About Janet Mawiyoo
Janet Mawiyoo’s life journey has been inspired by a strong personal belief that everyone, irrespective of their color, race, background, gender, etc., deserves to live a dignified life and achieve their reason for being on this planet.
After an early exposure in her professional career within the social sector to different challenges faced by many vulnerable groups in Kenya, she soon realized that the scale of poverty and its manifestations were huge, hence approaches that pursue systemic changes rooted in local communities and context, are still more effective in tackling poverty. Local organizations also offer more opportunities for more scaled-up changes right from the community level, than many common ‘palliative’ types of interventions that are witnessed in the social sector.
Riding on GAC, Janet’s interventions benefit immensely from having spent over thirty years in different sectors, including her very early years in government, with a bilateral organization, and her rich exposure to both local and international organizations. She acknowledges the fact that funders, have a lot to do with the success or failure of what happens in the development space, and has been intentional in taking an interest in engaging with diverse and progressive funders, who are genuinely interested in reflecting on areas they can work differently, in order to be more effective in delivering sustainable programmes within the African context. She recognizes the importance of working with government departments for many systemic large-scale changes, in efforts to do service delivery for the majority of vulnerable groups, as well as sees the ShiftthePower movement as a great starting point for those development actors who want to interrogate their values and ways of working, and be more intentional about working in more effective and inclusive ways.
She is passionate and a strong believer in the place of African institutions in the continent, as they have great potential to be relevant in responding in lasting ways to the unique challenges the continent faces in seeking an equitable and just society for the majority of its citizens. Her belief in the power of African institutions was certainly tried and tested during her 17 years working as the Executive Director of KCDF.
Based on her expansive development experience, Janet thus comes across as a values-driven and authentic leader.
She stands out as someone who truly believes in the power of developing great and effective teams and strives to encourage organizations to invest in developing an organizational culture that is aligned with the mission they are pursuing in their work.
Her belief in a better world for everyone, especially within the African continent, and propelled by her deep desire to share the learnings and experiences gleaned over many years, Janet, upon stepping down as the KCDF Executive Director, decided to continue to pursue her life purpose by supporting leaders and organizations going through similar experiences as she did in her 30+ years in the sector through a consulting outfit by the name Galvanizing Africa Consult (GAC).
How Janet Works:
- Listening to what is being said and what is not explicitly being said.
- Being observant at all times to understand what’s going on around her or where she is working.
- Strives to make a positive difference in whatever she touches.
- Always works with conviction’ and integrity’.
- Whatever else she does, she believes she should never lose her authenticity in how she presents or carries herself.
Experiences that have shaped Janet’s work life:
Janet is no ordinary consultant. Most, if not all her work is inspired by her lived experiences in both her personal and professional life over the last three decades. Janet thus brings not just professional inputs in her assignments, but often conviction from her experiences, about what she may be advocating for.
Some highlights:
- Janet grew up and has lived in both urban and rural Kenya, having been brought up by a mother who was a teacher and later became a Headmistress, and a father who was a teacher and later became an Assistant Education Officer. Due to work demands especially on her father’s side, their family moved from place to place, a factor which in retrospect, made her appreciate the challenges of poverty across many different communities. Her mother’s determination to hold the family together, grow and manage family assets, not thinking of herself as a woman who needs to sit back and be on the receiving end, as is often the case with many traditional cultures around her, made her embrace women’s empowerment at a personal level. Whenever Janet has an opportunity, she mentors young women against thinking of themselves as mere recipients of men’s ‘generosity’, but as full human beings equally made in God’s image (like men), with all capabilities to rise to any level and achieve their dreams.
- Working with international NGOs, which Janet did for over a decade, Janet was exposed to a variety of programme interventions among communities, aimed at addressing different challenges that communities experience in different contexts. She began to appreciate the importance of ‘context’ when development practitioners attempt to figure out how to intervene at grassroot levels, in the name of helping the poor. This experience helped her over the years understand the importance of generating solutions to the challenges communities experience, as much as possible, with them, and in some cases be deliberate in creative ways to help them regain their voice (where communities have lost it), which has often happened due to the bad practices those of us in the aid sector have propagated.
- Janet also witnessed many cases where despite the good intentions of many development actors working with communities, sustaining community projects once the organization (e.g. an INGO) is no longer operating in a particular geography, was difficult. She also observed that community expectations for INGOs working at community level (on the ground) were more likely to be higher as they saw them as being ‘better’ resourced and able to do projects for them. Such expectations were much lower when a community member they knew was running a small local NGO. In this latter case, communities in the area of operation were more likely to be willing to contribute to the success of any projects they had proposed to undertake in response to their issues. A major insight for Janet as she observed some of these dynamics, is that perception is everything! What we think of ourselves as development practitioners is one thing, but what communities think of us is an equally important factor to consider, when deciding where and how we work.
- Exposure to a lot of work when supporting the growth of local NGOs across Kenya especially in early to mid 2000s, brought many other reflections and questions which bothered her, as she began to grow in her career and was keen to explore development approaches that can bring about change at scale. She wondered for example,
- ‘What can make local NGOs desire to grow their capacity, not because of donor pressure or as a carrot to get more funding, but for the sake of wanting to make a difference among the communities where they work?
- ‘How can I support local organizations in such a way that they genuinely desire to strengthen their internal capabilities, so that they are able to be effective in their programmes and be able to attract more funding for scaled up operations?”
