Staff

Ali Hamza

Senior Data and Research Manager

Ali Hamza is a Senior Data and Research Manager at gui2de’s DC office. He has worked on over a dozen projects in East-Africa and South-Asia, focusing on education, health, sanitation, cash transfers, crop insurance, road safety, and financial inclusion. He has extensive experience designing and programming surveys, A/B testing, data collection and cleaning, training workshops, web-scrapping, fuzzy matching, and geospatial analysis. Before joining gui2de, Ali worked at the World Bank, IGC, and Punjab government. While working for the Punjab government, he implemented projects to improve service delivery and monitoring in the health and education sector using cheap smartphones.

Ali is also passionate about human rights, hiking, cooking, Urdu poetry, and gravel biking.

Béatrice Leydier

Data and Research Manager

Béatrice started with gui²de in 2016 when she was an MPP student at the McCourt School, first as a summer intern in Uganda and then as a research assistant for several Economics and Public Policy faculty. Following graduation, Béatrice joined gui²de full time as a Data and Research Associate, and currently serves as a Data and Research Manager. She has played a key analytical role in multiple projects across gui²de‘s Digital Financial Inclusion, Road Safety, and Education portfolios.  Currently, she is managing Andrew Zeitlin’s cash benchmarking study with the International Rescue Committee in Kenya, and supporting Jishnu Das on the Learning and Educational Achievements in Punjabi Schools (LEAPS) study.  Before McCourt, Béatrice obtained a Master Degree in Management at HEC Paris and worked for a year in the private sector. When not crunching numbers for gui²de, Béatrice is most likely spotted in the DC improv comedy scene or discussing French politics.

Shardul Oza

Senior Program Manager, Research on Improving Systems of Education (RISE)

Shardul Oza is a Senior Program Manager for the Research on Improving Systems of Education (RISE) Tanzania Country Research Team.  Based in gui²de‘s DC office, he is responsible for managing the implementation of the RISE Tanzania Research Project, a six-year initiative examining the impact of basic education reforms in Tanzania. Shardul has a background in international development research and has worked for several organizations at the forefront of the evidence-based policy movement in South Asia, East Africa, and the United States.  

Whitney Tate

Director of Programs

Whitney Tate started with gui²de in 2013 as its first graduate assistant when she was a Masters student in International Development Policy (MIDP) at the McCourt School.  Following graduation in 2014, Whitney worked briefly for the Strategic Impact Evaluation Fund (SIEF) and the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) at the World Bank on an early childhood development systematic review.  She returned to gui²de and is now the Director of Programs, and manages gui²de’s international grant portfolio, operations, and staff.  She was integral in establishing the gui²de-East Africa office in Nairobi, Kenya, for which she was recognized with the President’s Excellence Award.  Whitney has managed the implementation of the Zusha! road safety project, including the nationwide scaleup in Kenya and the randomized control trials in Uganda and Tanzania, and also several projects under gui²de‘s Digital Financial Inclusion portfolio in Kenya. 

Jon Helfers

Director of Research and Strategy

Jon Helfers joined -East Africa as Director of Research and Strategy in 2019.  He has over nine years of project and program management experience and has lived in East Africa for 15 years. In 2011, he worked in Libya with Mercy Corps where he helped start up and manage a Civil Society Resource Center funded by USAID-OTI. Following this, he ran a multi-year impact evaluation of a USAID-funded local governance program in northwest Uganda for Social Impact and Innovations for Poverty Action. Prior to joining gui²de, he worked for SUNY’s Center for International Development as a research consultant in Kenya. Jon was a Luther Gulick Fellow at NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, where he received his MPA. His research interests focus on international development; particularly governance, accountability, local taxation, and the fiscal contract.

Martha Mutua

Project Manager, Digital Financial Inclusion

Martha Mutua started with gui²de in 2012 as a field team leader for the Comic FX-Financial Literacy project. Following this, she worked as a senior project assistant for multiple research projects conducted by gui²de in Kenya and Tanzania. Martha has over 7 years of experience in field research and project management. She holds a bachelor’s degree in social science and arts, majoring in sociology from Moi University. Her experience has been significant in managing and administering randomized control trials across gui2de’s Education, Road Safety, and Digital Financial Inclusion portfolios. Martha is now a Project Manager and oversees field management, Research Design Support, Communication, and Outreach. She is currently working on NCBA SASA, a project which evaluates a new method of extending trade credit facilitated by mobile banking and inventory management technologies to small-scale retailers in Kenya.

Josiah Muyesu

Project Manager, Digital Financial Inclusion

Josiah Muyesu joined gui²de in 2016, and is currently a Project Manager supporting the Zusha! road safety program and the evaluation of a stock financing product for small retailers under gui²de’s Digital Financial Inclusion portfolio. Josiah has a twelve-year career in designing, implementing, and managing development programs focused on improving primary school outcomes in Kenya and East Africa, having provided technical support to initiatives such as the SWASH + project through CARE, the Discovery project with Social Impact, and the DERP project through RTI. Josiah is a graduate of Makerere University in Uganda where he pursued a degree in Development Studies (Governance), and he holds a Master’s Degree in Project Planning and Management from the University of Nairobi.

Josphine Okello

Administrative Assistant

Josphine joined gui²de -East Africa as an Administrative Assistant in 2016. She manages general office operations and also provides administrative and field support for gui²de’s projects. Josphine has worked for the Kenya Bureau of Standards, the Postal Cooperation of Kenya, and Bodar Limited as a Customer Care agent. She holds a Diploma in Purchasing and Supplies Management from the Kenya Institute of Management (KIM) and a Diploma in Business Management from the Kenya Institute of Professional Studies (KIPS).

Enoch Ondera

Finance and Administrative Officer

Enoch joined gui²de-East Africa as its first employee in 2016 and was integral in setting up the newly-opened Nairobi office.  He serves as the Finance and Administration Officer and is responsible for managing gui²de-East Africa’s financial operations.  Enoch has over 10 years of experience in finance and administration in areas such as accounting, auditing, taxation, and consulting, and has worked with international organizations such as PwC. 

Alex Wendo

Project Manager, Digital Financial Inclusion

Alex Wendo is a Project Manager under gui²de’s Digital Financial Inclusion portfolio. He first started working with gui²de in 2012 through their implementing partner Digital Divide Data.

Alex has worked on the implementation of several gui²de projects in Kenya, including the School Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Plus (SWASH+) community action project which tested innovative ways of improving governance and Education Management Information Systems (EMIS) in Kenyan primary schools, and the High Hopes project, which evaluated the use of mobile money platforms to incentivize saving for secondary education in Kenya. Alex has most recently managed the RCT of a weather-based index insurance product aimed at protecting smallholder farmers against weather hazards and is currently the Project Manager for a cash benchmarking evaluation of a refugee job training program run by the International Rescue Committee (IRC). Alex has a diploma in statistics and a bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Moi University in Kenya.