Dr. Kenly Fenio has over 20 years of experience specializing in social, political, and development research in Africa, with a specific emphasis on sub-Saharan Africa. She is based full-time in Maputo, Mozambique where she is the founder and director of KGF Pesquisas & Associados, a local research firm specializing in qualitative and quantitative evaluations and assessments, and the Co-Founder of REAL Consulting Group, LLC.
Dr. Fenio spent six years at the U.S. Department of State, where she oversaw numerous quantitative and qualitative research projects from conceptualization and sampling through data collection, analysis and reporting throughout 15 countries in Africa, as well as grants for local NGOs focused on women, emergencies, and development. She has conducted research in Mozambique since 2005 and led projects for such clients as World Vision, Oxfam, Concern, Save the Children, CARE, USAID, the University of Chicago, Plan, Village Enterprise, and Coffey, regarding food security, post-cyclone programming, WASH, gender, conflict, human rights, corruption, trafficking, and development.
Dr. Fenio holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and Public Policy from the University of Florida, where her dissertation focused on community health and activism regarding resources in Mozambique. For her research, she specifically focused on quantitative and qualitative analysis of informal institutions (e.g. social and cultural norms) within local communities, and the political-economic nuances surrounding access to resources. Much of her work continues to focus on how political, social, and economic realities are linked to a continued emphasis by community members on informal rather than formal institutions, and how these contextualize and affect how development programming unfolds, particularly in areas experiencing conflict or severe climate change. Dr. Fenio specializes in hard-to-reach populations to acquire public attitudes, such as refugees, IDPs, those in conflict situations, traffickers, etc. and enjoys designing projects that are deemed “really difficult.”
Education
- Ph.D. in Political Science and Public Policy from the University of Florida
Courses
- GCHS 860 Research Methods