Meet the Team

Aisha Umar Adamu is the Kaduna state Team Lead in Nigeria. She provides technical and managerial direction for the successful implementation of TaRL activities in Kaduna state. Her role also entails overseeing the implementation of the TaRL activities by working closely with stakeholders including the Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), State Ministry of Education and other members of the TaRL Africa team. Aisha is a competent education manager and administrator.

Alex Banda is the State Team Lead for Bauchi state in Nigeria. He works with policymakers and partners across contexts in the country to build their understanding of Teaching at the Right Level while providing technical and management direction for the successful implementation of the TaRL approach in Bauchi state. Alex also supports the training and Mentoring of Master Trainers, Mentors, and Teachers on the TaRL methodology as well as supporting the development of instructional content for literacy and numeracy.

Amos Dembele is TaRL Africa’s Country Director for Côte d’Ivoire. He is tasked to build and strengthen the team that works with the Ministry on the PEC program and support the growth and development of PEC in Côte d’Ivoire. He manages the country teams and operations; to work with the government and use lessons learned in the field to adjust implementation of the programme while carefully considering the evidence behind the approach. He also collaborates closely with the Ivorian Ministry of Education and its partners and maintain effective working relationships with all programme stakeholders.

Anjali Shandilya is a Measurement and Monitoring Associate with the International Collaborations Team at Pratham. She is part of the TaRL Africa central team and supports programmes in Cote d’Ivoire. She works with the country team to develop monitoring and evaluation strategies and strengthen the government’s systems and capacity. She also works with partners across several countries on measurement and review design. She also supports new teaching and learning innovations on Learning Labs.

Awa Ndoye is a French associate. She works closely with the local government on the adaptation of the TaRL methodology for French educational content in Côte d’Ivoire. She helps on all aspects of the French pedagogical content, from guides to training and capacity buildings. She also contributes to support teachers for an effective implementation of TaRL in the classroom in order to maximize its effectiveness on the field.

Catherine Botros is a Programme Coordinator on TaRL Africa’s central team. She supports teams and partners across different countries to strengthen implementation and strategic planning for improvement of programme growth. Catherine also supports communication, training workshops, learning and innovation lesson sharing as well as coordination of regional outreach, fundraising, and donor management.

Danlami Bala Gwammaja is with TaRL as a Literacy and Content Associate – Kano, Nigeria. In this role, he supports the design and continual improvement of the numeracy, English and Hausa reading components of TaRL interventions in Nigeria. Initially, he supports content development and capacity building exercises for TaRL activities in Kano State, and works as a part of a team who works with the focus state government to improve learning outcomes in the state

Dianarose Odhiambo is the Communications Associate for TaRL Africa. She collaborates with the broader TaRL Africa team on communications needs, supporting in the implementation of the communications strategy for TaRL Africa, media engagement, digital content generation, as well as all internal and external communications activities for TaRL Africa.

Florence Dzame is the Africa Communications Manager for TaRL Africa. She leads strategies that support global awareness about the initiative in Africa, fundraising, and country-specific communications, media, and advocacy support. .

Gabriel Yakubu is a Mathematics Content and Training Associate with TaRL Africa in Nigeria. He contributes to the development of content for Math lessons, tracks facilitators’ classroom experiences and innovation and use of TaRL Maths methodology.

Indresh Talsaniya is a Content Developer and Trainer with Pratham’s International Collaborations team. He is the key support for literacy capacity-building of the government master trainers and teachers of Catch Up in Zambia, and also reviews programme implementation. Indresh supports literacy training of government staff and partner organisations across other countries in Africa.

Jacqueline Mathenge is the TaRL Africa Research Manager. She supports the design and management of research and learning of TaRL programmes across Africa. She also supports the dissemination of research findings within cross-country teams, funders and relevant stakeholders.

