Alex has worked in the humanitarian and development sector for over two decades. He has a passion for sustainable community development and the use of technology as a driver of social impact. From on organization development standpoint, Mwaura is also passionate about building highly functional teams that design and deliver impactful projects and programs. 
 
He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication, and Executive Master’s Degree in Organization Development and a Master’s degree in Sustainable Development from the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex. He is currently a doctoral student of Leadership in Global Perspectives at George Fox University. Currently, Alex serves as the Country Director with Digital Green Kenya, overseeing the deployment of FarmerChat, an AI assistant that provides localized and timely agricultural advisory; reaching over 200,000 farmers as of March 2026. Prior to joining Digital Green, Alex spent 21 years leading multi-sectoral humanitarian and development programs focused on resilience, systems practice, food security, education, WASH, health and nutrition across east, central and southern Africa. 
 
Underpinning his drive is the desire to celebrate and leverage on the abundance of wealth in local knowledge as a pathway to sustainably addressing systemic issues.

Jenna manages agricultural sector research and programming at the Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA) at UC Berkeley, where she leads operations for the Agricultural Technology Adoption Initiative (ATAI), a research consortium dedicated to understanding how smallholder farmers in low-income countries adopt and benefit from agricultural technologies. Prior to joining CEGA, she administered social protection and nutrition programs at the Ecology Center in Berkeley and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Jenna holds an MSPH in International Health from Johns Hopkins University, a BS in Nutrition and a BBA from the University of Texas at Austin, and is a Registered Dietitian.

Zachary Gitonga is an applied development economics researcher with a focus on women's inclusion and intra-household gender dynamics in agrifood systems, climate change adaptation, and mitigation. Zachary has over 15 years of socioeconomics research experience with special focus on technology innovation and adoption, monitoring and impact evaluation of program interventions. Other areas of interest include the role of digital innovations in bridging the gap between research outcomes and end-users in agrifood systems.  He has experience working in both local and international research organizations conducting research in many African countries including Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Ethiopia, and Namibia. Zachary has worked with multicultural teams and communities in these countries and published many peer reviewed research articles.

Eliot Jones-Garcia is a Senior Research Analyst with the Natural Resources and Resilience Unit based in Washington, DC. His research focuses on human-AI interaction, user-centered design, and the ethical and responsible development of AI.

At IFPRI, he explores the conceptual and methodological advancements of AI, the skills and governance structures needed to responsibly integrate AI into agricultural research, and the socio-technical barriers that shape its effectiveness in extension and advisory services.

Eliot is finalizing a PhD on the digitalization of agricultural advisory services at Wageningen University & Research. He holds a master’s in Rural Development and Innovation from Wageningen University and a bachelor’s in International Agriculture from the University of Greenwich.