Our Team
Henry K. Karanja Team Leader
Henry leads Urur Kaab work in Somaliland and Somalia, setting the Technical Assistance to Civil Society programme strategy, overseeing its implementation including needs assessment, setting priorities for civil society capacity building at both institutional and sector levels as well as quality assurance of the delivery of technical support to CSOs. Henry has a strong background in strategy development, operational planning, fundraising, capacity building as well as in advocacy, good/accountable governance programming and participatory approaches. He has previously worked as the Director of Programmes for one the largest (locally incorporated and led) non-profit organisation in Kenya where he was responsible for aligning corporate focus, defining core capabilities and articulating a comprehensive plan to achieve long-term effectiveness and sustainability. He has also worked as a programme management/accountable governance specialist with several international non-governmental organisations in Sudan, South Sudan and Sierra Leone.
Henry read law ( LLB. Hons.) from the University of Nairobi and obtained a postgraduate qualification from Kenya School of Law; he is licensed to practice law in Kenya and at the East Africa Court of Justice. He also holds professional qualifications in advocacy, monitoring and evaluation and human-rights based approaches.
Feysal Osman
Deputy Team Leader
Feysal has extensive knowledge and practical experience in networking, coalition-building and facilitating partnerships among civil society, building synergies with government agencies, donors and CSOs. He managed EU-funded support to civil society in Somalia, in partnership with three Somalia non-state actor networks, or platforms: South Central Non-State Actors (SOSCENSA), Puntland Non-State Actors Association (PUNSAA), and Somaliland Non-State Actors Forum (SONSAF). He also worked as a Somalia civic engagement specialist with Mercy Corps, where he led the youth engagement component of USAID’s Somali Youth Learner’s Initiative and was involved in groundbreaking research on youth-related violence. The research that he helped to conduct helped to inform policy recommendations that were presented to the US congress and which resulted in a strategic shift in programming.
Feysal is a graduate of the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University and worked in the DC area on research and development programs before moving to lead programs in Somalia in 2015. Feysal is fluent in Somali, English and Arabic
Khadra Ahmed
Program Assistant
Khadra Ahmed assists and supports the Urur Kaab programme in the capacity as Project Assistant. She supervises and supports the programme activities.
Khadra frequently partakes in capacity assessessments of Civil Society Organisations based in Somaliland. Prior to joining the Urur Kaab project team she worked with the SONSAF Forum where she assisted the election programme in 2017 held in Somaliland. She graduated from the New Generation University, where she obtained a postgraduate degree in Business Administration.
Ismail Omar
Program Administrator
Ismail is Urur Kaab’s Program Administrator. He is primarily responsible for the day-to-day administrative tasks and works collaboratively with all our experts and CSO partners to provide administrative and programmatic support, to ensure operational efficiency within the Urur Kaab programme.
Prior to joining the Urur Kaab team, Ismail worked with Saferworld as a Project Coordinator for the participatory governance and democratization project, a 5-million EUR project funded by DANIDA in partnership with three Somali Non-State Actors namely; SONSAF;PUNSAA, SOSCENSA and two electoral institutions: TPEC and NIEC. Ismail has gained deep knowledge of Somali Civil Society and he has over 10 years’ work relation with Somaliland and Somalia civil society. He worked as a youth trainer, civil society capacity building assistant, project administrator and he coordinated the implementation of several projects.
Ismail has done his postgraduate degree on Global Politics and Economics from the Hacettepe University in Ankara, Turkey. He is fluent in Somali, English and Turkish.
Mohamed Abdimalik
Senior M&E Expert
Mohamed Abdimalik is a monitoring, evaluation, and media professional with over 12 years of technical leadership experience managing multi-donor supported programs: USAID, EU, World Bank, UN and FCDO. Mohamed has proven expertise in program evaluation, design of M&E systems, organizational capacity assessments, design and delivery of M&E courses and workshops for humanitarian, government, and civil society actors in Somalia. Since 2010, Mohamed has led the design and implementation of more than 20 multi-sectoral evaluation and provided technical backstopping, coaching and mentorship support to dozens of local and national NGOs across all the federal member states of Somalia helping them to develop and implement M&E plans, data capture and reporting systems.
At Urur Kaab, Mohamed supports CSOs in Somalia and Somaliland to develop practical, efficient monitoring, evaluation, learning and research systems, approaches and tools through routine M&E gaps assessment, capacity building workshops and on job mentoring.
