Esther Mwaura-Muiru is a gender and development expert with over 20 years’ experience and the founder and immediate former national coordinator of the Grassroots Organizations Operating Together in Sisterhood (GROOTS), Kenya. GROOTS brings together more than 3500 self-help grassroots women groups in rural and urban communities across Kenya living in poverty.

Over the years Esther has demonstrated expertise in implementing initiatives to improve governance and the delivery of public services in the health, housing, land, water, climate change and agriculture. The GROOTS Kenya network has a growing network of champions for transformative development who lead in their own communities. Esther has deep respect for the role of local communities in development, ensuring that hundreds of grassroots leaders are equipped with the skills to represent their communities effectively at local, national, regional and international decision-making forums.

Esther is currently leading the establishment of a leadership centre for transformative development, a training institute to develop, systematize and enhance the capacity of development agents for transformative sustainable development in Africa.