Joakim E. Sumba is a Finance Associate at TaRL Africa and is based in Kenya. He is responsible for supporting TaRL Africa offices in the provision of a high-quality operational efficiency including accounts payable and receivables, budgets and forecasts, financial planning across core and sponsored fund, monitor cash position, coordinating internal and external audits, analysis of finances, management of procurement and logistics services, monthly general ledger review, monitor and review spending and reporting for management and external donors and general accounting duties.

Kodjo Aflagah is a Postdoctoral Associate at J-PAL-Africa, where he works with TaRL Africa and DigiFI. With TaRL Africa, he works to develop innovations in mentoring, monitoring, and teaching.

Louiza Kaluna is a Programme Coordinator on TaRL Africa’s central team. She supports teams and partners across different countries to strengthen implementation and strategic planning for improvement of programme growth. Louiza also supports communication, training workshops, learning and innovation lesson sharing as well as coordination of regional outreach, fundraising, and donor management.

Maureen Misuu is TaRL Africa’s Senior Finance Associate based in Kenya. She is a finance/grants management specialist and a compliance expert with strong analytical and Interpersonal skills. As the Senior Finance Associate, she works closely with the Operations director, TaRL Africa to provide a range of Financial and accounting functions including primary responsibility for Consolidating finances and producing monthly, quarterly, and annual financial management information and reports across all TaRL Africa offices. Her responsibilities also include assembling annual budgets and forecast in accordance with the annual planning cycle for country and central offices whilst working closely with Country Managers and Operations Director.

Medard Attoukou is a Senior Measurement, Learning, and Evaluation Associate at TaRL Africa in Cote d’Ivoire. He works in collaboration with TaRL Africa’s central teams and the Ministry of National Education and Literacy (MENA) in Cote d’Ivoire to develop a Monitoring and Evaluation strategy and build their capacities in understanding and using data to improve children learning outcomes across the country’s Primary school. He also supports TaRL Africa’s new teaching and learning innovations in Learning Labs and works closely with research team partners in Cote d’Ivoire.

Naaman Ochieng is a Programme Coordinator on TaRL Africa’s central team. He supports teams and partners across different countries to strengthen implementation and strategic planning for improvement of programme growth. Naaman also supports communication, training workshops, learning and innovation lesson sharing as well as coordination of regional outreach, fundraising, and donor management.

Prince Muraguri is a Research and Learning Associate at TaRL Africa, working with the Zambia team. Prince’s work at TaRL Africa focuses on implementing innovations to the TaRL methodology in Zambia (Catch Up), as well as assisting in the design, preparation and implementation of a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) to evaluate the impact of Catch Up on learning outcomes among primary school pupils.

Sheila is the Partnerships and Fundraising Manager. She is responsible for developing and executing partnership engagement, and community building strategies. She also supports fundraising and donor management.

Tanvi Banerjee is an Associate with Pratham’s International Collaborations team. She supports partners in planning and strengthening the implementation of their TaRL interventions. Tanvi also assists with TaRL Africa’s external communications and social media strategy.

Vasant Makwana is a content developer and trainer at Pratham’s international collaborations team. As the literacy trainer in Nigeria, he is responsible for capacity building of master trainers and mentors in the government and partner organisations. He also supports the creation and review of classroom activities and materials.

John Floretta is Director of Policy and Communications for J-PAL. He works with policymakers and J-PAL affiliated researchers, and staff to disseminate lessons from randomised evaluations and promote evidence informed decision-making and scale-ups of successful social programmes. John was Deputy Director of J-PAL South Asia during 2011-2015, which included working closely with Pratham.

Madhav Chavan is President and co-founder of Pratham. After obtaining a PhD in chemistry from Ohio State University and serving on the faculty at the University of Houston, Dr. Madhav Chavan returned to India where he worked in the slums of Mumbai as part of the National Literacy Mission. In 1995, as a result of a UNICEF initiative, he co-founded Pratham to address problems of universal primary education in Mumbai.