Yahye Khalif
Consultant
Innocent Misiko
Strategic planning, Organization Development and Change Management specialist
Innocent is a strategic planning, change management and organizational development specialist who is well-versed in local, national and international development dynamics. Over the last 16 years working in the Eastern Africa region, he has deepened his professional experience and skills through consulting assignments in strategy development, organizational capacity assessments, institutional strengthening, performance management and change implementation. Innocent has designed and implemented several change-management processes, supported organizations in conducting human and institutional capacity development. He has also led skills assessments and facilitated the development of appropriate solutions and sourcing strategies to close the skills and talent gaps.
He has taken a lead in facilitating strategic plans, change management processes and supporting small to complex institutions to create business awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, and reinforcement to maintain the changes throughout the project management life cycle. Some of the institutions that he has supported include regional intergovernmental organizations, government agencies, non-governmental organizations and the private sector.
Innocent has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from the United States International University- Africa Campus and Master of Arts Degree in Sociology from the University of Nairobi.
Susane
Administrative Department
Susanne works at FCG Sweden’s administrative department. She is responsible for project accounting, cost accounting, invoicing, project analysis, accruals, balance sheet account reconciliations, contact with auditors and fund request payments.
Susanne has gained vast experience from several EC-funded projects (such as CSD4 in Turkey, TACSO and the CSO project ‘Together’ in Ukraine, as well as several other EU-funded projects) and she is very familiar with EU procedures for financial management.
Susanne also has experience in working in fragile, post-conflict contexts. She is currently administrating a 5million EUR programme in Liberia, where she has trained local staff on our accounting system.
Abdikadir Askar
Communication Specialist
Abdikadir Askar joined our UrurKaab team as a communication expert to lead the Communication Capacity building for Somali Civil Society organisations. With over ten years of demonstrable track-record in strategic communications for both government and non-governmental organisations, he has carried out creative communications campaigns in post-conflict and transitional environments in the Eastern Africa region. Askar has significantly played in developing communication products for Oxfam GB, Adam Smith International (ASI), Health Poverty Action and King’s Global Health Partnerships
Askar holds an MA in Conflict, Development and Governance from the University of York (UK) and an MA in International Relations and Diplomacy from Cavendish University (Uganda). He also has a Postgraduate Diploma in Peace and Conflict Studies from the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (UoH), and he also graduated from Kampala International University with a degree in public administration.
Abdikadir has a strong passion for blogging and producing contents for Social Media. He has thus far written academic articles on governance and has recently released a Somali novel, KAS & KARAAN, a collection of fiction stories on contemporary youth issues. Outside of his work and study time, he enjoys reading novels, watches movies and closely follows news, opinions and analysis.
Jamie Smith
Program Director
Jamie Smith is the Program Director of the Urur Kaab program and the Head of FCG Sweden’s Good Governance Division. His specialisms include public administration reform, anti-corruption, public finance management, civil society development and performance improvement in the public sector. He has 10 years’ experience of managing complex international projects in multiple sectors, and holds a Masters in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He is originally from the UK but has lived and worked in 7 countries and speaks fluent Swedish and Spanish.
Joseph N. Kiarie
Senior Fundraising Expert
Joe is a director at International Fundraising Consultancy. He is a certified Fundraising Professional by the Institute of Fundraising, UK, with over 15 years’ experience in all aspects of fundraising, including, Development of fundraising strategies; Conducting fundraising audits, Fundraising training, Developing/managing technical proposals, Donor mapping; Building and managing donor relationships and Developing fundraising systems/structures. He has in-depth and practical experience working with institutional donors such as USAID, FCDO, BMZ, GAC, SIDA, DANIDA, EU, ECHO among others, Foundations & Trusts and High Net Worth Individuals. He has previously worked on behalf of various International development organisations in the UK as well as national and local NGOs in Africa. Joe is keen to support local and national not-for-profit organizations, particularly in Africa, to maximise their funding opportunities through diversification of their funding sources to build a sustainable and robust fundraising programme. Joe holds an MA in International Studies from the University of Birmingham, UK, Post Graduate Diploma in Armed Conflict, Bsc (Hons) in Food Science & Technology and a Professional Certification in Fundraising Management from the Institute of Fundraising (IoF) Academy, UK.