Wairimu Kagondu joined The Rockefeller Foundation in 2010. As a senior program associate in the Africa regional office, she identifies and works with Foundation grantees and partners and supports the development and execution of current and emerging Foundation initiatives.
In her role, Wairimu oversees the Nigeria, South Africa, and Kenya country portfolios of the Foundation’s Digital Jobs Africa initiative. Digital Jobs Africa aims to impact 1 million lives in six African countries by catalyzing sustainable, Information Communication Technology-enabled (ICT) employment opportunities, and skills training for high-potential but disadvantaged African youth; thereby generating social and economic opportunities for those employed, their families, and their communities.
Prior to joining the Foundation, Ms. Kagondu worked with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), where she served in the Protection Unit working both in the Nairobi office and at the Kakuma Refugee camp in the north of Kenya. In this capacity, she monitored refugee related court cases and addressed refugee protection concerns. Ms. Kagondu holds a bachelor of laws degree from the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom, a master’s in international law from the Washington College of Law, and is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya.
Authored Content
Nov 12 2015 Blog Post Rapidly Growing Digital Economies Offer Opportunity for South African Youth In a small boardroom in downtown Johannesburg, 20 young South Africans are making a racket. Hip-hop is blaring, they’re sitting and chatting and surfing the web, surrounded by a mess of laptops and coffee cups. Walk in and you would guess it’s a college common room between classes–informal, caffeine-infused, and spirited. In reality, this hothouse […]
Jul 06 2015 Blog Post A Night Journey in Nigeria: Ike's Story Late last year the Foundation launched a series of collaborations to explore the potential for online work to expand the employment landscape for young people in Africa. In Kenya and Nigeria-two of the leading online work destinations in Africa, the Foundation worked with partners such as Paradigm Initiative Nigeria and Home Boys Foundation to raise […]
Jun 09 2015 Blog Post Jobs Without Borders A version of this post originally appeared on The World Bank blog. Around the world, the challenge of unemployment is growing by the year. According to the United Nations, the number of global unemployed surpassed 201 million in 2014, which includes a disproportionate number of women and youth. The growing reach and access to the […]
Jun 25 2014 Blog Post Training Models for Employment in Africa's Digital Economy Results for Development (R4D) has recently published a report with the support of The Rockefeller Foundation, Training Models for Employment in the Digital Economy. A core component of our Digital Jobs Africa Initiative is training high potential but disadvantaged youth for work in the digital economy. Training that is linked to job opportunities is fundamental […]
Mar 17 2014 Blog Post Online Work: A New Frontier for Digital Jobs Africa As online work continues to disrupt the traditional workplace, The Rockefeller Foundation’s Digital Jobs Africa initiative is exploring how it can expand the employment landscape for young people in Africa. “Online work provides a low-barrier-to-entry opportunity to earn an income, while building skills and digital work experience.“ As employers look for more efficient, cost effective ways […]