The People Behind TEGEM

Chairperson, Board of Directors

Prof. Christopher Garimoi Orach

MBChB, MMed (PH), MPH, PhD

Prof. Christopher Garimoi Orach has chaired TEGEM’s Board of Directors since the organisation was registered as an NGO in 2019. He is a physician and Professor of Public Health at Makerere University School of Public Health, where he previously served as Deputy Dean and headed the Department of Community Health and Behavioural Sciences. He holds a PhD in Public Health from Vrije Universiteit Brussel and an MPH from the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp.

His career began on the frontline of district health services, where TEGEM works today, as Medical Superintendent of Maracha Hospital and later Acting District Director of Health Services for Gulu. His study of maternal mortality in Gulu earned the WHO Africa Region Community Health Research Award. He later advised UNFPA and the Ministry of Health on sexual and reproductive health for Uganda’s Second National Health Policy and Health Sector Strategic Plan. He also led a national study on induced abortion with the Guttmacher Institute and wrote the adolescent SRH and gender tracks of Makerere’s Master of Public Health.

He has been Principal Investigator on research funded by the NIH, WHO, USAID, IDRC, the European Union and UNFPA. He also chairs the Board of Governors of CPAR Uganda and sits on the University Council of Sacred Heart University, Gulu.

Connecting his expertise to TEGEM’s work

His expertise in reproductive health and family planning policy, adolescent SRH, gender and community health, and research, evidence and health systems provides strong technical depth to TEGEM’s work. It strengthens our mission of empowering communities, particularly girls and young women, through SRH, SGBV prevention and keeping girls in school.

His expertise ensures our programmes remain evidence-led, well monitored and strategically aligned, while strengthening partnerships with the Ministry of Health, Makerere School of Public Health and district governments. As Board Chair, his leadership further strengthens governance, accountability, donor confidence and strategic direction in line with TEGEM’s Strategic Plans.

With Prof. Orach at the helm, TEGEM pairs deep community roots in Eastern Uganda with world-class public health leadership, so that every girl we reach benefits from evidence, integrity and expertise.

Executive Director

Katandi Simon Peter Tekere

BSc Business Statistics (Makerere University) · MSc Monitoring & Evaluation candidate (UMI)

Katandi Simon Peter Tekere is a visionary development leader and health data specialist who has risen through TEGEM’s ranks to become its Executive Director. He combines rigorous statistical training with hands-on experience in community health, and he is driven by one conviction: when girls, boys and young women are equipped with knowledge, services and opportunity, entire communities thrive.

With an innovative, results-oriented and analytical approach, he leads TEGEM at a time of remarkable growth, taking an organisation rooted in Tororo since 2004 to regional and national scale.

His Role at TEGEM

Before becoming Executive Director, he served as TEGEM’s Head of Programmes (2019–2024). As Executive Director, Simon provides strategic and operational leadership across all of TEGEM’s work. He leads resource mobilisation, partnerships with government and development partners, programme quality and organisational growth, working under the guidance of the Board of Directors.

Simon’s leadership has turned TEGEM from a community-based organisation into a trusted national implementing partner.

With Simon’s leadership, TEGEM is led by someone who knows the numbers, knows the communities and knows how to bring partners together, ensuring that every investment in TEGEM reaches the girls, boys and young women who need it most.

Accounts Assistant

Malinga Peace

BSc Accounting and Finance

Malinga Peace is an accounting and finance professional who believes that every shilling entrusted to an organisation deserves to be accounted for. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Finance and is pursuing CPA. She brings more than five years of hands-on experience in bookkeeping, reconciliation, audit support and financial reporting across NGOs, a health facility, an audit firm, a trading company and a SACCO.

Her Role at TEGEM

As TEGEM’s Accounts Assistant, Peace supports the day-to-day financial management that keeps TEGEM’s programmes running and accountable. She makes sure every expenditure has complete supporting documents and approvals, that accountabilities for field funds are reviewed and closed, that accounts are reconciled every month and that tax obligations are met on time. This strengthens TEGEM’s audit readiness and the quality of the financial reports partners rely on.

A quick and willing learner who works well in teams, she continues to grow her professional skills as TEGEM’s finance function matures.

With Peace in the finance team, TEGEM’s partners can trust that every resource is recorded, reconciled and reported to the highest standard.

Technical Advisor on SRH and Male Engagement

Dr. Olive Sentumbwe-Mugisa

MBChB, MMed (Obstetrics & Gynaecology), Makerere University

Dr. Olive Sentumbwe-Mugisa is one of Uganda’s most respected voices in maternal health, family planning and women’s and adolescent health. An obstetrician and gynaecologist trained at Makerere University, she served for close to 30 years as the World Health Organization’s Family Health and Population Advisor in Uganda, helping the country adopt global standards that now guide how millions of women, girls and families receive care. She brings to TEGEM three decades of national and international leadership and a lifelong commitment to dignity, rights and safe motherhood.

