OUR TEAM
Management
Duncan Ahigika
CEO & Co-Founder/ Program Operations Director
Duncan is a management pundit, experienced in program development, team-building, childcare, high level marketing and performance management. He hold a Masters Degree in Human Resource Management and a Bachelor\’s Degree in Leisure and Hospitality Management, both from Makerere University. He has worked as Head of Marketing for Makerere University Business School (MUBS) and also Managing Director of Skyline Experiences, a management consultancy firm. He co-founded Elohim Development Association (EDA) with a major objective of providing a safe home for orphaned and vulnerable children. Since his initial vision, EDA has grown to include a variety of programming and partners.
Joan Atuhaire
Operations Manager & Co-Founder
Joan has years of experience in project oversight, business management, and performance coaching. Joan co-founded EDA with a vision of providing orphaned and vulnerable children with a safe home and using cultural music, dance, and drama as therapy for childhood trauma. Together with Duncan, Joan oversees the day-to-day operations and programs of the organization and helps to assure that the children have a safe and welcoming home.
Board
Naomi Ayot
Board Chairperson
Naomi Ayot Oyaro is a weathered career technocrat currently working as the Programme Manager at Human Rights Promotion for Action for Community Development (ACODEV). She has vast experience in
areas of Child Protection, Child Rights Governance, Domestic Violence prevention, Livelihood empowerment and capacity strengthening. Naomi has worked as the Programme Director of Raising the Village (RTV) in Kampala, Programme Director of CAP-AIDS and as a counselor at Wisdom College.
She has a Master’s Degree in Management Studies with specialization in Project Planning and Management Uganda Management Institute (UMI), a Postgraduate Diploma in Project Planning and Management from UMI and a Bachelor’s Degree in Education of Makerere University.
Naomi volunteers for various organizations like Set Her Free, Raising The Village and Spirit in Action. This is due to her passion for transforming the poor and especially rural communities into productive and economically empowered ones.
Kevin Gibbons
Board Vice Chairperson
Kevin is a USA national who is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of Health Access Connect, a non-governmental organization that links Ugandans in remote villages with healthcare resources. His background is in administration, program development, project management, community organizing, fundraising, website development, and digital media.
Kevin has a BS in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from Tulane University and an MS in Conservation Biology & Sustainable Development from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. During his MS field research in 2008 he did a survey on the livelihoods and food security of residents remote Ugandan fishing communities on Lake Victoria, and he has been working in Uganda ever since. Before his MS studies he was a US Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines (2004-2007).
Kevin first met EDA Directors Duncan Ahigika and Joan Atuhaire when the dance troupe performed at an event he attended in 2010. He has been a volunteer, fundraiser, Board member, and valued friend ever since.
Deborah Asikeit
Board Member
Deborah Asikeit is a coach, mentor, project management professional and a specialist in skills development. She has excellent knowledge of writing proposals, project management, organisational capacity building and leadership development, primarily in the East African context. Over her 13 years of experience, she has gained expertise across diverse projects ranging from governance, human rights, youth and skills development, to higher education and social enterprise.
Deborah is a mentor (she received an award from Mara Foundation, as mentor of the year in 2015) and another award form the British Council in 2017 for mentoring several youth initiatives during her tenure at the British Council. She is a certified coach with Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) as a Level 5 coach. She is also a certified Project Manager with the Association of Project Managers (APM-UK) with a Practitioner certification. Deborah holds a Master’s Degree in Peace and
Conflict Studies and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Social Sciences (Political Science as a major). She is also a third year LLB student at Makerere University School of Law.
She currently works as Resident Programme Manager with the Association of Municipalities in the Netherlands (VNG) International (since July 2014). Before then, she was working as a Programme Manager at the British Council (2004-2006) and as a project officer responsible for CBET with the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GIZ) – Programme for Promotion of Employment Vocational Oriented Training (PEVOT) Programme (2003 – 2006). She is a Rotarian (Kampala West).
