The Secretariat Team - AfriChild Center Makerere

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Executive Director
Timothy has for the past 15 years contributed significantly to positively influencing the child well-being landscape both in the Sub-Saharan Africa region and globally. His niche includes social research, project/program design, planning and management, policy advocacy, as well as networking with state and non-state agencies. He is a mentor and leader providing strategic guidance at the AfriChild Centre at Makerere University. He currently serves as a member of the National Multisectoral Task Force on Violence against Children. He has also sat on different national committees including the National Steering Committee on Justice for Children, the National Child Protection Working Group, and the Joining Forces Network. Mr Opobo was instrumental in the inception of the AfriChild Centre serving as the interim Executive Director from March 2014 to December 2015. He served as the Manager of Child Protection and Advocacy at ChildFund International Uganda. He Coordinated the Global Child Protection in Crisis Network in Uganda (CPCN). He received his Social Work Degree from Makerere University, a Master’s Degree in Development Studies from the University College of Dublin, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Leadership in Community Development from the Eastern and Southern Africa Management Institute in Arusha, Tanzania. Mr Opobo is a Global Research Fellow on Child Behavioural Health in Sub-Saharan Africa, a graduate of the Future Leaders Program, Resource Alliance at Wolfsen College, Oxford University and a recipient of the MASHAV scholarship in Development of Children, Social-Emotional Support and Wellbeing, from Haifa University, Israel. He’s currently pursuing his Doctorate degree in Social Work and Social Development at Makerere University in Uganda and the University of Agder in Norway.

Research Manager
Mathew Amollo (MSC) holds a Master’s degree in monitoring and evaluation and is a candidate for a Master's of Health Services Research. His research interest is in child health especially equity and health services utilisation among children and young adults. He has vast experience in the evaluation of public health programs in Uganda and internationally; coordinated national surveys such as the Affordable medicines for Malaria, mapping of health services for most-at-risk populations, performance monitoring for action surveys, -Rubella immunization coverage surveys and COVID19 vaccination surveys. He has held various research roles such as a co-principal investigator on the effect of COVID19 on the wellbeing of children in Uganda, co-investigator for behavioural factors influencing uptake of COVID19 vaccines among teachers, coordinator of national rapid assessments for COVID-19 in Uganda, coordinator of Kampala decongestion project and cervical cancer screening project and co-lead on a rapid review of tools for malaria elimination in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the evaluation field, he was the Lead- Evaluator of the socio-economic program for PLA in Lesotho, the Ending Child marriages program in Western Tanzania, National Consultant for USAID Cross Border Initiative implemented by ABT Associates, National Consultant for Maternal and Child Health Voucher Program in 4k Districts implemented by ABT Associates among others. He has expertise in experimental research designs such as randomised control trials and quasi-experimental studies; panel surveys, cross-sectional studies, and impact evaluations. Mathew is currently a Research Manager at the AfriChild Centre, Makerere University in charge of the Good School Toolkit for Secondary Schools Pilot Trial.

Director, Research and Knowledge Development
Clare is a multi-skilled development researcher and evaluation practitioner with 17 years of work experience leading, managing and coordinating complex qualitative and quantitative research projects in Uganda and the rest of East Africa. She is astute on issues of vulnerable children, child protection in emergency settings, children living on the street and facing other adversities, child rights governance, and evaluation of child-focused interventions in Uganda and the region. Her work focuses on bridging the gap between research, policies, and programmes to lead to improvements in the well-being of children and communities in Uganda. She holds a Master’s Degree and a Post Graduate Diploma in Project Monitoring and Evaluation and a bachelor’s Degree in Development Studies.

Capacity Building Assistant
Emmanuel Akuti is currently the Capacity Building Assistant at the AfriChild Centre. This role involves administrative, procurement and logistical support to the inter university training project specifically: administering of the Training Needs Assessment (TNA) for practitioners, organization of learning symposiums, managing small grants awards and identification of relevant potential funding opportunities. He is also in charge of routine ICT support at the Centre. Emmanuel is an IT professional with hands on experience in data entry, computer networking, troubleshooting, software installations and social media management. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Technology, CCNA (level IV and Google Digital Skills Certificate).

