Our team at CIG Uganda comprises a diverse group of professionals who are passionate about their work. The team brings years of experiences in international development from a wide range of backgrounds and expertise that will effectively support the delivery of the programme in Uganda
We are complemented by the Cardno international development team of specialists around the world with experience in designing, developing and delivering sustainable projects and community advancement programs.

Ms Beatrice Kinyanjui
Programme Director
Ms. Beatrice Kinyanjui is a strategic business and team leader with extensive technical expertise, building trusted partnerships to deliver sustainable impact in international development. As Regional Manager for Cardno Emerging Markets (East Africa) Ltd. based in Nairobi, she leads a diverse team of over 30 development professionals to deliver complex projects for local and international clients across a range of sectors. She draws on 15 years of experience in project management and private sector development, having worked in leadership, senior management and advisory positions for a number of Cardno’s business units, multimillion dollar programs, and previous work in international organisations.
Ms. Kinyanjui is currently the Programme Director for the Cities and Infrastructure for Growth Programme in Uganda. She holds an MBA in International Management from Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Helena Mcleod
Team Leader
Helena McLeod is a transformational international development leader, specialising in the design and management of multimillion pound innovative development initiatives. In her career spanning over two decades, she has designed and managed aid programmes, spanning the globe that have improved the lives of millions of people.
She took over as Team Leader for the catalytic CIG Uganda, UK aid financed programme, in March 2019. Prior to her current role, Helena was practice Head of Climate Change and Renewable Energy for KPMG East Africa. Prior to that, she advised on the establishment of a development infrastructure bank between the Chinese and South African governments for the Development Bank Southern Africa. Prior to that, she was a longstanding advisor to UK Department for International Development in climate change, economics and renewable energy.
She holds a BSc Economics from the London School of Economics and a Masters in Environmental and Natural Resource Economics from University College London

Dick Komakech
Deputy Team Leader
Dick Komakech (MSc, BSc, DIC, MCIHT) is a Senior Transport Specialist at Cardno Emerging Markets UK. He has extensive experience working in both developed and developing countries with public & private institutions, multilateral & bilateral agencies including DFID, World Bank, SIDA, AfDB, CDB and DANIDA. He is a technical advisor at local and national levels in the development of transport infrastructure predominantly in low and middle income countries. As a technical director in several short term projects, Dick successfully accomplished challenging assignments from negotiation to final completion.
Prior to joining CIG-Uganda, Dick was the team leader for the award winning programme, Improving Rural Access in Tanzania (IRAT) – a 4-year DFID funded programme which transformed the road development, management and funding mechanism and later adopted by key development partners

Nicki Spence
Programme Manager
A senior manager of the Cardno East Africa and Cardno IT Transport office, Nicki Spence oversees the Project Management Unit providing managerial and technical support in all stages of the project life cycle. She currently oversees 24 active projects and has significant management experience handling a diverse range of programmes in multiple locations including several large programmes funded by donors including the EU, DFID, ADB, SDC, and UNDP. Nicki has an excellent track record playing a key role in the delivery of project / programmes that achieve high level outputs, outcomes within budget. She is currently the Prize Manager/Team Leader of a climate innovation prize held in Kenya funded by DFID and the Programme Manager of the UK Aid funded Uganda Cities and Infrastructure for Growth programme and Sustainable Development of Mining in Rwanda programme.

Paolo Craviolatti
Finance Lead
Paolo is the CIG Uganda Finance Lead in charge of raising suitable financing for infrastructure projects. Paolo have more than 20 years experience in economic development, in particular in infrastructure development and financing. He has been working as an economist and financial analyst for energy, water and transport infrastructure projects (at national and municipal levels) working for UK government funded programmes, EU infrastructure programmes and for the African Development Bank, World Bank and the private sector. Over the last 10 years Paolo has worked in several markets for PPPs in the power and transport sectors.
Paolo has a MSc in Economics for Development from Oxford University and a PhD in Economics from Sussex University.

