Maurine Nduati is a passionate advocate for gender equity and equality and a dedicated Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) professional. With a background in Community Development and Project Management, Maurine brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to her work in empowering women and addressing gender-based violence (GBV). Over the years, she has proven herself as a versatile and highly adaptable project team member, consistently achieving targets in productivity and work quality.
Maurine has played a pivotal role in advocating for women’s inclusion in leadership positions within Taita Taveta Conservancies, which is under the umbrella body Taita Taveta Wildlife Conservancies Assoctiation (TTWCA) where she works as a gender officer. TTWCA brings together 35 conservancies and ranches in the Tsavo Consevantion area. The goal of the organization is to achieve a unified, healthy and connected Tsavo landscape, that supports community livelihoods. Conservation has over the years been deemed as a man’s role but the real efforts of conservantions are carried out by women, but it is unfortunate that the women never receive any direct benefits or have a say in decsions and thus creating a big gap in achieveing gender equality in conservation.
Maurine’s role has been instrumental in addressing the exclusions from the prevailing cultural and social norms, resulting in over 70 women now serving on conservancy boards. Her leadership extends to economic empowerment initiatives, where she has trained 150 women engaging in basket weaving adjacent to Kasigau Wildlife Conservancy through the RISE challenge grant. This training, combined with Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs), has provided these women with vital skills to combat economic exclusion which is a form of GBV rarely spoken about.
A Trainer of Trainees on the Social Analysis and Action model, Maurine challenges harmful cultural biases and practices that lead to gender exclusion. Her efforts have engaged over 600 community members in dialogues to address GBV and promote gender inclusion in natural resource management. Maurine’s expertise in donor engagement and relationship building has further amplified her impact, securing crucial support for her initiatives.
Maurine is committed to ensuring that the voices of women and youth are represented in all spheres of life . Her work also captures and shares the stories of female game scouts, promoting awareness of gender inclusion and GBV in traditionally male-dominated roles.
Linkedin profile: www.linkedin.com/in/maurine-n-60601072
