Karuti Kanyinga

Associate Director, Institute for Development Studies (IDS), University of Nairobi
Prof. Karuti Kanyinga is an accomplished development researcher and scholar with extensive
national and international experience and exposure. He has carried out many research
programmes and projects at the Institute for Development Studies (IDS), University of Nairobi,
in the last 29 years. He has published extensively on development and governance and is
renowned for his contributions to scholarship and knowledge in governance and development.
Prof. Kanyinga is renowned particularly for his extensive research and publications on land
rights; civil society and development; ethnicity and development; and electoral politics and
development. In addition to contribution to scholarship, he has experience in Monitoring and
Evaluation of major development programmes; he has experience in tracking implementation of
development programmes.
Prof. Kanyinga has been engaged in graduate teaching and training programmes at the IDS and
undertakes several administrative and research responsibilities at the Institute. He has
conceptualised, sought funding and coordinated several research projects at the University. Prof.
Kanyinga has supervised many MA and PhD students at the IDS, other departments of the
University of Nairobi. He is an external examiner in several universities in Eastern and Southern
Africa region where he has examined many undergraduate and graduate students.
Prof. Kanyinga’s work has a strong practical bent. He has been involved in the design and
implementation of several large-scale program interventions in governance and development. He
has led teams of project managers and researchers in the delivery of large, complex multi-donor
funded initiatives. He is widely travelled and has participated in many international conferences
Karuti Kanyinga, PhD; Curriculum Vitae –March 2019
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and events and presented papers on governance and development issues. He has served as a
resource person in the area of governance, project planning and implementation, among others,
for many international organizations including the World Bank, USAID and other bilateral
agencies. Further, he made intellectual contributions to the society through participation in
community development efforts as well as providing intellectual insights on many national and
international issues. He has served as a resource person in the area of development studies for
many international organisations in Africa.