Project Trainers

Catherine Gicheru is an International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) Knight Fellow currently spearheading the Africa Women Journalism Project which is driving the coverage of underreported gender, health and development issues affecting marginalized groups and strengthening the voices of women journalists by helping them to become innovators in their newsrooms. She was the pan-African lead with Code for Africa’s Academy and Communities programme. A veteran journalist with two of the leading media organisations in the region, Catherine co-founded East Africa’s first budget and public finance fact checking and verification initiative, PesaCheck. She is a Nieman Fellow, a Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism Fellow and an IWMF Courage in Journalism award winner.

Gitonga M’Mbijjewe is the Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Graduate School of Media and Communications. His role includes strategy, corporate affairs, public relations, partnerships, communications, student affairs, and other varying administrative capacities. His prior engagements involved Campus Director at Edulink International College, Kenya, founding Assistant Dean of Students (Nairobi Campus), and later founder of the Office of Corporate Affairs, Kenya Methodist University. With a background in the agricultural sciences, his education has focused on environment and technology. He is currently pursuing a PhD in the Institute of Climate Change and Adaptation at the University of Nairobi, with a focus on remote sensing, digital data, blockchain and conservation. His expertise are in strategy, corporate affairs, public relations, partnerships, communications, student affairs, remote sensing, digital data, blockchain and conservation.

Verah Okeyo is an award-winning global health reporter and editor with ten years of experience in mainstream media in East and Central Africa. She is also a media trainer who has partnered with organisations such as the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the Agakhan Graduate School of Media and the Training Centre in Communication. Verah was the founding editor of Diversity Equity and Inclusion desk at Nation Media Group, East and Central Africa, and has attracted major grants from Microsoft, Google and Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting. She holds a BA in Media Communication and Technology with IT with a minor in Creative and Performing arts from Kenya’s Maseno University and a MSC in global media and communications from the London School of Economics and Political Science in the United Kingdom. Verah other postgraduate diplomas in education and Bible and Christian theology Together with her godmother Dorothy, she runs the Okeyo Foundation which educates orphaned children up to secondary schools in Nyanza in Kenya. She tweets as @iamverahokeyo

Emmanuel Yegon is a Multimedia Storyteller and the Co-Founder and Communications Director at Mobile Journalism Africa. He is a Mobile Journalism trainer and digital Communications consultant. He has trained young journalists from across Africa on mobile journalism, has worked with the US Embassy Nairobi in Training American corner staff on social media and mobile storytelling, worked with UNDP Kenya in training their Amkeni Wakenya partners on smartphone storytelling. Also worked with Groots Kenya, Media Focus on Africa, Code For Africa in smartphone storytelling and training their staff. He has worked with different brands and media personalities in managing and running their digital platforms; Yegon has written an Award-winning animation film- Tishala, a story based on the need to end Female Genital Mutilation. Tishala was among the three winners in UN Women’s Generation Equality Film Festival in Mexico, April 2021. He also worked on a Mobile Film, NUMB on postpartum depression which earned jury mention here in Kenya and a screening in Rwanda in 2019. Yegon trained the first cohort of mobile journalists to join Newsrooms in Kenya under the Aga Khan University, GSMC and Facebook program. He is currently co-developing curriculum on constructive journalism with DW – Akadamie.

Faith Oneya is a prolific creative writer and editor, currently with Nation Media Group, Kenya, where she has worked for the last eight years. She has a decade-long experience in market research and is also a trainer on an array of topics, including media relations, content management, communications, storytelling techniques, opinion writing, change management, among others. Her short stories have been featured in several anthologies, the latest being Nairobi Noir (2020) which also featured the works of Prof Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Peter Kimani, Kinyanjui Kombani, Makena Onjerika, among others. Her children’s book, The Girl with a Big Heart (2018), was approved for use as a class reader by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development. Faith holds a MA in Digital Journalism from Aga Khan University-Kenya and a MA in Comms Studies from University of Nairobi-Kenya. She also holds a B.Ed in English & Lit from University of Nairobi, Kenya. She has a Certificate in Online Journalism from the Radio Netherlands Training Centre in the Netherlands. She holds a Media Management Certificate from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. She’s also a certified life coach with the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and currently serves as the Kenyan coach in the Women in News Leadership Accelerator Programme, run by the World Association on Newspapers (WANIFRA).

