co-Chairs

Savanna elephants, Samburu, Kenya © Lucy King

Rob Slotow

Rob Slotow

Rob was appointed co-Chair of the AfESG in 2018. He was appointed at the University of KwaZulu-Natal South Africa in 1996. Since 2014 he has been a Professor in the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University College London, UK. Rob focuses on applied research that can be translated into practical solutions and builds capacity through training graduate students and running interactive workshops with practitioners in government and industry. His research work includes conservation of large mammals, land-use planning for environmental sustainability, and the environmental contribution to sustainable development goals. Rob was appointed as the Oppenheimer Fellow at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2022.

Ben Okita-Ouma

Ben Okita-Ouma

Ben was appointed co-Chair of the AfESG in 2018. He is the Director of Wyss Academy for Nature, East Africa Hub where he works with partners to develop relationships between nature and people. Ben is a conservation leader and ecologist with over 25 years of experience in conserving the black rhino and the African elephant. He has worked with governments, NGOs, and inter-governmental organizations to bridge the gap between conservation and development. He holds a doctorate in conservation and a presidential award for distinguished service to the Kenyan nation.

AfESG Secretariat - Nairobi

Senior Programme Officer - Mohammed Yahya

Mohammed began his career as a biologist at the Directorate of Resource Surveys and Remote Sensing (DRSRS) conducting aerial censuses of wildlife and livestock in the Kenya rangelands, heading the GIS Section from 1998 to 2003. Mohammed joined the International Livestock Research Institute in 2003 as a Post Doc. He was a principal investigator for several projects related to ecosystem and landscape mapping, vulnerability assessments and valuation, modelling livestock-wildlife-people-climate interactions, assessing carbon in the rangelands, ecosystem valuation, developing early warning indicators, spatial modelling, and trade-off analysis. Since 2015, Mohammed has consulted for USAID, Overseas Development Institute, the World Bank, and the Government of Kenya. He joined the African Elephant Specialist Group in October 2021 as a Senior Programme Officer.

African Elephant Database Manager - Rose Mayienda

Rose is a GIS and Remote Sensing specialist with over 20 years’ experience working with NGOs on participatory resource management planning, REDD+ carbon assessments and land-use planning. She has worked with the Kenya Wildlife Service, African Wildlife Foundation and United Nations Population
Fund in Somalia. Rose is GIS mentor and trainer and one of the founder members of the Society for Conservation GIS Kenya Chapter.

Administrative Assistant - Rachel Sharon Ouma

Rachel holds a BSc in Environmental Science from Egerton University, Kenya. She has over three years of experience working with NGOs. She worked for Suba Environmental Education of Kenya (SEEK) as an Environmental Conservation Assistant where she conducted community training on sustainable land use, environmental conservation and management. She also worked for Rainbow Agro-sciences Ltd. as an Administrative Assistant where she performed