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Our Team

Our passionate, diverse, and committed, global team leads our programs and delivers our promise to the local communities of women with whom we work. Our shared values and commitments, include operating with a participatory approach that ensures the unique wisdom of our staff, beneficiaries, communities, and partners is honored and guides our decision-making. We value a culture of wellbeing and provide support for one's free choice of ongoing, personal growth practice. And we strive to be mindful and transformative in our decisions, to be aware of our role in and proactively working to dismantle systems of injustice and inequity, and to do no harm.

In alignment with these values, Global Grassroots is transitioning our legal headquarters, board governance, organizational leadership, programmatic decision-making, and operations from the US to East Africa to be led by our amazing African staff, guided by a majority-African board membership, and supported by the minimum architecture needed in the US. Please meet our team who is driving this work.

Global Grassroots Board of Directors

Sophie Kange, Chair
Executive Director, DENIVA, Uganda

Tori McLeod, Vice Chair
Associate, Eagle Hill Consulting, USA

Gretchen Ki Steidle, Treasurer
Founder, Global Grassroots and Circles for Conscious Change, USA

Anne Nkutu, Secretary
Gender and Development Consultant, Uganda

Sharmila Bhatt
Director, Soft Tech Consultants, Tanzania

Marie Odette Kansanga Ndahiro
Gender Expert and Social Anthropologist, Rwanda

Phylisiah Mnene-Mcheni
CEO and Lead Consultant, Iris Executive Development Center, Tanzania

Arthi Rabikrisson (MBA, ACC-ICF), Treasurer
Founder and MD, Prerna Advisory, South Africa

Global Grassroots Staff

Atosha Genevieve Iranyuze, Rwanda Program Assistant
Atosha did her BA in Healthcare Management with a Global Perspectives concentration, and she holds an AA in General Business Studies from Southern New Hampshire University under Kepler's program. She was Miss Arts and Talent Africa 2020. GlobalGrassroots trained her as a conscious social change agent. She loves God and people. Her interest is in contributing to the lives and well-being of people.

Esperance Ineza, East Africa Administrative and Finance Officer
Before joining Global Grassroots, Esperance was at Teach A Man To Fish where she managed Rwandan finance, operations and support to the ongoing activities of the program team. Esperance holds a Bachelor's degree in Finance from Kigali Independent University and she is currently pursuing a Masters in Business Administration/ Finance at Adventist University of Central Africa.

Vincent Kalimba, East Africa Director
Vincent has 15 years of development experience, working with youth entrepreneurship, education, and women's empowerment, especially as Village Director of the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village, a residential village where hundreds of vulnerable youth have experienced healing, education, love, and empowerment to be able to build lives of dignity and contribute to a better world. He has extensive economic development experience working directly with communities on livelihoods, food security, and education, of women and youth in particular, including work with Land O'Lakes' International Development Division, and Technoserve Inc. He has an International Associate's degree in Civic Leadership from Wagner College, and holds a BSc. Degree in Food Science and Technology from Kigali Institute of Science and Technology.

Rose Kansiime, Uganda Program Associate
After graduating from Global Grassroots' 2014 Young Women's Academy for Conscious Change, Rose earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Development Studies from Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. Rose joined Global Grassroots in May 2017 as our first intern. She provides support to our Uganda Program Associate, assists with our Young Women's Academy in Uganda, and with our monitoring and evaluation efforts.

Francis Kumakech, Uganda Program and Communications Associate
Francis has a BA in Organizational Studies from Makerere University and has work experience in graphic design, psycho-social support programs, and social entrepreneurship endeavors, founding two local groups to support vulnerable women and youth in his community. He is currently focused on providing translation assistance and support for our venture development and oversight in Gulu, as well as management of our eAcademy platform.

Alain Placide Nsabimana, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Officer
Alain has a BA in Social Sciences and is currently completing an MPH program. He has over 10 years of professional experience in project design, monitoring, evaluation & learning in USAID-funded projects implemented by international development organizations, including Catholic Relief Services, IntrahealthInternational, Jhpiego, Chemonics International, as well as Government of Rwanda institutions, including National Child Development Agency, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Gender & Family Promotion, among others. He brings extensive technical skills and experience in developing and implementing M&E systems, indicators baseline and targets, data analysis and data use, conduct of quantitative and qualitative assessments. His technical areas including Early Childhood Development (ECD), social protection programs for vulnerable women & children, adolescent girls, nutrition,maternal and child health, WASH and community health.

Thacienne Nyiraneza, Rwanda Program Associate
Thacienne holds a Bachelors degree in Economics from Kigali Independent University. She has eight years experience working in microfinance and community economic development programs. Thacienne has been instrumental in building strong relationships with our venture teams and provides support for all of our programs in Rwanda.

Gyslaine Uwitonze, East Africa Senior Program Officer
Gyslaine manages our Rwanda country programs. She holds a Bachelors degree in human rights law from Kigali Institute of Education and is certified as a Conscious Social Change practitioner. Gyslaine has served Global Grassroots since its inception in 2006 when she first joined as an interpreter. She currently oversees all training, venture development, and monitoring and evaluation activities for both our Academy for Conscious Change and our Young Women's Academies, as well as international staff training.

Zara Bott-Goins, Director of Development & US Operations
Zara brings over 15 years of experience in strengthening nonprofits and international organizations through strategic planning, development, innovative communications and program management. Social impact and equity issues have been the focus of her work with diverse organizations including Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, American Red Cross, Maasai Girls Education Fund and Djembe Communications. She holds an MA in International Relations and Diplomacy from the American Graduate School in Paris.

Sara Taggart, Director, Wisdom Lab
Sara Taggart is a strategy and learning consultant using mindfulness and social entrepreneurship to stimulate organizational and systems change. She has over 30 years of experience researching, designing, collaborating on, and evaluating transformational initiatives in education and community driven development in the US and Africa. Sara is a graduate of Dartmouth Collect and holds a Masters of Public Administration from the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Policy & Governance. She is a registered yoga teacher and lives in Oregon.

Global Grassroots also selects Young Women's Academy alumni who have recently completed university to join us for one year as paid Fellows. Their role is to act as teaching assistants and/or assist with mentoring and with our monitoring and evaluation program.

Rwanda Graduate Advisory Council

Our Rwanda Graduate Advisory Council is made up of leading graduates from our Academy for Conscious Change, from whom we seek advice on our programs, strategic priorities and goals.

Hacimana Seraphine
President, Hard Workers

Mukakarera Monique
President, Light In Our Home

Mushimiyimana Mediatrice
President, Think About the Young Girls

Nyiraneza Charlotte
President, Achieving a Better Life

Senior Advisors

Pamela Angwech
Founder and Executive Director, Gulu Women's Economic Development and Globalization (GWED-G)

Richard P. Brown, M.D.
Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Columbia University

Terry Donovan
Consultant and Advisor to Social Entrepreneurs and the Citizen Sector

Patricia L. Gerbarg, M.D.
Assistant Clinical Professor in Psychiatry, New York Medical College

Jennifer Holden
Holden Sports Management

Katy Lunardelli
CEO, Euphrates Institute

Cristina Ljungberg
Founder, Influence Films and The Case for HER

Alan Pesky
Founder and Chair, Lee Pesky Learning Center

Shirley Randell, Ph.D.
Director, Kigali Institute of Education Centre for Gender, Culture and Development Studies

Lina Srivastava
Lina Srivastava Consulting, LLC

Michael Sullivan
Independent Investor & Company Advisor