Eunice Wanjiku Kamaara

Eunice Wanjiku Kamaara is a professor of religion at Moi University, Eldoret Kenya. Her area of specialization is African Christian Ethics. She is an International Affiliate of Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana. Kamaara has authored over 100 publications. She is the founder and Director of African Character Initiation Program (ACIP), a program that equips adolescents with information on their identity, sexual and reproductive health and rights, life skills and African character values. Kamaara is a Top 30 World Health Organization (WHO) Africa health innovator recognized for her work with young people in the African Character Initiation Program (ACIP). Her research and publication focuses on holistic development and practice from socio-anthropological, ethical, gender, and social health perspectives.

Eunice Kamaara Karanja
Born	January, 5th 1965 Ngemwa, Kiambu County.
Nationality	Kenyan
Occupation(s)	Professor of Religion at Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya
Spouse	Francis Karanja
Academic background
Education	PCEA Ngemwa Primary School Kiambu High School, Bachelor of arts, University of Nairobi, MPhil in Religion, MSc. in International Health Research Ethics, and PhD in African Christian Ethics. Moi University, Eldoret
Alma mater	Moi University, Eldoret
Academic work
Discipline	Religious Studies
Sub-discipline	African Christian Ethics Social anthropologist
Institutions	Moi University, Eldoret

Early life

Kamaara was born on January 5, 1965, in Ngemwa village, Kiambu District (now Kiambu County), in Kenya. She is the last born child of Stephen Mwaura Kamaara and Anne Nduta Kamaara. She is married to Francis Karanja and they have two children. Kamaara was born into a Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) family. She later became a Catholic by marriage and continues to be a Catholic.

Education

Kamaara began her education at PCEA Ngemwa Primary School from 1971 to 1978. She attended Kiambu High School from 1979 to 1984 where she sat for her Ordinary level and Advanced level examinations. She attended the University of Nairobi in 1986, pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Religion. In 1993, she graduated with a Master of Philosophy in Religion from Moi University, Eldoret. She earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Religion from Moi University in 2003. Kamaara holds a postdoctoral degree in Gender Mainstreaming and a Master of Science in International Health Research Ethics. She delivered her inaugural lecture at Moi University in 2012.

Career

Eunice Kamaara is a professor of religion, whose specialization is in African Christian Ethics with interests in the intersection of Religion and health, Holistic development research, Gender and Intersectionality studies. She began her teaching career at Mother of Apostles Seminary in Eldoret, Kenya from 1989 to 1990. She later joined Moi University as a Graduate assistant (1992–1993), and rose ranks to Associate Professor (2006–2012) and a full professor (2012).

Leadership

Kamaara is the founder and Director of the African Character Initiation Program (ACIP), which she founded in 2004. This program accompanies and empowers adolescents with information through their identity and sexual crises, helps them build their confidence and self-esteem, and provides them with life skills and character values.

Kamaara is a co-director of the Chaplaincy Training Centre at Moi University in collaboration with Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Kenya. The Centre integrates spiritual care in hospital settings, leadership, and teaching and learning. She has consulted for the World Council of Churches (WCC), the World Bank, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Templeton World Charity Foundation (TWCF), and Institute of Development Studies/Partnership for African Social Governance Research (PASGR). She has served on international boards such as the Church World Service, and the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) ethics review board. Her consultancies are in the areas of Research, Teaching and Learning and in Mainstreaming Gender, and Diversity and Inclusivity.

Awards

Kamaara is a Top 30 WHO Africa health innovator recognizing her work with the youth in the African Character Initiation Program (ACIP). She is an SRF Fellowship (2018) recipient at Indiana University Prude University Indianapolis (IUPUI), and has won several grants such as the Collaborative Partner Africa by Humboldt Research Hub in Africa. She was a Project Ethics Advisor funded by Horizon Grant of the European Research Council, and a Co-Researcher, Kenya Christian Scientist Affiliation, funded by the Templeton World Charity Foundation.

Selected works

• Kamaara, E. (2015). “The Challenges of Social Change to the African family: a Situational Analysis” in The Anthropology of Africa: Challenges for the 21st Century edited by Paul Nchoji Nkwi, Mankon, Bamenda, Cameroon: Langaa Research & Publishing CIG. pp 347–360
• Kamaara, E. (2022). Identity, Religion/Spirituality, Character Values, and Development in Youthful Africa. In: Chitando, E., Kamaara, E. (eds) Values, Identity, and Sustainable Development in Africa. Sustainable Development Goals Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
• Kiplagat, J., Njuguna, B., Kamaara, E. (2022). Reprogramming HIV Prevention and Service Provision for Older Adults in Western Kenya. In: Brennan-Ing, M., Porter, K.E., Kaufman, J.E., MacPhail, C., Seeley, J. (eds) Aging with HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa. Springer, Cham.
• D’Souza, J. Kamaara, E. Nderitu, D. (2021.) All in this together”: the global duty to contribute towards combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Indian Journal of Medical Ethics.
• Palk, AC, Bitta M, Kamaara E. Stein DJ. and Singh, I. (2020) Investigating assumptions of vulnerability: A case study of the exclusion of psychiatric inpatients as participants in genetic research in low‐ and middle‐income contexts. Developing World Bioethics.
• Nderitu, D. Kamaara, E. (2020) Gambling with COVID-19 Makes More Sense: Ethical and Practical Challenges in COVID-19 Responses in Communalistic Resource-Limited Africa. Bioethical Inquiry (2020).
• Shitemi, N. Kamaara, E (Eds.) (2014) Wanjiku: A Kenyan Socio-political Discourse, Nairobi: Goethe Publishers, Nairobi.
• Kamaara, E, Elisabeth T. Jeanine V. (2012) Listening and Speaking as Two Sides of the Same Coin: Negotiating Dualisms in Intercultural feminist Collaboration. in Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Vol. 28, Number 2, Bloomington: Indiana University Press
• Kamaara, E. (2010) Towards Christian National Identify in Africa, in Studies in World Christianity 16.2 Pg126–144, Edinburgh University Press.
• Kamaara, E. (1999.) Reproductive and Sexual Health Problems of Adolescent Girls in Kenya: A Challenge to the Church Journal of Reproductive Health Matters.