Our delivery approach
We incorporate partnerships for our programmes and influencing work, working with Civil Societies, Community Based Organisations and Government Agencies.
The Regional Hub Leadership Team
Meet the Regional Hub Leadership Team dedicated to ensuring we create a world where we are all equal.
Hajir Maalim – Regional Director, Middle East, Eastern and Southern Africa
Hajir leads the Regional Hub in the Middle East, Eastern and Southern Africa Region.
He brings more than 20 years of experience in humanitarian and development work, having served in a variety of leadership roles across Africa and the Middle East.
Throughout his career, Hajir has held senior field positions including Regional Director in the Eastern, Southern and West Africa region, Country Director in Somalia and Yemen, and Head of Programmes in East Africa, West Africa, and the Middle East. His extensive expertise spans the design, implementation, and evaluation of both emergency and long-term development programs in some of the world’s most complex and fragile contexts. In addition to his international experience, Hajir also served in the Kenya Civil Service, further enriching his understanding of public-sector operations.
A Kenyan national, Hajir holds a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from Loughborough University in the UK and a Bachelor of Technology in Civil and Structural Engineering from Moi University, Kenya.
Email: hajir.maalim@plan-international.org
Angela Muriithi – Sub-regional Director, Northern and Middle East
Angela W. Githitho Muriithi leads the Northern and Middle East sub-region and is accountable for the coherent and consistent implementation of Plan International’s purpose and ambition of advancing children’s rights and gender equality across the sub-region, in line with Plan’s values-based leadership and underpinned by feminist principles.
She ensures that quality, aligned strategies are developed and resourced for all countries in the region and programmes delivered with the expected impact.
Passionate about social justice, inclusive development, and tackling the challenges faced by girls and women, Angela has over 15 years of experience in the development and humanitarian sector.
She holds a PhD in Sociology of Education from the University of Cambridge, a Master of Philosophy in Politics, Democracy and Education from the same university, a Post Graduate Diploma in Project Planning and Management from University of Nairobi and a Bachelor of Education degree from Kenyatta University, in Kenya.
Email: angela.muriithi@plan-international.org
Gerald Magashi – Sub-regional Director, East & Southern Africa
Gerald Magashi leads the East and Southern Africa sub-region and supports countries to ensure their strategies are developed, resourced and delivered with expected reach and impact.
Gerald brings over 20 years of leadership experience in financial management, operations, risk management, and the humanitarian sector across Tanzania, South Sudan, Malawi, and Mozambique.
Throughout his career with Plan International, Gerald has held several senior leadership roles, driving organisational transformation, strengthening internal controls, and enhancing operational efficiency. He has successfully led large-scale humanitarian responses, including Cyclone Idai and the Cabo Delgado emergency operations, and has strategically positioned the organisation through consortium leadership, donor engagement, and representation in national humanitarian coordination forums.
Gerald is passionate about building high-performing teams, driving accountability, and aligning country strategies with global priorities in fast-changing and complex environments.
He is fluent in Kiswahili, English, and Portuguese.
Email: gerald.magashi@plan-international.org
Samuel Musyoki, Regional Programme and Influencing Director
As the Regional Programme and Influencing Director, Samuel Musembi Musyoki oversees the quality of our work.
He is dedicated to harnessing best practices across the region with a primary focus on driving excellence, identifying and driving selected regional programme and influencing priorities. He also ensures the smooth running of programmatic communities of practice for enhanced sharing and learning and scaling up of best practices to ensure technical excellence region.
Samuel Joined Plan International in 2007 and has held different roles, including Strategic Director of Programmes as well as Interim Country Director for both Kenya and Zambia.
Sammy is an accomplished, self-driven international development practitioner and a visionary leader. He has over 30 years of experience in international development, organisational and change management and resource mobilisation. He has worked with a wide range of institutions including bilateral aid agencies, international and national NGOs and grassroots-based organisations in Africa, Asia, Middle East and Europe.
Samuel holds a masters degree in Development Studies from the International Institute of Social Studies (IISS) of Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands, as well as a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology from the University of Nairobi, Kenya.
He loves gardening and farming!
Email: samuel.musyoki@plan-international.org
Cleophas Angwenyi, Director – African Union Liaison Office
Cleophas is a passionate child rights advocate with over 12 years’ experience working in emergency aid operations, community led post-disaster recovery programs and regional and continental advocacy on children’s rights on the African continent.
He has served in the Coordinating Committee of the Africa CSO Forum on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, the Board of Directors of UPR Info Africa, the Eastern Africa Child Rights Network (EACRN), and Save the Children International Africa Union Liaison Office. His most recent role was the Head of the African Union Liaison Office and AU Representative for Oxfam International. He has covered senior and strategic roles, leading teams in disaster response, community engagement, building strategic partnerships with external stakeholders, and advocating for more effective approaches from the African Union to improve the lives of children on the continent.
Cleophas believes in every person “being the change we all want to see.” This can only be achieved through social justice and standing against injustice everywhere.
