Benard Wakoli is an award-winning young social entrepreneur with over 6 years of experience working with disadvantaged and marginalized communities in Kakamega County, Western Kenya. As the Program Director for Yaya Education Trust, a local non-profit organization, Wakoli’s responsibilities include the provisioning of strategic leadership, resource mobilization, research, networking, project development and management, and developing successful monitoring, evaluation, and reporting tools for projects focusing on disadvantaged and marginalized communities in Kakamega County. While in the United States, Wakoli worked in the field of tolerance and conflict resolution as a fellow at the University of California Irvine Center for Peacebuilding. Having completed the Community Solutions Program, Wakoli is seeking lasting solutions to continued conflicts related to ethnicity, religious, and sexual orientation and gender identity by initiating multicultural dialogue and tolerance initiatives within Kakamega County.

Email: ben.wakoli@gmail.com