Ngozi Akwataghibe (She / Her)

Ngozi Akwataghibe, MD, MPH, PhD, is a Medical Doctor, a Public and Global Health Specialist; and an experienced Senior Evaluator. She is the Executive Director and a Principal Consultant at ENAULD Technology, Health Research and Services, The Netherlands; a Senior Associate at Oversee Advising Group; and an Associate at Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) in Amsterdam. She has collectively over 27 years of work experience. She has expertise in International Development; Health Policy and Systems Research and Health Systems Strengthening; Evaluations including impact Evaluation; Education; Monitoring and Learning; Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Health Financing, Policy and Gender Analysis,, Project Management and Capacity building. She has extensive experience in conducting complex evaluations in varied development settings Ngozi is a mixed methods expert and has led the development of several innovative proposals that have been executed for various international organizations including the World Bank, UNICEF, World Food Programme, International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie), Shell, the WHO Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, Gavi and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She has extensive experience working with teams in Africa, Europe, USA and Asia; liaising with government, UN and a broad range of stakeholders and in leading and/or providing technical support to projects. The geographical scope of her work covers over 30 countries. For instance, from 2020 -2022 she was the Evaluation Team Lead for the Final Evaluation of the Comic Relief- GlaxoSmithKline ‘Fighting Malaria, Improving Health’ Partnership in Sub-Saharan Africa (Sierra Leone; Ghana; Tanzania; Mozambique) and Greater Mekong sub-region (Cambodia; Laos; and Myanmar); the Evaluation Team Lead in the UNICEF WCARO Multi-country Formative Evaluation of the Key Result for Children (KRC) #7 (Birth Registration) for period 2018-2020 for nine countries (Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Togo, Chad, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, and Benin); and the Evaluation Team Lead in the UNICEF evaluation of Cholera Rapid Response Teams (RRT) Programme in Four Governorates in Yemen. From 2015-2017, she provided technical support and Quality Assurance to the government of Ogun State Nigeria in a Decision-Maker Led Implementation Research (DELIR) on immunization funded by UNICEF, AHPSR and Gavi. This involved a participatory action research (PAR). She was also the Lead Principal Investigator in the Formative Evaluation (funded by 3ie and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) of the DELIR project using PAR to increase immunization coverage in Nigeria. The PAR approach was embedded in the national programme on immunization and integrated in the community structures (ward development committees and social mobilization committees) to develop needs based strategies together with communities, health workers and the local government to improve access and utilization of immunization in areas with pockets of unimmunized children in Ogun State of Nigeria. Knowledge valorization included a development of a policy brief used in a policy dialogue. She is currently the Evaluation Team Lead of the UNICEF WCAR Child-Friendly Communities (CFC) Approach 2018 - 2022: DRC, Guinea and Liberia; Team Lead of the UNICEF End-Cycle independent Evaluation of Government-UNICEF Health-HIV/AIDS Country Programme Component 2018-2022 in Nigeria; the Team Lead of the Evaluation of the WFP McGovern Dole Funded School Feeding Programme in the Republic of Congo from 2021 to 2026; and the Evaluation of the WFP School Feeding Programme in South Sudan from 2018-2023; and the Team Lead of the midterm evaluation of the McGovern Dole School Feeding Programme in Cote d’Ivoire from 2021 to 2026. She has a track record of scientific articles including in high-impact peer reviewed journals; and has made several panel and paper presentations on health and immunization in the global including UN arena. At KIT she is part of the Health Systems Strengthening team and provides thesis advisory support for Masters in Public Health students.