PROF. WASONGA VIVIAN OLIVER

Prof. Oliver Vivian Wasonga is a Rangeland Ecologist with specialization and experience of over 20 years in Dryland Ecosystems Analyses; Pastoral Production Systems, and Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Land Resource Management and Agricultural Technology (LARMAT), University of Nairobi (https://profiles.uonbi.ac.ke/oliverwasonga), with 16 years teaching experience; 6 of them since last promotion in 2016. He teaches 3 undergraduate, 4 masters & 2 PhD course units. During 2011- 2014, he worked as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the German Institute for Tropical and Sub-Tropical Agriculture (DITSL) at the University of Kassel in Witzenhausen, Germany (https://www.ditsl.org/en/team-contact). In addition to teaching, he has supervised twelve (13) PhD and seventeen (17) MSc students to completion, and currenty supervising ten (9) PhD and nine (9) MSc. students. He has published a total of 104 scientific articles; 59 papers in refereed journals; 32 papers in refereed workshop proceedings; 1 book; 4 book chapters; 8 technical reports. Since last promotion, he has published 49 refereed scientific articles (106.8 points); 25 papers in refereed journals (58.8 points); 24 papers in refereed workshop proceedings (48 points). He serves as a reviewer in 10 peer refereed Journals (mainly Elsevier and Springer), and as an editor in two of them.

Prof. Wasonga is the former Head of Range Management Section, former Chair of the Faculty Timetabling Committee, former member, Environment Committee, former member, Field Attachment Committee, current Chairman, Faculty Graduate Studies Committee, member, LARMAT Research & Networking Committee, and represents the University of Nairobi in the Management Committee (MANCO) of ARUA Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Food Systems. In addition, he is a member of East and Southern Africa Working Group for International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralist (IYRP2026); and a member of Adaptation Research Alliance (ARA). His community service include Partnership with the County Government of Samburu, County Government of Isiolo, VSF-Suisse, CARITAS, CRS, GAIN, Tuft University in capacity building on sustainable Rangeland Management. He has co-designed with the stakeholders, a training module on Participatory Rangeland Management (PRM) for the Arid and Semi-Arid Rangelands. In addition, he is a member of the Ending Drought Emergency (EDE) Pillar Six Committee convened by National Drought Management Authority (NDMA). Prof. Wasonga is also a members of Board of Management of Raruowa Kadera Secondary School in Migori County.

Since 2014, Prof. Wasonga has won 12 collaborative research grants worth approximately £800,000. Since his last promotion (2016), he has been implementimg 6 research projects worth approximately £162,000. His current and previous research projects include i) Drought Resilience In East African dryland Regions (DRIER) project, funded by the Royal Society, UK (On-going); ii) Translation of climate information into multilevel decision support for social adaptation, policy development, and resilience to water scarcity in the Horn of Africa Drylands (DOWN2EARTH), funded by EU (On-going); iii) International Virtual Course (IVC): Tackling Climate Change through Global Learning, funded by the Mercator Foundation Switzerland (On-going); iv) Climate Resilient Development Pathways for Semi-Arid Regions of Africa and Asia (CRDPs) Project, funded by IDRC (On-going); v) Socially Inclusive Adaptation Knowledge for Resilient Livelihoods in Northern Kenya, funded by IDRC; vi) Economic Valuation of Sustainable Rangeland Management Practices in Northern Kenya, funded by EU& GIZ; vii) Adaptation at Scale in Semi-Arid Regions (ASSAR) funded by IDRC and DFID; viii) Fodder Production for Enhanced Pastoral and Agro-Pastoral Resilience in the Drylands of Kenya (PREPARED), funded by the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM); ix) Assessing the Role of Stratified Livestock Production in Reduction of Post-Harvest Losses in Pastoral meat Value Chain in Kenya, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF); x) Role of Livestock Marketing Associations in Pastoral Meat value chain, funded by BMBF; xi) Foundations for climate resilient and sustainable growing settlements (U-RES), funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) through the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF); and xii) Re-Packing Indigenous Knowledge to Inform Policy, Development and Pastoral Community Action in Kenya (PIK), funded by the Christensen Fund. Over the years, he has established about 26 partnerships, most of them big consortium with multiple partners. He as negotiated 11 collaborative agreements & memorunda of Understanding between Univeristy of Naitrobi and various partners since 2008.

Prof. Wasonga’s other experiences include consultancies with several international and national organizations such as the European Union, World Bank, African Development Bank, UNDP, WFP, GAIN, AU-IBAR, FAO, ILRI, IUCN, IIED, IGAD/ICPAC; IGAD/ICPALD; VSF-Suisse, VSF-Belgium; AWF/KWS, National Drought Management Authority (NDMA), AMREF, ACF, NCCK, GIZ, MS-TCDC-Action Aid, CORDAID-Netherlands, IFAW, CARE-Tanzania, among others. He has published in diverse areas including rangeland ecology, pastoral livelihoods, climate change adaptation, natural resource management, and indigenous knowledge.
Important Links:
1. https://profiles.uonbi.ac.ke/oliverwasonga/
2. http://oliverwasonga.info
3. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5929-6091
4. https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=56268680800
5. https://www.mendeley.com/authors/56268680800/
6. https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=IQVWjTIAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate
7. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Oliver_Wasonga/publications