Kazi Mghendi
PROJECT MANAGER, THE GIRL CHILD & HER LONG WALK TO FREEDOM

Kazi is passionate about leadership development at all levels and uses her experience and expertise to identify and support community-led solutions to ending injustices caused by poverty and inequalities. With over 12 years of experience in humanitarian, leadership training, social development, community development, and financial inclusion, she leverages her expertise to solve some of the world’s challenging and complex issues, including improving education standards in rural communities in Kenya. Kazi joins the Girl Child Long Walk Team as a Project Manager to support the project and its mission to liberate our societies from patriarchal beliefs, values, and cultures that have seen girls and women as lesser humans in society for generations. Her focus and passion is in international development, leadership coaching, fundraising, partnerships/relationship management, project/program management, systems design, and strategic thinking to solve community challenges.

Kazi founded Elimu Fanaka, a non-profit organization impacting public primary schools in rural underserved communities in Kenya through improving access to quality education and using systems change to create sustainable communities. She previously worked at Acumen, managing their East Africa Fellows Program and Academy, at Ongoza Institute as Stakeholder Engagement Manager, and at Adaptive Change Advisors as a Project Manager.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in International Development with a concentration in Integrated Community Development from Daystar University and a Master’s in International Relations – Diplomacy and Foreign Affairs at the United States International University.