Irene Ojuok

Researcher at Right Livelihood College at the Center for Development Research
University of Bonn, Germany

Irene Ojuok is an Environmentalist with over ten years of experience working with rural communities in Kenya. She holds a bachelor’s in Environmental Studies master’s degree in Project Planning and Management. She recently commenced her Doctoral research in Land Degradation and Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) in Kenya at the Right Livelihood College (RLC) Campus hosted at the Center for Development Research ZEF, University of Bonn. Irene has vast experience in; project design & implementation, capacity building, advocacy & policy influence, private sector partnerships and engagements, gender mainstreaming and documentation, mainly in sustainable land management practices, climate change and community-driven development models. She is passionate about transforming lives and landscapes through gender-sensitive sustainable land restoration and livelihoods strengthening efforts, notably FMNR, which has proved to restore hope to vulnerable communities in the face of the climate crisis and severe land degradation of smallholder lands. She believes investing in smallholder farmers as critical agents for transformation is the most successful and sustainable approach to halting land degradation. Her efforts towards this cause have seen her honored as Global Evergreening Ambassador, Tree Ambassador by Total Eco Challenge Kenya in 2016, Climate Champion by Homabay County Government and Global FMNR champion through FMNR Hub.