Esmee Mulder

YEP period 2021 - 2022, batch 22

Young Expert at Meta Meta - Kenya

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First position after YEP

Programme manager at MetaMeta Kenya

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YEP Role

As a Program Manager and Data Analyst for MetaMeta in Kenya, I work on a diverse range of projects. The main project I work on as YEP’er is the Water Productivity in Practice project (in collaboration with IHE-Delft, Wageningen University, FAO, and eLEAF) in which I contribute to setting up service hubs in Kenya, Sudan, and Ethiopia. These hubs will provide services regarding water productivity analyses in agriculture using open-access remote sensing tools and datasets to advise on how to increase the ‘crop per drop’.

In addition to this role, I am the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) coordinator for the Green Future Farming program (in collaboration with Rain foundation and Justdiggit), a project which aims to generate opportunities for sustainable farming and pastoralism across the value chain in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda. For the MEL component, we apply a diverse range of techniques such as remote sensing analyses, household surveys, ethnographic research, soil sampling, and more. Finally, as my expertise is in combining remote sensing analyses with local knowledge to co-design sustainable resource management improvements, I contribute to multiple other projects within MetaMeta whenever this skill is considered valuable for the project. This includes applying Human-Centered Design in several phases of projects as well as conducting analyses, facilitating workshops, and coordinating training programs.

Skills

• Combining remote sensing analyses with local knowledge (particularly in agriculture, urban water management, and rangeland management)
• Programming (Python and Google Earth Engine)
• Ethnographic research and Human-Centered Design
• Teamwork, independent work, and leadership
• Flexible, culturally sensitive, and reflective
• Fluent English & Dutch and medium-level Kiswahili

Background

• Nationality: Dutch
• Education:
  • MSc Civil Engineering – Water Management (TU Delft)
  • BSc Liberal Art & Sciences – Earth & Environment and International Development (University College Utrecht – Utrecht University)

Experience before YEP

• Program co-coordinator, co-teacher & admin for the UCU in East Africa Program (University College Utrecht) [2016 – present]
• Research (MSc) on decision-based drought forecasting design in Longido, Tanzania (TU Delft & Sauti Moja Tanzania) [2019]
• Researcher in Multidisciplinary Project on Water Productivity in Indonesia (IHE-Delft & the Asian Development Bank) [2017]
• Project support for “Land is our Life” (Sauti Moja Tanzania) [2016 – current]
• Intern for WASH Alliance Kenya [2016]
• Research Intern for Sauti Moja Tanzania (on the political ecology of the Enduimet Wildlife Management Area) [2014]