legal advocacy.

Bernard Maswach
Bernard Maswach

Partnership lead

benardmaswach@achcga.org

Bernard Maswach, drives transformative alliances to tackle climate, health, and gender challenges. He combines academic insight from the University of Padova with practical expertise, he is in charge of  widening ACHCGA’s memberships  and consortium partnerships.

Joy Wekesa
Joy Wekesa

Lead ESG

wekesa@achcga.org

Joy Wekesa leads efforts to integrate Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles within ACHCGA, while actively engaging diverse stakeholders. She applies her expertise to design evidence-based policies, facilitate multi-stakeholder partnerships, and implement solutions addressing critical global and regional challenges. Her work ensures organizational accountability, promotes sustainability, and strengthens ACHCGA’s capacity to deliver impactful programs at the intersection of climate, health, and gender justice.

Vincent Ouma

Compliance lead

ouma@achcga.org

Vincent collaborates closely with the management team to ensure that ACHCGA’s operations, programs, and partnerships maintain the highest standards of integrity, transparency, and efficiency. In his role as Compliance Lead, he strengthens governance frameworks and provides strategic administrative support, enhancing the organization’s credibility and enabling ACHCGA to maximize its impact in advancing climate, health, and gender justice across vulnerable communities.

Dennis Kamunde

IT Lead

kamunde@achcga.org

 


Dennis Kamunde is a skilled IT professional providing essential technical support to ACHCGA, ensuring seamless operational and digital infrastructure. In addition to his technical expertise, he actively contributes to strengthening organizational capacity and advancing initiatives at the intersection of health, climate, and gender justice. His work enables ACHCGA to implement evidence-based, equitable programs that effectively reach and support vulnerable communities.

Johari Lisa
child ambassador

lisa@achcga.org

Johari Lisa, is a fearless, 14 year old  climate advocate and Child Ambassador at ACHCGA, championing environmental sustainability and youth-led action. Passionate about raising awareness on climate change and Loss and Damage, she amplifies the voices of young people, inspiring global action to protect communities and the Earth’s most vulnerable.

Rosebell Barbara

Lead Resource Mobilization

barbara@achcga.org

Rosebell is a dedicated  resource mobilization specialist with a deep passion for environmental sustainability and improving community livelihoods and fostering climate change resilience strategies.  She mobilizes resources, aligns organizational and donor priorities, and implements transformative projects that empower communities and advance environmental, social, and climate justice

Arale Mohammed

Lead YOUTH ENGAGEMENT

mohammed@achcga.org

As Youth Ambassador, Arale Mohammed represents the voices and aspirations of young people within our movement. He helps connect the mission of advancing climate action, health, and gender justice with the passion and creativity of youth, inspiring his peers to engage in building a healthier planet and a fairer future. 

Grace Mageka

Lead Research ADVISOR

mageka@achcga.org

Grace Mageka holds a PhD and serves as the Research Lead at the African Center for Health, Climate & Gender Justice Alliance (ACHCGA), overseeing the research agenda for all programs and policies. She is a distinguished Pan-African youth advocate, mentor, and peer motivator, she is deeply committed to social change, gender equality, and women’s rights. 

Board Members

Professor Samwel Wakibi

Chairman of the Board

Professor Wakibu is Chief Advisor at ACHCGA, providing the Board with strategic guidance on governance, organizational direction, and evidence-based programmatic priorities. He concurrently serves at the University of Nairobi’s Department of Geography, Population, and Environmental Studies, where he conducts research on environmental change, population dynamics, and climate-related risks. His combined expertise ensures that ACHCGA’s interventions are scientifically informed, policy-relevant, and responsive to the needs of vulnerable communities facing climate-induced challenges.

Esther Nyakiri

gender & human rights advisor

Esther Nyakiri is a distinguished gender justice champion and accomplished entrepreneur who provides strategic guidance and oversight as a valued member of the ACHCGA Board. She advises the organization on the design and implementation of gender justice campaigns, policy initiatives, and funding proposals. Esther is deeply committed to advancing the intersectionality of gender, health, and climate, ensuring that programs are inclusive, evidence-based, and impactful across vulnerable communities

Professor Eliud Okumu Ongowo

Board Member and Advisor for Loss and Damage Assessment

Professor Okumu guides ACHCGA in developing proposals and assessments that integrate gender, health, and justice lenses into loss and damage (L&D) analysis.  He also proactively identifies and brokers partnerships with relevant organizations, bodies, networks, and experts (OBNEs) to leverage complementary expertise, mobilize non-financial support, and amplify the Alliance’s impact. Professor Okumu is a renowned researcher on DRR and Loss and Damage. 

James Maina Thonjo

youth engagement advisor

James is a Senior Climate Change Officer and Youth Focal Point for the State Department of Environment and Climate Change at the Ministry of Environment. He serves on the UNFCCC ExCom and volunteers to mentor youth at ACHCGA. He also provides guidance on how ACHCGA contributes to the National Climate Change Action Plan 2023-2027 and fosters strategic partnerships, develops innovative approaches for youth engagement, and volunteers to support community-based environmental initiatives that advance climate resilience, sustainability, and inclusive decision-making.

Marco Felsberger

Fundraising Advisor

Marco Felsberger is a seasoned expert with almost 20 years of experience in resilience and risk management. He is currently a lecturer at three universities of applied sciences. His diverse career began in the Austrian Army and extended into the finance industry, where he worked as a Security Risk Manager. At SAP, Marco served as the Subregional Head of Physical Security and Business Continuity Management. He then spent eight years as the Head of Group Resilience for the global logistics company Gebrüder Weiss. Today, Marco is a Senior Advisor at Prewave, an AI technology company specializing in supply chain transparency, resilience, and sustainability.

His focus areas are practical application of System Thinking, Resilience and Complexity Theory for holistic solutions and strategic planning.

Marie-Claire Graf

climate action advisor

Marie-Claire Graf is an environmental justice activist, former Swiss climate negotiator and co-founder of the Youth Negotiators Academy (YNA). It’s her aspiration to enable intergenerational leadership by supporting young people to be meaningfully, impactfully and effectively engaged in decision-making processes to create a momentum for change. She was initiating and is leading several associations and movements on the intersections of climate action, youth and women empowerment, food systems transformation and education such as Sustainability Week International or Youth Constituency YOUNGO of UN Climate Change.