Karimu Operating Structure

Karimu International Help Foundation, or Karimu International, is registered as a 501(c)(3) non profit charity with USA federal tax ID 32-0227956 in California. It is a pro-bono led organization composed entirely of volunteers. The volunteers comprise the executive team, advisory team, leadership team, and global program area leads and contribute more than five thousand volunteer hours annually to operations.

Karimu is also registered as a nonprofit organization in Tanzania under the name "Karimu Heart and Spirit Organization," or Karimu Tanzania. Registration in Tanzania provides some advantages, including the right to request official bids for projects and to sponsor visas for volunteers. Also Karimu Tanzania employs local staff consisting of a Regional Director who takes direction from Karimu’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) and manages the local program leads who drive projects on the ground and are Karimu’s main interface with the community.  Karimu Tanzania, like other NGOs, has a board that helps us understand and maintain respect for the local culture and laws. They provide leadership within the strategic planning committees, facilitate negotiations with local leadership including ward, village, and sub-village leaders as well as district and regional government leaders, and oversee Karimu’s finances and agreements with government officials and communities.  

Together, Karimu International and Karimu Tanzania, or simply Karimu, operate in a matrixed organization composed of teams with members from both the Karimu Tanzania employees and Karimu’s international volunteers.

Executive Team

Karimu’s Executive Team consists of: 

• Marianne Kent-Stoll, Co-Founder and President

• Don Stoll, Co-Founder and Treasurer

• Nelson Mattos, Chief Operating Officer

• Claudia Mattos, Advisor and Architect

The Executive Team is responsible for strategic matters:

1. 1. Ensuring that the values and operations of Karimu remain in alignment with the culture of the communities we serve.

   2. Developing and maintaining relationships with community and government leaders.

   3. Creating five-year strategic plans together with the communities we serve and reviewing and revising them periodically.

   4. Making decisions that may impact the communities we work with.

   5. Reviewing and approving any changes to Karimu’s method or operating model.   

   6. Approving the allocation of funds and yearly project planning. 

   7. Deciding when Karimu should exit a work area or enter a new one.

Leadership Team

While the Executive Team deals with strategic matters, the Leadership Team addresses all operational questions.  The COO chairs the leadership team and has overall responsibility for the organization’s daily operations. The Leadership Team consists of the members of the Executive Team plus:

• All Global Program Area Leads

• Karimu Tanzania Regional Director

• Invited consultants and experts with knowledge and experience in key areas

The leadership team meets weekly to review projects, evaluate our success metrics, discuss issues, and provide recommendations to Karimu’s COO. The COO has overall responsibility for the organization’s daily operations, including:

1. Preparing yearly project planning.

2. Approving the themes used for fundraising as well as the fundraising targets. 

3. Reviewing the overall communication plan for the organization.

4. Preparing the allocation of funds.

5. Overseeing all aspects of Karimu’s projects, including among other things:

1. Project definition

2. Identification of key milestones and success metrics

3. Layout, design, specification, bid process, vendor selection and contracting of construction projects

4. Budget reviews and financial planning

5. Sign off to start a project

6. Memoranda of Understanding, including the agreement on community and government responsibilities and contributions

7. Project start, completion, and acceptance

8. Project inspections and evaluations

9. Approval of official project handover to the community

6. Overseeing the work of the Karimu Tanzania staff.

Program Areas

Karimu’s activities are organized into Program Areas. Each Program Area is managed by a Program Area Team consisting of: 

• Global Program Area Lead: Karimu volunteers who oversee the entire project: define project scope, set measurements, goals and milestones, review annual budgets, mentor and support local program leads, track and analyze data, assure that projects are progressing towards their milestones, and report results to key donors and communications team as needed. 

• Local Program Area Lead: Karimu Tanzania employees who drive the execution of the projects on the ground.

The Program Area Team  takes direction from the COO. Each team may also have volunteer or paid consultants and experts who help to guide the projects. Karimu has the following Program Areas:

1. Sanitation

1. Global Program Area Lead - (acting) Nelson Mattos (USA)

2. Local Program Area Lead - Lucy Mhando (Tanzania)

3. Consultants and Experts:

1. Klaus Roder (USA)

2. Health

1. Global Program Area Lead - (acting) Nelson Mattos (USA)

2. Local Program Area Lead - Swaiba Abdul Makenya (Tanzania)

3. Consultants and Experts:

1. Joyce Toner (USA) - drives  IT-related health projects. She is currently focusing on the implementation of Patient Management Systems in the clinics supported by Karimu.

2. Dr. Samanta Dall’Agnese (Brazil) - provides medical expertise to all health-related areas.

3. Cathy Novak (USA) - creates training programs and educational content for medical staff and the local community including videos, flyers, and posters which support campaigns and health initiatives.

