Our Board of Directors

Maanda Ngoitiko

Maanda Ngoitiko is the Cofounder and Executive Director of Pastoral Women’s Council (PWC) Tanzania. She is an indigenous pastoralist woman from the Maasai community of northern Tanzania. She has invested over 25 years in her community advocating for the equity and rights of Maasai women and girls and shaping the future of human rights among the Maasai. Maanda studied environmental studies at Kenyatta University in Kenya. She has worked for over 25 years in development and serves on various boards of schools, hospitals and community organizations in her home district.

Maanda is a recipient of the Paul K. Feyerabend Prize - A World of Solidarity is Possible; was nominated for The Guardian International Development Achievement Award; and is a fellow of Segal Family Foundation - African Visionary Fellowship. In 2019 she was awarded Grassroots Champion by Segal Family Foundation. Additionally, in 2023, Maanda was featured and recognized in the Pixel Project 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence 2023 campaign. Read more about the Award here.

Maanda collaborates with several universities including the University of Washington in Seattle. She lectures on pastoralist livelihoods and land use, women’s rights, girls’ education, the dynamics of international collaboration and philanthropy, and grassroots development. She is part of the Global Reciprocity Network, a group of educators from across the world who work toward more equitable collaboration in higher education and development. Finally, Maanda was elected (by other African feminist sisters) in October 2023 to serve on the African Feminist Climate Justice Movement Committee (AFCJM). This movement is supported by the Global Fund for Women as part of its efforts to centre women's voices and agency in advancing climate justice.  

Ruth Kihiu

Ruth is a passionate and committed Pan-African feminist and sustainable development expert with sixteen years of combined experience in women’s and girls’ empowerment and rights, feminist movement building, and gender mainstreaming. Additionally, her experience spans organizational development and leadership, program coordination, climate justice and local climate adaptation action, policy advocacy, community organizing, democratization and governance and inclusive trade. Ruth holds a Master of Science in International Trade Law and Trade Policy from Lund University and a Bachelor of Law from the University of South Africa.

Ruth is currently the Head of Programs and Operations at Pastoral Women’s Council.

Jennifer Meyer

is a pediatrician based in Seattle, Washington who is passionate about health inequity, women’s and children’s rights, and climate justice. Jenn has strong personal and professional connections to East Africa and has worked as a pediatrician in both Tanzania and Ethiopia. She has been a close friend of PWC for over 20 years and speaks Kiswahili. She currently works with students and teachers in Seattle Public Schools.

Ren Dietel

is a senior partner at Dietel& Partners. Ren has 20+ years as a teacher, administrator and capital investor. She led innovative and interdisciplinary programs in independent and public schools in Seattle, San Francisco, and rural Virginia. She has a keen sense of identifying leadership skills, particularly among young, unrecognized talent. Prior to her educational career, she worked for the Capital Group, an investment management organization, in Los Angeles, New York and Washington. For more information see: https://www.dietelandpartners.com/ren 

Marissa Vahlsing

is a lawyer by training and profession and is based in Washington DC. She is the US Legal Director at EarthRights. Marissa has focused on developing and implementing legal and advocacy strategies to defend the rights of frontline communities facing oil pollution, mining, land-grabbing and paramilitary violence in cases against corporations, governments and financial institutions. For more information see: https://earthrights.org/about/team/marissa-vahlsing/

Terry Odendahl

is retired President and CEO of Global Greengrants Fund. An activist, independent scholar and philanthropist, she helmed two grantmaking associations, worked as a Program Officer/Director at private and public foundations over the course of her career. An anthropologist by training, she has held faculty positions at Georgetown University, the University of California, San Diego, and Yale University. She is the co-author of four books on philanthropy, as well as numerous articles and OpEds. Terry is the co-founder of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research in Washington, D. C., and the Institute for Collaborative Change in New Mexico. She is the “grandmother” of the EDGE Funders Alliance and previous board chair of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy. She currently serves on the boards of 350.org and Friends of the Pastoralist Women’s Council.