SECRETARY
KENYA
Naomi is a Maasai from the Kajiado District of Kenya. She speaks Maa (Maasai language), Kiswahili, and with reading knowledge in French. She attended the University of Nairobi with a degree in B. Ed. Education, major in Literature and Linguistics in 1975. She is a graduate of Temple University in Philiadelphia, USA with an MA and PhD in Anthropology in 1989.
Naomi worked as a teacher at Narok Secondary school (1975 -1976), Kenya National Archives, Head, Oral Traditions Division (1976-1979); University of Nairobi, Research Fellow/Lecturer, Institute of African Studies (1979-1990); Coordinator, Arid Lands Resource Management (ALARM), a network for Eastern Africa; and as Executive Director of the Arid Lands Institute, an NGO working on research, documentation and networking on policy and human rights concerns touching on indigenous pastoralists and hunter-gatherers in Eastern Africa in 1990 to 2016. She served as consultant on development issues in Kenya and in East Africa and also played an advisory role and member of various Working Groups including the Working Group of Indigenous Populations/Communities of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), and of many women’s and pastoralist groupings and networks.
Presently, Naomi is the chairperson of the Task Force involved in County/community issues relating to documentation of historical and cultural institutions and other significant matters including establishment of a museum and cultural centre for the County Government of Kajiado. She is the founder of Arid Lands Institute, an organization concerned with promoting sustainable utilization of land, raising awareness on environmental protection and conservation and promoting resource tenure security; advocating for human rights of underserved indigenous communities; raising awareness and support gender equity in access, control and ownership of productive resources; and encouraging and promoting production and documentation of historical, cultural and human interest material of historical significance.