Ian Barnes Executive Director

Along with being a Board Member and Founder of Project Kesho, Ian is also the Executive Director. Ian designs, develops, and implements policy and programs. In the past in has worked out of our Seattle office, making yearly trips to East Africa. Currently Ian is balancing a new job for a non-profit company in South Sudan while still running the day to day operations of Project Kesho. His new job will allow him to make numerous trips to Project Kesho field projects throughout East Africa.

Elliot Barnes Program Manager

Elliot, also a founder of Project Kesho, lives in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania with his wife Misrak. He divides his time between Dar and working for Project Kesho in Iringa, Tanzania. Elliot Has worked for Project Kesho since the summer of 2007. He has a History Degree and Secondary Educational Certificate from Seattle Pacific University but fell in love with Africa after doing a study abroad in 2004. Since then he has travelled to seven countries in Africa, with plans for many more.

Abbas Sanga Field Worker

Abbas is our go to guy in Tanzania. Working with us from the inception of Project Kesho he does everything from translation to contract negotiations to holding village meetings. Speaking three languages fluently, English, Kiswahili and Kikinga, and one conversantly, Kihehe, he is a major asset in the field and an irreplaceable part of our team.

Edgar Mfalmagoa Well Digger

Edgar, a local village resident in Tanzania, is our short-depth well digger. With his team he has dug, bricked and capped four wells in the Lundamatwe and Ulonge Villages.

Fidelis Kabogo Construction Manager

Fidelis, another local village resident, is adept at all different kinds of carpentry. Currently, with his team, he has built or helped to build four classrooms, two teacher offices, one bathroom and one kitchen in the Lundamatwe and Ulonge Villages.

Jessica Henson Cagley Consultant

Jessica has a BS in Biology from Seattle Pacific University and an MPA and certificate in International Development Policy and Management from the Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington. She worked with Project Kesho in 2009 and 2010 to design, implement, and analyze research looking into the barriers to education in Lundamatwe, Tanzania. Besides education, her interests include agricultural development, nutrition, gender, and foreign assistance policy.