Dr. Margaret Wawuda Mwakima is a Tourism and Biodiversity Management professional majoring in Sustainable Tourism Development and Management.  As a Ph.D graduate, Dr. Mwakima has written a thesis on “Determinants of the Biodiversity Conservation -Tourism Nexus in the Buffer Zone of Amboseli Biosphere Reserve, Kenya.” She is also a holder of a Masters Degree in Environmental Science with a major in Sustainable Natural Resources Management and a Bachelor of Education (Science) Degree in Botany and Zoology all from Kenyatta University.

Dr. Mwakima is currently the Principal Secretary, State Department for Vocational and Technical  Training, Ministry of Education. She has served as Principal Secretary, State Departments Regional & Northern Corridor Development; East African Community; and  Wildlife.  She has also served as a Managing Director/CEO of Afrosayari Ltd as well as the Vice Chairperson of Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) Board of Trustees and  Board Member of Ecotourism Kenya.

As a Principal Secretary, Dr. Mwakima has demonstrated ability of being in charge of the administration of a State Department with high level of achievements and successes.  She has been leading high level delegation meetings at both National, Regional and International level such as CITES, UNCBD, UNCCD, UNFCCC, RAMSAR Convention, CMS, Convention on the Environmental Impact Assessment in Transboundary Context, Rio Conventions linked with Climate Change, Global Program of Action for Protection of the Marine Environments from Land Based activities (GPA) among others; including AU and EAC meetings on thematic areas on environmental and Biodiversity Conservation.

Dr. Mwakima has successfully led high level negotiation meetings to enhance global conservation agenda for partnerships, collaboration and project financing with various development partners including World Bank, Europian Union, JICA, USAID among others as well as with various countries both at bilateral and multi-lateral level.

As an environmental scientist, Dr. Mwakima has recently been nominated to chair the thematic working group that will guide Kenya’s agenda on Climate change mitigation and resilience as we implement SDG 14.  She is a progressive researcher and publisher.

Dr. Mwakima is a member of Institute of Directors Kenya, Kenya Association for Public Administration and Management (KAPAM) as well as Kenya Association of Women in Tourism (KAWT).