Research Officer
John is a Community development worker who holds a Bachelor’s degree in Adult and Community Education from Kyambogo University, with over 10 years of experience in carrying out quantitative and qualitative studies. His expertise is in the study protocol and tools development, training of study teams, data management and analysis. At AfriChild Centre, he has successfully coordinated research projects such as impact assessment for WASH interventions in schools and communities, The National Survey on Violence against Children (VAC) - Street component project, The Impact of men’s Active, Positive Presences in the lives of children in Uganda, The effect of COVID-19 on the Wellbeing of Children in Uganda. He has also coordinated Community Based Child Protection Systems mapping in more than 8 Districts of Uganda in partnership with Columbia University and ChildFund International. He has vast experience in participatory research techniques such as free listing, cartographic interviews, auto-photography and place perception, Community Mapping, Puppet, Body mapping, and Power sharing among others. John is currently a Research officer at The AfriChild Centre, supporting the Good Schools Toolkit Trial Pilot Study, Taking GST to Scale Study and Mapping Child Protection and Honour in Uganda Study.

Research Assistant
Maria Ndibalekera is a Social Worker Researcher with outstanding research, administration and management skills. She has strong competencies in mixed-methods research and is able to operate cross-functionally in research settings and development organizations. She has specifically led cognitive interviewing, focus group discussions, transcription and research uptake planning. Recently Maria successfully coordinated evaluation research for a community-based child protection approach in the prevention of violence against children in Northern Uganda as well as a Research Fellowship implemented by AfriChild and Together for Girls focusing on analysis and utilization of National Violence against Children Survey data. In addition to coordinating the fellowship, she was one of the research fellows and is currently completing her first publication as the first author. Maria has participated in several research studies including men's active positive presence in the lives of their children, Mentoring and education outcomes for primary schools in Uganda and scaling up positive parenting in Northern Uganda. Maria is interested in the research area of human relationships and child wellbeing. Maria holds a first-class bachelor's degree in Social Work and Social Administration from Makerere University and is currently pursuing Masters in Social Work at Makerere University.

Finance and Admin Assistant
Eunice is currently pursuing a professional course CPA level II at the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda and Bachelor's degree in Business Administration majoring in Accounting at YMCA Comprehensive Institute, with 3 years of experience in accounting and finance field in NGO accounting based on bookkeeping and account management, record keeping and other financial documents, mathematical skills, Budget versus Actual analysis (BVA), financial management skills and paying attention to detail in all my tasks as Finance Assistant at the AfriChild Centre Ltd.

Research Officer
Linda is a skilled and knowledgeable child-focused researcher who has had extensive experience handling and executing numerous research projects at the AfriChild Centre. Asa qualitative researcher, Linda is passionate about utilising evidence generation to support families and foster optimal childhood development. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Social Work and Social Administration (BSWSA) from Makerere University.

Finance and Admin Manager
Ivan is a dynamic Finance and Administration professional with more than 13 years of experience in a wide range of areas, including financial management and administration, grant management, accounting system development and assessments, internal control system setup, budget preparation and monitoring, and risk analysis and management, and more. Ivan has previously held comparable positions with organizations such as Uganda Child Rights NGO Network for six years and Uganda Development Services, as well as SOS Children's Villages in other capacities. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Ndejje University and an Uganda Diploma in Business Studies (UDBS) from Makerere University Business School (MUBS). Ivan is now pursuing his Master of Business Administration (MBA), as well as his CPA certification studies.

Communications Officer
Clinton Twena Tumanye is a Behavioural Change Communications enthusiast, with experience working with legacy media as a mainstream journalist. His experience is in health communication, SRHR, and communication for impact among marginalised as well as vulnerable groups and communities. Twena completed his Bachelor's Degree in Journalism and Communication from Uganda Christian University and holds a Master's Degree in Digital Journalism and Communication from Aga Khan University - Nairobi, Kenya. He is also passionate mostly about Public Health Communications.

Administrative Assistant
Martha is an Administrative Assistant that bears a vast level of experience in the field of administration, offering support not limited to the Administration function. She is a graduate of Procurement and Logistics Management (BPLM), an added advantage to her skillset as an administrator who can easily render support to other departmental functions within the Organization. Martha’s career growth in Administration started at ChildFund International, Uganda Country Office. She has over the years grown a passion to serve the African Child and appreciates the values of Child Protection in its entirety. The zeal to learn on the job and improve in ways more than one has seen her take on multiple tasks with zero holdbacks and minimal supervision, something that has enabled her to work seamlessly in varied roles.