Jackie Odhiambo

Jackie Odhiambo is the founder and executive director of Nyanam Widows Rising, a local nonprofit in Kenya that equips widows to overcome stigma and lead positive community transformation. Since its founding, Nyanam has worked with 3300 widows through a holistic intervention called Voice of Change that is designed to improve their spiritual, social, mental, and economic outcomes. Jackie has a bachelor’s degree from Williams College in Massachusetts, an MSc in international public health from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in the UK, and is currently pursuing her PhD in public health through a sandwich program between Maseno University in Kenya and the University of California San Francisco. Her PhD research unpacks widowhood stigma and its health impacts.