Email: cleophas.angwenyi@plan-international.org
Gilbert Kibet , Regional Finance Director
As the Regional Finance Director, Gilbert’s priority is to drive operational excellence in our finance function and ensure we maximise impact for the children we serve through protecting and leveraging the region’s financial resources.
Gilbert is responsible for enhancing our regional capability and capacity in financial planning and analysis, project, grants and sponsorship finance and financial business partnering.
As a Certified Professional Accountant, Gilbert brings over 18 years’ experience working in the NGO sector across East, Central, Southern, and Horn of Africa.
Prior to Plan International, Gilbert worked for Care International as the Regional Finance Director for the East and Central Africa Region where he was responsible for a multi-million operational and reporting portfolio within a complex, globally confederated entity comprising 21 member organisations and oversight of 15 country operations.
Gilbert started his NGO career at World Vision Kenya and later spent 3 years as Country Finance Manager for the Food for the Hungry in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Gilbert is very passionate about advocating for positive change and equality.
On a personal level, he is a soccer fan and derives immense satisfaction from connecting with nature.
Email: gilbert.kibet@plan-international.org
Duncan Eric, Regional Operations and IT Director
As the Regional Operation and IT Director, Duncan Eric’s priority is to maintain and improve organisational effectiveness and digital security in the region.
Duncan brings strategic support and thought leadership to shared services in the region including the human resource, IT, finance, procurement, logistics and administration shared services centres.
He also provides oversight and coordination of the regional work to strengthen business processes, adopt the new systems to take them online, improve digital security and online functional capability as well as oversee the regional supply chain function to support countries to adopt and adhere to the supply chain manual.
Duncan is an accomplished business-focused and result-oriented technology leader with over 16 years’ hands-on experience in leading and delivering IT strategies, business strategy alignment and digital transformation. He is skilled in the design and implementation of IT services, project management, Cyber security and vendor management aligned with the business operating model to achieve business outcomes and build technical capability.
Prior to Plan, Duncan was the Head of Cloud Technology Adoption, Africa at Oracle. He also worked at NCBA bank as the Head of enterprise systems where he oversaw the implementation of new ERP and enterprise data warehouse systems improving workflow and business efficiency and later successfully implemented a cloud-first strategy, reducing infrastructure costs by over 18%.
During his illustrious career, he has held various technical and senior management roles including Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Kenya Vision 2023 where he was instrumental in the transformation of the organisation’s ICT and business environment to better engage with the Government and other stakeholders as well as the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) as Senior Manager Enterprise Systems where he was part of the Project team that successfully digitised the process and transformed the port operations through the effective application of technology which led to transparency in business operations resulting in increased turn-around-time in goods clearance.
Email: duncan.eric@plan-international.org
Patricia Kashangaki , Regional People and Culture Director
As the Regional People and Culture Director, Patricia Kashangaki is dedicated to championing our values driven culture, bringing it to life through dedicated values-driven leadership as we build capable, motivated and engaged teams to deliver our purpose.
She works towards enhancing a high-performing, values-driven, and inclusive organisation in which employees enjoy a fulfilling career, one in which they know that they are contributing to advancing children’s rights and equality for girls in the region.
Patricia, who has served in her role for the past 9 years, supports MEESA leaders in shaping and nurturing strong teams, managing people related risks and building a capable People and Culture team in our countries in the region.
As a woman in leadership at Plan International, she finds daily motivation in our purpose to empower girls and women to have a voice and advocate for a world that eradicates gender-based violence.
Patricia has served in similar roles with other like-minded organisations including in VSO and AMREF previously for over 15 years.
Email: patricia.kashangaki@plan-international.org
Hassan Farah, Shared Service Centre Director
As the Director of Shared Services and Government Relations, Hassan Farah provides strategic oversight of institutional systems, operational governance, and high‑level government engagement.
Hassan has previously held senior roles including Interim Country Director in Uganda and Zambia and Director of Program Implementation and Operations in South Sudan, alongside regional leadership positions with Oxfam GB and International Medical Corps.
He brings over a decade of regional operations and supply chain leadership, managing multi‑country operations across 23 African countries, with expertise in programme implementation, risk management, logistics, and coordination in fragile contexts.
Hassan has worked extensively with major NGOs, UN agencies, and government institutions particularly in refugee and displacement settings.
He holds an MBA in Strategic Management and is recognised for strong strategic judgment, operational depth, and governance‑focused leadership.
Email: hassan.farah@plan-international.org
James Wefwafwa, Regional Security Manager
In his role as the regional security lead, James Wefwafwa provides strategic oversight and technical guidance across 17 countries – strengthening organisational capacity to analyse risks, mitigate threats, and safeguard both national and international staff.
His leadership has been instrumental in embedding security management into program design and execution.
In his current role, Wefwafwa jointly developed and rolled out the First Aid and Security Training (FAST) module, equivalent to HEAT, saving the organisation over $2.6 million, training more than 2,800 staff globally and showcasing his ability to design and implement security frameworks that balance operational needs with staff safety.
He previously held the same positions at Oxfam and RedR UK.
Email: james.wefwafwa@plan-international.org
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