Stella Makena

Stella Makena is the Co-founder and Program Coordinator of Shield of Faith (SOF), an AP partner that seeks to empower vulnerable women in Kenya’s informal settlements. Stella has worked in the public and private sectors for over 25 years, including stints as an IT specialist at the National Cereals and Produce Board in Kenya, a Data Stringer at Thomson Reuters, and a humanitarian worker at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Kenya, Rwanda, Eritrea, and Somalia. Stella has played a decisive role in building a strong partnership between SOF and AP that began in 2019 with embroidery training and continues through Shield of Faith’s trail-blazing project to compost food waste and grow organic food in the Nairobi settlements. She hopes to use her place on the AP Board to present the perspective of AP’s partners in the South and make the case for new innovative community-based initiatives. Stella holds a diploma in IT systems analysis & design and a BSC degree in International Business Administration from the United States International University(USIU)-Africa.