Judie Kaberia is a multiple-award-winning journalist is the Executive Director of the Association of Media Women in Kenya (AMWIK). With over 16 years of experience in journalism, Judie is deeply passionate about public policy, healthcare, human rights, transitional justice and gender equality. She is a 2015 fellow of the prestigious Edward R. Murrow programme for Journalists (Washington DC) and a fellow of the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime (Austria). She is a mentor of the U.S Embassy, Kenya mentorship program for upcoming female journalists, a consultant media trainer with the Media Council of Kenya, Wayamo Foundation - Germany and the Aga Khan Graduate School of Media and Communications. A holder of a Master’s Degree in New Media, Governance and Democracy from the University of Leicester (U.K), Judie chairs the Africa Check Foundation board in Kenya. She is an author of a booklet: ‘Justice and Peace in the Kenyan Eye’ through the sponsorship of the German Embassy in Kenya.

Eric Mugendi is the program manager for Sub-Saharan Africa at Meedan, a software development startup that builds tools for journalists and human rights organizations. In this role, Eric coordinates Meedan's work and partnerships in the region, supporting journalists, newsrooms and civil society organizations in their work to make Africa a more informed and better understood place. He was previously the managing editor at PesaCheck, East Africa's first public finance faft-checking initiative. Eric has written for The EastAfrican, and his work has been featured in El País, BBC, Al Jazeera and the Mail & Guardian. He is a graduate of the Bloomberg Media Initiative for Africa's financial journalism programme.

Moses Kemibaro is the Founder & CEO of Dotsavvy Kenya's first digital business agency. Previously, he was Sales Director at Opera Ads, The Perform Group, and InMobi. He was also Founding Regional Manager at Dealfish East Africa which became OLX Kenya and is now known as Jiji Kenya. Moses is a multiple award-winning echBlogger and Analyst at MosesKemibaro.com where he rants and raves about all things digital in Kenya and Africa. He is also a regular speaker, moderator and panelist at technology and media event as well as a seasoned digital marketing trainer.

Chris Orwa is a Data Scientist with 10 years’ experience spanning media, banking, telecommunication and technology. Currently Chris Orwa is the Head of AI at StepWise where he oversees strategic AI initiatives for the company. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Kenyatta University.

Bernard Mwinzi is the Managing Editor, Weekend Editions at the Nation Media Group. He is also the editor of the Health and Science desk at the group, where he leads a small number of multimedia reporters tasked with generating exclusive content for the group’s platforms in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Mwinzi is a career journalist, ardent reader, (irritating) questioner of everything under the sun, and seeker of truth. His motivations stem from a desire to acquire knowledge, shape opinion and hold power to account

Musinguzi Blanshe holds a Master of Science in Data Journalism, from Columbia Journalism School. His journalistic work has featured in The New York Times, The Africa Report, Rest of World, Pulitzer Center and many other publications. In the lead up and after January 2021 presidential elections in Uganda, Musinguzi led a team of journalists at Uganda Radio Network, a multi-media news agency in Kampala in telling insightful data driven stories from election data.

Silas Muwonge is a Mobile Journalism editor with Minority Africa and a Communications Officer at the Media Challenge Initiative, a youth-driven non-profit building the next generation of journalists in Uganda. He is also a digital content creator, social media manager, digital marketer and mobile journalism trainer at Jumuiya Kiswahili Media Ltd. He is pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Journalism and Communication Studies at Cavendish University-Uganda.. Muwonge believes good journalism is where stories are explained rather than reported. He believes NextGen journalists can change this notion by embracing disruptive media trends like data visualization, mobile journalism and interactive storytelling.