Isaack Otieno, Country Director, Kenya
Isaack Otieno serves as the International Foundation for Electoral Systems’ (IFES) country director for Kenya. Mr. Otieno has over 20 years of experience leading democracy and governance programs. Mr. Otieno’s work has focused across 15 sub-Saharan African countries and throughout East Africa, Nigeria and Southern Africa. Mr. Otieno is highly experienced in design and implementation of civic/voter education campaigns for local and international organizations; devolution; applied public policy research and human rights; elections management, administrations, operations and reforms; and democratic governance in general. He has worked with organizations such as the National Council of Churches of Kenya; Institute for Education in Democracy; Canadian International Development Agency (now Global Affairs Canada); Institute for Security Studies; Ministry of Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs; East Africa Center for Human Rights; International Development Law Organizations; and United Nations Development Program (UNDP). In his most recent post as Chief Technical Advisor for UNDP Nigeria, Mr. Otieno oversaw support for the National Peace Committee and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC Nigeria).
Mr. Otieno holds a B.A. in Anthropology (University of Nairobi-Kenya); an M.A. in Development Studies (International Institute for Social Studies-Netherlands); and an M.A. in Political Science (Central European University-Hungary). Mr. Otieno is fluent in Kiswahili and English languages.
