29 September 2015
Alice Kituuka is our Head of East Africa Regional Office based at offices in Kampala, Uganda. She has extensive experience in Monitoring & Evaluation, project management, communications and stakeholder management, capacity building and grant management.
Here she talks about her studies, passions and the projects she’s most proud of.
What did you study? Bachelor’s Degree in Statistics & Applied Economics; MBA (Master of Business Administration) and ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) at Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
What attracted you to study this? Back then, statistics was the quickest way to get into the monitoring and evaluation world. The MBA and ACCA were to enhance my management skills.
What is your specialist area? Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E)
What attracted you to this field of expertise? The ability to understand any project even when I am not a technical expert by logically following what it aims to do, and reviewing whether it actually does it.
What are you most passionate about in this field? Each project is a learning experience so there is always something new to learn from any given range of sectors. I feel like I am constantly waiting to see what lies behind each sector I monitor.
Why is this important to you? It helps me to teach in a multi-dimensional way. I learn from different projects and perspectives and when I am sharing knowledge, I do so with that vantage point which I believe adds value to those I teach.
How does your work make a positive impact? M&E helps people to clearly assess whether what they are doing is in line with what they planned to do. This I believe helps to keep people on track and thus positively influences how they plan and implement their projects.
What projects are you most proud of? I have too many to mention but two stand out. One was designing the monitoring and evaluation framework for a climate resilience project in Uganda. The second is the design of the M&E framework and conducting baseline for the Global Energy Transfer Feed in Tariff (GET FIT) Programme, a renewable energy project that led to the contracting of over 8 companies to develop plants to supply energy into the national grid. Both of these projects were the first of their kind in Uganda and brought about a lot of new age thinking. I am proud to have been part of the think tank that designed a monitoring system for them.
Where would you like to see your specialism take you in the future? I would like to be involved in projects within the infrastructure industry, specifically transport which is an area I haven’t worked in before. I would like to apply my skills and continue to develop them in this specific sector.
How does WYG support you to develop your knowledge and interests? WYG provides learning on the job opportunities as well as cross country, cross region and cross sector exposure to help me to develop my interests.