Evelyn Omala
Board Member
Evelyn has an impressive background in organizational development, oversight, and empowerment. She worked for the Segal Family Foundation for many years, which exposed her to a wide variety of organizations with different capacities. Evelyn joined EDA to contribute that expertise toward improving the lives of the most vulnerable people in her home country.
Regina Bafaki
Board Member
Our Special Projects Board representative is Ms Regina Bafaki who is an experienced woman and Human Rights Activist. She has over 15 years experience in programme management, monitoring and evaluation, resource mobilization . Regina is passionate about promotion and protection of marginalized and vulnerable groups.
Gail Malcolm
Board Member
Gail is an Australian national with a professional background in nursing, specialising in spinal injuries and head trauma. She also worked in the Alcohol and Drug Authority before moving to Community Nursing as Co-Ordinator for Aged Care and Young Disabled Persons.
For several years she fostered children from Government Institutions who were classified as having behavioral problems and provided them with a stable environment to allow them to grow.
Her interest in EDA is to assist and empower young people in Uganda to reach their full potential and achieve their dreams and to give back to society so others may also prosper.
Staff
Eric Wakabi
Program Officer – Sexual Reproductive Health & Rights
Eric is an all-round communications specialist, brand strategist, art director and photographer with more than 5 years of local and international experience in health communication and development work. A journalist by training, he is also currently studying Law (LLB) at Makerere University.
Eric has worked on a range of health communication and advocacy projects of promoting sexual and reproductive health rights of young people including managing and directing film crews shooting over 10 short films, four features, several music videos and a couple of feature length documentaries. This involved extensive work in South Sudan, Kenya and Uganda. He has an eye for a directors’ vision in a creative and compelling way that compliments the scripts while being strategic and efficient team player completing projects on time and on budget.
Dominique Kyambadde
Program Officer – Vocational Education
Dominique is a tested vocational and industrial skills trainer. He has served as a Senior Operations Manager for the ‘Musa Body Foundation’, an Associate Master Trainer for the Work-tree’s Job Readiness Partnership training in India and Africa for over 4 years (Funded by British Council). He has implemented key training programs for Musa Body Foundation’s disengaged youth programs, Tomorrow Works Initiative with Nile Breweries and has worked with other corporates across a variety of industrial trades.
He leads USCA’s flagship Skills Competitions programme delivery, curricular and all-round development of industrial trades training. He has also completed several professional employability skills training programs; delivered employability skills training services to several institutions in and outside Uganda; and has been developing and delivering employability skills workshops with Work-tree since 2013.
Dominique holds a Diploma in Tech, Sheet Metal Work, Nakawa VTI, Kampala.
Diana Kyatuhaire
Program Officer – OVC Support & Sponsorship
Wherever you find EDA children, Diana is sure to be. Diana takes care of the orphaned and vulnerable children who are housed at EDA and who visit EDA for meals, therapy, and social interaction. She has a background in child education and has many years of experience as a matron/caretaker.
Elly Mubangizi
Senior Trainer in Cookery & Tailoring Techniques
If you visit EDA, Elly will make your food, tell you how it\’s made, and show staff and trainees how best to serve you as our guest. Elly oversees the EDA kitchen, restaurant, guest house, tailor shop, and related vocational training. He has years of experience working in different restaurants, hotels, and vocational institutes in Uganda. He joined EDA to pass on that experience to those willing to learn and work to improve their lives.
Ronah Tusiime
Partnership Coordinator
Ronah is a seasoned administrator and a marketing and communication specialist. She holds a Master’s Degree in Marketing Management (Cum Laude) from Vaal University of Technology, South Africa as well as a Bachelor’s degree in the same field at the same University.
Over the years, she has championed various fundraising initiatives whilst overseeing the implementation of successful partnership projects, where she conducted transformative youth trainings that saw 80 percent of youth involved launch their own business ventures in a bid to reduce unemployment among youth slum dwellers.
She has worked with Kyusa Uganda as a partnership coordinator and also as a marketing officer with Ndere Cultural Centre.