- ‘How does one grow a committed team and build a supportive culture for the mission you set out to fulfill?’ …, etc.
These and many other questions made her take an interest in Organizational Development (OD)and eventually got a qualification not only in Process Consultation, but also majored in OD for her Master’s programme in Manchester University. All these programmes enhanced her capacity to deal with issues around how lasting change happens in organizations and the people in them.
The climax in her lived-in exposure in working as a development worker was most tested and challenged when she took over the leadership of KCDF, a national foundation for 17 years. The pressure to be a credible and well governed local organization, raise resources locally and internationally (and keep donors happy!), grow and retain an effective and motivated team, explore alternative resources for the organization to avoid being donor dependent, etc., was enough to help her understand the near burn-out experiences of NGO leaders occupying similar roles. This is a major area that requires the attention it does not receive currently.
- The interaction with many philanthropic organizations internationally in conferences and different forums made Janet desire to explore and understand what African Philanthropy was and how different or similar it was to other contexts. Janet has always been inspired by the way many local communities in Kenya live with and amongst each other, sharing whatever they have in both good and bad times, coming together whenever there are funerals and weddings, hence ensuring affected families are not overtaken by the demands these occasions put on their immediate families. Janet has witnessed how neighbors ensure a woman’s farm is ploughed and planted when she is predisposed following the birth of a child, and to make sure she does not miss out on the expected harvest like the rest of the community members. Experiences like these have taught Janet the unique characteristics of African giving, which is not limited to those who have much. Everyone has something to give and shows solidarity with others in their community who may be going through different challenges. Remaining open to learn how different communities practice their philanthropy, has thus always been a great experience.
Janet has served in several boards, largely in the non-profit sector, which have given her a first-hand opportunity to appreciate the complexities of governance faced by many organizations especially in Africa. She currently is
- A Member of The Advisory Council of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Crimes, since July 2021- to present.
- A Trustee of I&M Bank Foundation, since 2020 to present.
- A Director, ADAPO, which is the Investment Company that oversees the assets and investments of KCDF, since July 2021.
In the past, she has also served in other boards, as such:
- She was the Chairperson and Director of the Open Society Initiative of East Africa (OSIEA), from 2018, and Chairperson from October 2019 to June 2023.
- She was a Director & Chairperson, VIWANGO (a Kenyan civil society standards body) from 2017 – 2021.
- She was a Board Member of Trust Africa a Pan-African grant making foundation, based in Senegal, from 2012 – 2020.
- She was a Board Member of AccountableNow, which is a Berlin based organization promoting accountability among international NGOs, from 2013 – 2019.
- She was one of the Founding Board Members (and first Co-Chair between 2010 – 2012), of the Africa Philanthropy Network between 2010 – 2017.
She is currently a Member of the Women on Boards Network (WOBN), Kenya, and a Synergos Fellow.
Janet’s contribution to the philanthropic space has been recognized a couple of times, as demonstrated below:
- In 2015 she was given the Exemplary Women’s Leadership Award by The Asian Confederation of Businesses, in Mauritius.
- In 2017, when KCDF was celebrating 20 years, the Board and Trustees recognized her for her Outstanding Leadership at the helm of the Foundation for over a decade, which had made the work of the Foundation to be visible and acknowledged as evidenced by both the impact various communities were experiencing on the ground in promoting sustainable approaches to development, as well as continued interest by funders to support its work. The Foundation at the same time had also made significant strides in diversifying income sources by growing its endowment fund and other types of investments as an approach to ensure the Foundation was not depended on external funding only.
- In 2021, she was nominated – An Invisible Giant by Africa Rising.
- In 2022 she received the African Philanthropy Lifetime Award given by Africa Philanthropy Network in recognition of her contribution to the African Philanthropy sector in different ways in the continent.
Janet was happily married to Canon Samuel Tei Mawiyoo for over thirty years until mid-2017, when he passed on. They were blessed with two children who are adults pursuing their own professional careers. She continues to live in the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, where she loves a close connection to nature, and a green environment.
Janet with her family holding a trophy after winning KCDF’s annual community philanthropy golf tournament in 2021.
Janet’s fun activities in her spare time
Janet loves looking after her garden, as she is a nature lover, and always finds pleasure in identifying a new plant, tree (some fruit trees too), a new singing bird or a new flower. She is also a conservationist in her own right, and continues to look after several pieces of land, i.e. ‘Shambas’, (name used for local small holder farms in Kenya), where she is big on planting a wide variety of trees to restore and conserve the pieces of land, and also to show to neighbors that it is important to ‘fight’ climate change, through individual efforts by every household. Janet also keeps sheep (dopas), as well as local chicken (kienyeji), ducks, and geese (very good for security!) which largely supply her with eggs and meat for home consumption, and for sharing with family and friends.
Janet loves nature walks and enjoys these often while playing early morning golf or whenever she can join any of the ladies or club members competitions. She thinks golf has many helpful insights for humans, while also offering serene opportunities for reflection, and networking. Janet is additionally a recipient of a Hole in one in Karen Country Club and is very proud of her certificates and trophies.
Some of these insights include things like:
- ’Keep your eyes on the ball’ – reminds her of the need to focus in whatever she is doing until her objective is met.
- ‘Just play your own game’ – reminds her to live my life without worrying about how others are living there’s.
