Ukeh Michael Obaje

Obaje Ukeh has been named as Country Director for Kenya under the USAID-funded program Strengthening Kenya’s Electoral Integrity. In this role, he oversees program implementation, technical assistance, stakeholder/donor relations, and manages the IFES Kenya office.

Obaje has been with IFES for more than 14 years, working at different positions to support electoral processes including on program management, voter education, electoral operations, capacity building, monitoring and evaluation, and the development of electoral policies and procedures. Most recently he served as the Deputy Country Director and Head of Programs for IFES Nigeria. He provided technical assistance to the election management bodies EMBs (INEC and SIECs) in line with their electoral mandate, including development of strategic and operational plans, widescale training and capacity strengthening, policies and frameworks to improve inclusion, and procedural and technological upgrades to EMB operations. Obaje has also led monitoring and evaluation processes for IFES’ programming in Nigeria. In the past, Obaje has provided voter education support to Liberia’s National Elections Commission (NEC) in 2011. Obaje also served as a pioneer co-chair on the IFES Anti-Racism Task Force (ARTF) in 2020-2021, coordinating IFES’ efforts to address the effects of systematic racism and racial discrimination.

Obaje has a master’s degree in international relations and a bachelor’s degree in sociology. He is an accredited Building Resources In Democracy, Governance and Elections (BRIDGE) facilitator. He is Nigerian, born and raised in the small town of Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria.