You’re allowed to be fulfilled and happy in your career choices

Mendi Njonjo, Regional Director at Hivos East Africa.

When I wake up, I centre myself, drink that vital cup of coffee, and run through my plans for the day. I then have another cup of coffee and make my way to work. Once at the office, I spend the first 30 minutes or so reading the papers. I’m a pretty fast reader so I can quickly get caught up on the dailies. I also use this time to touch base with colleagues as needed. Some of it will be to get progress reports, to understand where we may be ‘stuck’ and may need to put some organisational muscle and resources into resolving a situation, and basically working through my to-do list. As I have a regional remit, this could be in the Kenyan, Ugandan or Tanzanian offices. If not in the office, say I’m out meeting partners, or the people on whose behalf we work, I always try and ensure that I’m learning as much as possible. So I’ll probably be asking questions, making connections where possible, and seeing how it all ties back to either inform or improve our programmes.

As the regional director for Hivos in East Africa, my primary goal is making sure that our social objectives are met. Hivos is a social and environmental justice foundation that works to promote a just and fair world. Our tag line is “People Unlimited” as we believe that when people are given a chance to live in freedom and dignity, they are able to live a life that contributes to the greater good of humanity.  For our social objectives to be met, I need to ensure that our people at Hivos are working optimally, and that I help unlock barriers, and even better promote things that enable us to achieve our purpose. The job also requires ensuring that we are working to develop good and suitable programming, that the organisation is truly fit for purpose. We’re both a grant making and implementing foundation, so it’s also ensuring that everything is done to specs.