Staff

Phil Latessa has over 15 years experience in developing and managing international grants. He served as Project Director for two multi-year projects between Iowa and Russia. Currently, he is serving as U.S. Coordinator for a collaborative project between the Pare Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania and the SE Iowa Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

The current project is funded by PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) and focuses on training community volunteers in Tanzania to deliver end-of-life care to terminally ill HIV/AIDS patients.

He served as Executive Director of Iowa Sister States, an NGO responsible for conducting exchange programs with Iowa’s eight official Sister States of Yucatan, Mexico; Stavropol, Russia; Cherkasy, Ukraine; Hebei, China; Taiwan; Yamanashi, Japan; Terengganu, Malaysia and Veneto Italy.

Empower Tanzania works entirely through partnerships between Americans and Tanzanians, and nowhere is that more important than in our staffing.  In Tanzania, all of our operations are under the watchful eye of Mr. Elibariki Kisimbo, of Same, Kilimanjaro where our office is located.  Kisimbo is ETI’s Director of Development, and his responsibility is to ensure that ETI achieves its goals as it works with Tanzanians to sustainably improve quality of life in rural areas.  Quite simply, he is our “go-to” guy, and he is amazing at getting the job done!

Kisimbo’s background before ETI was in Community Development and Agriculture, and he believes that his role at ETI will contribute significantly to the positive development changes of entire communities in rural Tanzania.

The role of ETI in the U.S. is to fund projects and be accountable for the results achieved in Tanzania, keep the communications flowing, and coordinate our army of volunteers.  The communications and volunteer activities are the responsibility of Development Coordinator, Sheri Krumm.  With her background in business and extensive experience in sales and marketing, she loves getting the message of who ETI is out there to the public, and finding people who want to get involved.  Her favorite part of the job is to help volunteers find their perfect fit in the organization, and watch their delight as their talents make a huge difference in the lives of the people of rural Tanzania.

In the 21st century we are a technology and electronic media-oriented world. Many of us get our information from websites on the internet. Millions of people establish and maintain relationships and friendships through social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter. ETI believes in the power of technology and electronic media to reach as many people as possible in our mission to improve the lives of people in Tanzania. This is where Kristen Myers comes in. With her nursing and public health background as well as experience with using electronic media, website development, and electronic communication, Kristen manages the ETI website, writes articles and blogs for the website, and stays active on the ETI Facebook page and Twitter account. She loves the fact that technology enables ETI to have an ever-growing network of friends and supporters of our work.

Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.  ETI’s Program Managers and Coordinators do exactly that, by working with volunteers and paid staff to bring our programs to life in Tanzania.  Without these amazing leaders working in the field every day, nothing we dream of would ever come to fruition.

Rev. Joas Mpinda has been Program Coordinator of the Palliative Care Project for the last six years.  He leads 20 teams of Nurses and Community Health Workers to deliver end-of-life care to HIV/AIDs patients in some of the most remote areas of the Kilimanjaro Region.  This is one of ETI’s largest and most successful programs, thanks to the work of U.S. Coordinator Phil Latessa, and Tanzanian Coordinator Rev. Mpinda.

Mr. Elias Leasa is a recent graduate of the University of Dodoma with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, and he is currently serving as an intern with ETI.  With his business skills, enthusiasm, and intimate local knowledge, he is a perfect fit to manage Phase Two of the Nanny Project in Hedaru.  As this project prepares to scale up to multiple locations in 2013, Elias’s leadership, along with U.S. Project Mgr Sheri Krumm, will be essential, and we feel very blessed to have this amazing young man working with us.

The newest addition to our staff in Tanzania is Ms. Efrancia Nzota.  Ms. Nzota is a recent graduate of the Community Development Training Institute (CDTI) in Tengeru, Tanzania, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Community Development.  She will be Program Manager of our newest initiative, the Improving Women’s Health Program (IWHP).  She will be working with U.S. Project Mgr., Dr. Jeff Carithers to recruit and train 26 Community Health Educators who will do educational seminars throughout the Same District, focusing on a variety of topics designed to raise the overall health of  women and their families.