Mohamed Ali Mwachausa grew up in a countryside village of Msambweni, Kenya. His family had very little and struggled to cover their basic needs. His parents worked tirelessly to ensure that they had enough to send Mohamed to school. With the support of his parents and the late Professor Mohamed Hydar, Mohamed completed primary and secondary school with high marks. He went on to the university where he received an undergraduate degree and a masters of arts in Project Planning and Management.

In the last 12 years, Mohamed has co-founded multiple community based organizations. One of those organizations is KWEA - Kwale Welfare And Education Association, which works to influence optimal learning outcomes for underprivileged local children. Another organization Mohamed founded is SambaSports Youth Agenda, which focuses on inspiring and influencing healthier behavior in adolescents and youth in Kenya. Mohamed is an expert in community development and is often found mentoring various grassroots organizations. Currently he mentors 17 organizations and helps guide them to grow their programs and reach more beneficiaries. 

IVLP Impact Award Project: LISK - Lifting Social Enterprises

LISK focused on mentoring grassroots civic organizations that exist to influence positive change in health, economic empowerment, agriculture and mental health programming. Most of the young organizations are running initiatives to mitigate substance abuse, juvenile crime, extremism and sexual and gender-based violence.

However, despite their passion and sacrifice to change other peoples' lives, many of these organizations struggled to make any meaningful change because of poor organizational skills, weak operational systems, poor accountability procedures, inadequate partnership building skills, and poor marketing and visibility. LISK was a program that equipped organizations to better handle these challenges through continuous coaching, training and mentorship in areas where they were deficient.

After the first three training sessions, word spread among local organizations and requests came in from even more nonprofits, eager to learn. As a result, the training course expanded to support a total of 36 representatives from 18 organizations. Over the course of the next nine sessions, these organizational representatives were able to gain skills in the areas of governance, financial management and media visibility, to mention just a few. The trainees were able to share these new skills with the rest of their organizations, and leverage this knowledge to help expand their organization's reach. Perhaps the most impressive marker of LISK's success, was when Mohamed was contacted by a staff member from the offices of the President of Kenya, asking him to provide similar mentorship to 10 Nubian organizations in the slums of Kibera, Kenya.

IVLP Exchange Experience 

Mohamed was a participant in the IVLP Project: NGO Management I, organized by the U.S. Department of State and Meridian International Center.

Mohamed's exchange experience led to the development of his IVLP Impact Award Project: "My IVLP Experience was exceptional! From gaining critical knowledge on foundational pillars of NGO management, to networking with the most passionate, skilled and transformative young leaders across the world; IVLP is just an exceptional tool for global leadership."

U.S. Communities Visited Virtually

Little Rock, AK; Denver, CO; Washington DC; Miami, FL; Atlanta, GA; St. Louis, MO; Buffalo, NY; Pittsburgh, PA; West Reading, PA

Country: Kenya

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