Clean Cooking Forum 2022

Fiona Wanjiku Moejes

Fiona is an energetic young woman who is passionate and vocal about ensuring African ideas are building Africa’s future. She is the CEO at The Mawazo Institute – a women- and youth-led African organisation based in Kenya supporting the next generation of African women researchers. Mawazo supports women who are curious, creative, analytical and critical, and ensures that their unique perspectives and ideas have impact where solutions are being designed and implemented. They support the uptake of homegrown and evidence-based solutions to Africa’s (and the world’s) development needs by making sure more African women researchers are thought-leaders in academia, industry, conservation, environmental sector, international development, public sector and policy-making.

She strongly believes in the need for a holistic approach to Africa’s development and the need for diversity – gender; ethnicity; experience and expertise – to drive innovation and ensure sustainable impact. Fiona has previously led community-led science-based marine conservation projects in the Comoros as well as in Kenya. Prior to that, she led international and transdisciplinary applied aquaculture and marine research projects in Ireland and Germany. She has always played a facilitator role in bridging the gap between research and everyday life, and embodies the values required to ensure that research is conducted by everybody for everybody.

She has an industry-based PhD in microalgal biotechnology and is a proud Women for the Environment (WE) Africa Fellow, an African Marine Conservation Leader, and sits on the Executive Committee of the International Society of Applied Phycology.