Our team is growing – welcome to Ese Emerhi and Eshban Kwesiga!

Ese (L) and Eshban (R) will be starting with the GFCF in April 2021

We are delighted to announce the appointment of two new members of staff, who will be joining the GFCF in April 2021!

Ese Emerhi will be joining our team as Global Network Weaver. Since 2017, Ese has served as the Project Director for the Kiisi Trust Fund, a donor-advised-fund managed by TrustAfrica in Ogoniland in Rivers State, Nigeria. In her new role with the GFCF, Ese will be working with, and helping to strengthen connections across, our global network of community philanthropy and civil society partners. Ese will also be working with allies in the #ShiftThePower movement around shaping broader advocacy, influencing and engagement efforts involving other parts of the mainstream development sector. Speaking about her new role, Ese said:

“This opportunity to work for the GFCF is a dream come true! I’m excited about the vast opportunities this new role will provide in expanding the #ShiftThePower movement to new countries, communities, and partners across the globe. I’m looking forward to new connections, new ideas, working with a robust field of community philanthropy practitioners, and contributing to the growing field of knowledge on this matter. Let’s go!”

Also joining our team is Eshban Kwesiga, who is based in Uganda. Most recently, Eshban was Head of Development and Policy at Chapter Four Uganda and also worked with GFCF partner CivSource Africa. Eshban will be our Knowledge Weaving and Influencing Manager, and will be building the evidence base for community philanthropy as both practice and theory, and contributing to, and informing, larger development debates. Looking forward to his new role, Eshban commented:

“I grew up watching communities use their collective and local resources to address some of their most challenging problems such as health and education. Back then we didn’t even know there was a word for it called community philanthropy. Given we live in a world where people with smartphones go to bed hungry is proof that we must start to reimagine how we do development and how we think about it. I am excited to join an organization that is at the forefront of influencing development thought as opposed to simply consuming it.”

We are thrilled to have Ese and Eshban on board!