4. Holly Hayes (USA)

3. Income

1. Global Program Area Lead - Mauro Goncalves Filho (USA).

2. Local Program Area Lead - Francis Wolfgang Panga (Tanzania) and Thomas Kasuka (Tanzania)

3. Consultants and Experts:

1. Nangula Heita Mwampamba (Tanzania) - global expert in agriculture and livestock with deep knowledge of the country.

2. Nelson Mattos (USA)

3. Holly Hayes (USA)

4. Education

1. Global Program Area Lead - Cathy Novak (USA).

2. Local Program Area Lead - Lucy Mhando (Tanzania)

3. Consultants and Experts:

1. Nelson Mattos (USA)

5. Financial Services

1. Global Program Area Lead - Holly Hayes (USA).

2. Local Program Area Lead - Victoria Kachulu (Tanzania).

3. Consultants and Experts:

1. Stella Tungaraza (Tanzania) - global expert in micro-finance including savings group and federation formation, training, and sustainability who advises our Financial Services program.

6. Entrepreneurship

1. Global Program Area Lead - Holly Hayes (USA).

2. Local Program Area Lead - Victoria Kachulu (Tanzania) 

3. Consultants and Experts: 

1. Street Business School

2. Francis Wolfgang Panga (Tanzania)

7. Construction

1. Global Program Area Lead - (acting) Nelson Mattos (USA)

2. Local Program Area Lead - Augustino Stephano (Tanzania)

3. Consultants and Experts:

1. Bibiana Heckman (USA) - responsible for architectural layouts of construction projects.

2. Claudia Mattos (USA) - provides architectural support for all Karimu projects and is responsible for landscaping.

3. Carley Flynn (USA)

8. Communications

1. Global Program Area Lead - Marianne Kent-Stoll (USA), Eduardo Henrique (Brazil).

1. Marianne oversees communication strategy and social media content. 

2. Eduardo oversees our overall marketing activities.

2. Consultants and Experts:

1. Regina is responsible for social media content and channels with donors, volunteers, and the Tanzanian community.

2. Holly is responsible for website content.

3. Veronique Gillard (USA) - organizes photos and videos used in communications.

4. Bruna Elisabeth (Brazil) - content generation, posting, and monitoring social media (Instagram and Facebook).

5. Sebastian Trzcinski-Clément (Switzerland) - IT tools.

9. IT Support

1. Global Program Area Lead - (acting) Nelson Mattos (USA)

2. Consultants and Experts:

1. Daniel Zaccarias (Brazil) - maintains and enhances the website infrastructure .

2. Matthew Madrone (USA) - provides technical support.

3. Jorge Tung (Brazil) - supports a transactional platform to collect donations and tools to collect and analyze data to measure project success.

4. Pedro Nerung (Luxembourg) - supports website.

5. Sebastian Trzcinski-Clément (Switzerland): content creation.

6. Natalia Marmasse (Israel) - provides IT support, creating dashboards and reports

10. Fundraising

1. Global Program Lead - Nelson Mattos (USA) and Marianne Kent-Stoll (USA)

2. Consultants and Experts:

1. Holly Hayes (USA)

2. Cathy Novak (USA)

3. Eduardo Henrique (Brazil)

4. Fernando Nerung Costa (Brazil)

11. Internal Operations (finances, HR, etc.)

1. Global Program Area Lead - (acting) Nelson Mattos (USA)

2. Local Program Area Lead

1. Shau Erro Ae (Tanzania) - overall local leadership

2. Joseph Danghalo (Tanzania) - finances

3. Victoria Kachulu (Tanzania) - human resources

3. Consultants and Experts:

1. Marta Nowak-Przygodzka (Switzerland) - oversees internal processes and documentation.

2. Carol Gustav (Germany) - oversees the project expenses and operations.

3. Paulo Schlindwein (Canada) - consolidates the financial month-end closing reports.

4. Fernando Nerung Costa (Brazil) - consolidates donations and supports our most important donors.

5. Ana Maria Ferreira Brown (USA) - supports managing deadlines and necessary action items.

6. Égo Obi (UK) - oversees internal Karimu Tanzania processes and documentation.

Providing support to the above Program Areas is a network of more than sixty unpaid volunteers from sixteen different countries. This network is responsible for the expansion that Karimu witnessed in the last few years.

Karimu Tanzania Board

While the staff and volunteers working in the above program areas execute all the daily operations of Karimu, local oversight in Tanzania is addressed by its board. The board ensures that Karimu is conforming to all Tanzanian laws and regulations and supports our staff in dealing with critical government and legal matters. The board consists of:

• Chair: Daniel Amma (Tanzania)

• Treasurer: Shau Erro Ae (Tanzania)

• Secretary:  Raifa Mkuvaia

• Members: 

• Yohana Jastin

• Yasinta Miyangu 

• Veronika Moshi  

The Karimu Tanzania Board meets quarterly and as needed to review our yearly plans, organize community meetings to set Karimu’s project priorities, review our obligations with the government, and provide recommendations to Karimu’s COO.