Our Team
We are a team dedicated to driving sustainable development in Africa's borderlands. We firmly believe that co-creation is key to achieving meaningful progress in these communities, which is why we work hand-in-hand with local organizations and individuals to develop innovative solutions that address their unique needs and challenges. By fostering these collaborative relationships, we are able to create lasting change that benefits everyone involved.
Zeynu Ummer is the Team Leader and Senior Chief Technical Adviser of the borderlands centre. He provides an overall strategic direction for the Centre's work on data, research, innovation, programme and strategic partnership and provides substantive leadership for the implementation of the Centre's Integrated Borderlands Resilience Offer. Zeynu leads on the alignment of the various work streams of ABC to ensure sustainable livelihood, peace and enhanced agency of the communities in Africa borderlands. Most importantly, zeynu leads ABC towards concrete delivery on leaving no one behind agenda 2030.
Prior to joining UNDP, Zeynu worked for the Ethiopian Government as State Minister for Peace, Commissioner General of the Ethiopian Police, Head of the Ethiopian Refugee Agency, including a diplomatic post in Kenya. Zeynu uses his longstanding experience in peace and security, diplomacy and development to lead this important undp flagship project. Academically, zeynu is holder of PhD degree in political economy.
PhD in Water Resources with 25 years experience in groundwater based climate resilient water supply project design and management in Africa, Asia and Latin America including 10 years of independent working at groundwater drill site level in remote locations of Angola, Zimbabwe, India and Uganda. Extensive engineering project management experiencing e.g. manager of 2000 waterwell programme in Mozambique and project engineer of water recharge and recycling programme in Madhya Pradesh India. Specialized knowledge of water, renewable energy and sustainable infrastructure design in Africa. Qualified Chartered Civil Engineer with engineering bachelors and MSc degrees. English and Portuguese speaker with strong commercial experience with procurement and project implementation. Globally recognized specialist in water with more than 50 international publications, books and an Honorary Professor at the University College London (UCL). Member of global boards and task forces for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including as a member of Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Engineering Sustainability journal board.
Kehinde Bolaji is Programme Manager/ Knowledge and Innovation Advisor at the Africa Borderlands Centre. Working with all units of the Borderlands Programme, he provides substantive leadership on programme management, integrated advisory services, partnership management, research, data and knowledge support. In particular, he shapes the conceptualization and operationalization of the ABC innovation work. Bolaji most recently served as UN Peace and Development Advisor (Caribbean) where he worked with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), its Technical Agencies and Member-States in designing strategies and in implementing programmes on community mediation, Prevention of Violent Extremism (PVE), counterterrorism, climate-related security risks mapping, as well as women and youth inclusion in peacebuilding mechanisms. Prior to that, he served as Governance and Peacebuilding Team Leader at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Nigeria. Prior to joining UNDP, Bolaji served as Political Affairs Officer at the Headquarters of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and as a Research Fellow at the National Defence College (Nigeria). He holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria and is an alumnus of the Peace and Security in Africa Programme (PASA) at Uppsala University, Sweden.
Kristoffer is a Partnerships and Programmes Specialist, providing support to design borderlands and cross-border programmes across 46 countries in Africa. Coordinating partnerships with the African Union, UN system and Regional Economic Communities on African Borderlands. Kristoffer has over 13 years of professional experience, including ten years at UNDP in RBA, CB, BPPS and BCPR, as well as the World Bank, in the public sector and academia. Specialization in supporting multi-dimensional and risk-informed development in borderlands and fragile and crisis-affected contexts; designing policies and programmatic tools for multi-dimensional conflict and risk analysis. Expertise in people management, innovation, UN interagency coordination, youth and women empowerment, community engagement and dialogue, social contracts, conflict early warning and prevention. Additional policy and programme expertise in innovative and pooled financing, development planning and communication. People 2030 champion and former UNDP representative on the UNDP Staff Council. MA in International Affairs and Security Policy (Columbia University), MSc in Population and Development Studies (London School of Economics) and BA in Political Science and Public Administration (Konstanz University).
Lily Murei is a Policy and Research Officer at the UNDP Africa Borderlands Centre. A programme management specialist, Ms. Murei has vast experience in inclusive program management, policy technical advisory, program assessments and action research, result-based monitoring and evaluation and project information management for evidence-based reporting. Before joining the UN, she worked with various national and international organizations in the development, research and policy space. Most recently, she worked as a Technical Specialist for the UNDP REDD+ Project; prior to that, she coordinated the UNEP/UNOPs /UNDP Switch Africa Green project in Kenya. Other organizations Ms. Murei has worked for include IFRC, Global Communities, Kenya Private Sector Alliance, Management Sciences for Health, UNV with UNFPA, among others. Ms. Murei holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Project Planning and Management, specializing in Monitoring and Evaluation, from the University of Nairobi; a master's degree in Project Planning and Management from the University of Nairobi; and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Sociology and Geography from Egerton University. Ms. Murei started her career as a volunteer to coordinate the implementation of a project in her home county to rehabilitate water catchment areas and promote peace between farmers and pastoralists.
Enock is the Solutions Mapping Analyst, Africa Borderlands Centre. He has over 10 years' experience in innovation, development and humanitarian work. Enock previously worked with WFP. Prior to that, he worked with the United Nations Monitoring Mechanism (UNMM) in its cross-border operations in Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Turkey. Before joining UNMM, Enock taught at the University of Nairobi, the National Defense College & the Defense Staff College of Kenya. Mr. Omweri is a holder of a bachelor's degree in communication, Master of Arts and PhD in International Studies from the University of Nairobi. He also holds professional qualifications in Information Management and remote sensing. He currently leads innovation at the Africa Borderlands Centre.
Antony is Data Analyst at the Africa Borderlands Centre and is responsible for the delivery of cutting-edge data, analysis and knowledge on critical borderlands policy and programming. He has over 13 years progressively responsible experience in data management and exploratory analysis, capacity building, database systems, information management systems, M&E systems development, accountability and quality assurance mechanisms. His recent appointment was with UNFPA where he helped to coordinate programme monitoring and evaluation for a group of national, faith and community-based partners. Antony holds a BA (Social Work) and MSc. degree in Social Statistics from the University of Nairobi.
Confred provides Programme Management Support to the Africa Borderlands team in Financial Management (Programmes & Operations) Administration and Procurement. Her most recent assignment was with UNV Regional Office for East and Southern Africa (UNV ESARO), where she supported the administrative operation and financial management covering the 23 UNV Country Field Units under the Regional Office. Prior to that, she worked with the UNV Somalia Field Unit as Programme Assistant in charge of UN Volunteers mobilization and management. Before joining UNV, Confred worked with UNDP Somalia in Administration. Confred holds a MA in Communication Studies from The University of Nairobi and has recently embarked on a second Master's, MSc in International Relations from the University of East London. She is a holder of a Btech in Information Studies from the University of South Africa, ACCA Diploma in Accounting and Business, Certificate in Result-Focused Programming (UNSSC), Certificate in Monitoring and Evaluation, and numerous other certifications in Project Management.
Oratile Moloko joined the Africa Borderlands Centre as a Data Innovation Analyst as part of the 2022 African Young Women Leaders' Fellowship cohort. She contributes to the ABC data workstream by surveying the borderlands data landscape, mapping the ecosystem, and identifying possible data partnerships for the Centre.
She holds an MSc in Policy Analytics and a BSc in Economics, both from the University of Exeter.