Sayson R. Meya
Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Advisor
Sayson is the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Advisor for the programme. She is a multi-disciplinary Legal Sociologist with 18 years’ experience in social protection of rights and empowerment of the vulnerable and marginalized. She has worked globally (Europe) with extensive work across the Horn, Great Lakes and SDAC regions of Africa. She is well versed with the international, regional and national frameworks on gender equality and social inclusion (GESI), social cohesion, human rights and safeguards in governance, infrastructure, urban development and the energy sectors. Sayson has worked for different development partners; the EU, USAID, World Bank, AfDB, UNWOMEN, DFID; Government-MDAs, Academic Institutions and CSOs.

Dr. Revocatus Twinomuhangi
Climate Change Advisor
Dr. Revocatus Twinomuhangi is a leading environment management and climate change expert with up to 20 years working experience in training, research and capacity building. He is a Senior Lecturer at Makerere University and has worked on various national and global environment and climate change programmes with government and other international agencies like UNEP, UNDP, FAO, World Bank, USAID, WWF etc. He previously worked on the UK funded Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) and is a founder member of the Least Developed Countries Consortium on Climate Change (LUCCC), a south-south university collaborative network for enhancing capacity in climate change training, research and capacity building.

Lillian Akot Okura
Communications Expert
Ms. Lillian Akot Okura is a strategic communication professional, with extensive experience spanning 17 years in stakeholder engagement, media relations, brand image positioning, donor relations, internal communication, corporate reporting and communicating for results.
Lillian has supported Government agencies to design and implement research- based communication strategies, work plans and stakeholder mapping that enhance project knowledge sharing, documentation, visibility and dissemination of project results and best practices. Her communications work over the years has covered private sector development, Government relations, infrastructure development, livelihoods, conflict and humanitarian assistance and sustainability agenda.
Lillian holds Masters in Public Policy and Management from Strathmore University, Bachelor of Mass Communication from Makerere University and a Professional Certificate from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).

James Kakooza
Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Expert
James Kakooza is a Research, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (RMEL) professional with over 19 years of experience in 33 countries across Africa and Southern Asia. James has very strong skills in designing, collecting, analysing, reporting and disseminating monitoring and evaluation data for international relief and development programs. For the past 14 years, James has played expatriate roles in: Kenya, Sudan, Southern Sudan, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and Somalia, where he has successfully led RMEL units to deliver high class results for multidisciplinary/ multisector country and multicounty programs. James is a member of various professional bodies that include the: International Development Evaluation Association (IDEAS), Africa Evaluation Association (AfREA), Uganda Evaluation Association (UEA), Uganda National Academy of Sciences (UNAS), Third Wold Academy of Sciences (TWAS), Union of African Population Studies (UAPS) and International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP). Since year 2001, James has provided quality RMEL services to international donor agencies like, USAID, World Bank, AfDB, BMGF, DFID, Irish Aid, DANIDA, NORAD and The Kingdom of the Netherlands among others. James holds a PhD in Project Management and Evaluation, a Postgraduate Diploma in Project Planning and Management (DPPM), Professional Master’s in Information Science (PM, InfoSc.) and in Science and Technical Education (M.Ed Sc. Tech.).

Christopher Cripps
Urban Theme Lead
Christopher is a spatial and urban planning expert with over 15 years sub-Saharan African experience. He was born and brought up in the UK, where he studied Architecture at Cambridge University and the Architectural Association, London. He subsequently gained his PhD at University of Liverpool in the political economy of housing design, and practiced in Community Technical Aid in the West of England before becoming involved in UK urban regeneration from the ‘90s. In 2001 he took a sabbatical to travel the world visiting developing countries. In 2005 he migrated to Ghana where he worked on Old Accra, commercial property development and developing the Ghana spatial planning system for the World Bank, joining the RTPI. He moved to Uganda in 2013, where he now lives, working on strategic spatial and urban planning at all levels