Her Role at TEGEM

At TEGEM, Dr. Olive provides senior technical leadership and strategic guidance on sexual and reproductive health, family planning, self-care, male involvement and adolescent health. She strengthens the quality of TEGEM’s programmes, advises on partnerships and policy engagement, and helps align TEGEM’s work with national and global standards.

Why She Matters for TEGEM and Our Partners

Few people know Uganda’s reproductive health landscape from the inside as she does. She co-authored the WHO Consolidated Guideline on Self-Care Interventions for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (2019) and contributed to Uganda’s Second National Family Planning Costed Implementation Plan, the evidence base behind TEGEM’s self-care programmes. She helped develop the Ministry of Health’s Male Involvement Strategy and training manual for Male Action Groups, the model behind TEGEM’s current male involvement work, and facilitated Uganda’s RMNCAH Investment Case and Global Financing Facility proposal.

Her experience also reaches the communities TEGEM serves. Her long working relationships with the Ministry of Health, WHO, UNFPA, USAID, KOICA and partners such as Uganda Private Midwives and Marie Stopes give funders confidence that TEGEM’s programmes meet the highest technical standards.

Working alongside Dr. Olive, TEGEM combines deep community roots with world-class technical leadership, so that partners can invest with confidence that every programme reaches girls and women with quality, evidence-based care and male engagement.

Programme Officer

Mary Frances Wafwoyo

BA Mass Communication (UCU) · Master of Public Health Leadership candidate (UCU)

Mary Frances Wafwoyo is a programme coordination and social and behaviour change communication (SBCC) specialist with more than eight years of experience in donor-funded public health and development programmes. She brings together two strengths that rarely sit in one person: the discipline to run programmes well and the creativity to communicate why they matter. Passionate about sexual and reproductive health and rights, she is committed to turning programme results into knowledge that informs, persuades and changes behaviour.

Her Role at TEGEM

As Programme Officer, Mary Frances coordinates TEGEM’s project activities across districts, keeping implementation aligned with plans and timelines. She organises trainings, workshops and review meetings, produces meeting documentation and briefing notes, compiles consolidated programme reports with the technical teams, and develops visibility materials that show partners and stakeholders the impact of TEGEM’s work.

As an SBCC expert, she ensures appropriate message design, audience targeting and dissemination for family planning, HIV prevention and adolescent health. She works confidently with international organisations, faith-based and cultural institutions and government, which makes her an ideal bridge between TEGEM’s programmes and the communities and partners it serves.

With Mary Frances coordinating and communicating its work, TEGEM’s programmes run smoothly and their impact reaches the people who need to hear about it.

Data Analyst / Data Specialist

Lubangakene Shammah

Data Management · Monitoring & Evaluation · Digital Tools

Lubangakene Shammah is a data-focused professional who believes that good decisions start with good information. As TEGEM’s Data Analyst and Data Specialist, Shammah makes sure the organisation’s data is accurate, well organised and ready to guide its work, so that TEGEM can plan with evidence and show partners the real impact of every programme.

Role at TEGEM

Shammah joined TEGEM in November 2024 as Data Clerk on the Hormonal IUD Scale-up Project, collecting, verifying and recording data from Health Centre III and IV facilities and working with facility staff to ensure data was gathered correctly.

Building on that foundation, Shammah now leads data management across the organisation: collecting and organising programme data, checking its quality and completeness, supporting analysis and reporting, creating project and programme dashboards for a visual view of progress and for decision making, and keeping all records confidential and secure.

Why Shammah Stands Out

Shammah designed and built the TEGEM Information Management System (TIMS), an integrated organisational management platform covering project operations, financial oversight, monitoring and evaluation, HR processes, workflow approvals and reporting. It gives leadership real-time dashboards, supports offline field data collection, and improves transparency and decision-making across the organisation. With it, managers can track progress, spot gaps early and keep planned activities on schedule across TEGEM’s growing portfolio.

Shammah has been named TEGEM’s Employee of the Year, which reflects a proactive, team-first approach: stepping into other roles when needed and supporting colleagues across departments. A quick learner who follows developments in technology closely, Shammah keeps looking for practical tools that help TEGEM work smarter, faster and more accurately.

With Shammah managing its data, TEGEM can show partners, clearly and accurately, what its programmes achieve for girls, young women and their communities.