Esther Mwangi

Esther Mwangi is a senior scientist in the Forests and Governance Programme of CIFOR. Her areas of research interest include the dynamics of property rights to land and natural resources, multilevel linkages in resource governance, gender, policy implementation and strategies for linking knowledge to action. Mwangi’s current research portfolio includes research on the impacts of biofuels expansion, especially on the factors that determine the effectiveness of community and civil society organising in response to large?scale land acquisitions. She is also researching the factors that enhance or impede women’s (and men’s) management and decision?making in forestry at multiple levels of governance. Her most recent project is concerned with understanding the interface between land and forest tenure and land use planning, and how cross?level coordination might be strengthened to improve community participation. Her work is mainly in East Africa, Indonesia and Nicaragua. Mwangi is a citizen of Kenya and has a bachelor’s degree in education (botany, zoology) from Kenyatta University, a Master of Philosophy in environmental studies from Moi University and a PhD in public policy from Indiana University, Bloomington.

Current position

Senior Scientist, Forests and Governance Programme

Key areas of expertise

Institutional analysis

Research interest

Dynamics of property rights to land and natural resources, multilevel linkages in resource governance, gender, policy implementation and strategies for linking knowledge to action

Languages

Kiswahili, English