Kilimanyika was founded by Paul Harrison and James Ole Laizer who met working on a participatory research project on forest values and rural livelihoods in Nachingwea, Tanzania in 1999 and have worked closely together in a variety of roles and projects since.

Kilimanyika's work and ability to take on a range of roles is supported by our associate consultants, many of whom we have been working with for several years. Our associates add a range of backgrounds, skill sets, approaches, networks and experiences to the Kilimanyika dynamic that strongly complements our work.

Being able to speak directly to the communities we have worked with in their language is one of our greatest assets because of the closer understanding and higher levels of communication that provides: Paul speaks fluent Swahili, James speaks both his mother-tongue Maasai and fluent Swahili, Tom fluent English, Danish and Swahili, Demetrius speaks Swahili and Chagga, Shemdoe fluent Swahili, Hassan fluent Swahili and French, while Daniel is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Kirstie fluent in Danish and Andrew fluent in Spanish. All our consultants work in written and spoken English to a professional standard.