Meet the Team

Kevin Ochieng is a Multimedia Producer passionate about transforming ideas into engaging content across various formats, including audio, graphics, and videos. At CGSP, Kevin edits and sometimes produces podcasts, contributing to the creation of numerous impactful shows. Kevin’s career began as a Radio Producer in Nairobi, where he honed his skills in program production. His journey then took him to Mombasa, where he further refined his craft before pivoting into the rapidly growing field of podcasting. As a co-founder of a podcast production and distribution firm in Nairobi, Kevin gained invaluable hands-on experience, which later led him to become an instructor, sharing his knowledge with aspiring audio engineers, editors, and podcast producers through detailed written how-to articles. Beyond podcasting, Kevin has broadened his expertise to include animated educational designs, marketing animation, and infographics. This blend of technical proficiency, creativity, and visual storytelling makes him a versatile content creator and educator dedicated to shaping the future of multimedia production.

Njenga Hakeenah is a multimedia journalist and trainer with over 10 years of experience reporting, producing, and managing newsrooms for media organizations in Kenya and Tanzania. Having specialized in science reporting and productions, Njenga is an award-winning journalist for his climate change stories coverage. He is passionate about nature. Through the years, he has managed editorial processes and writer improvement which have enabled him to achieve his organization’s and company’s goals. In his roles, Njenga has had to write, research, commission, and edit content from the Sub-Saharan Africa region. He has a good grasp of climate issues in Africa, and he is now focused on telling these stories to the world from Africa. He has worked as a radio show host and news presenter as well as a commissioning editor for the publishers he has worked with.

For more information about Njenga and his professional background, please visit his LinkedIn profile.

Jony Essa is a Neubauer Research Associate at INSS and a doctoral candidate in the International Relations department and the Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations Graduate School at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His dissertation is titled “What Explains Different Military Behavior? Jordan, Syria, and Egypt in a Comparative Perspective.” He holds a B.A. in international relations and English Literature and an M.A. in international relations, both from the Hebrew University and lectures on Middle East politics and culture at the Rothberg International School at the Hebrew University. His primary areas of research include contemporary Middle Eastern military history, conflict processes (ethnopolitical conflict and civil wars), and the state, society, and security in the Middle East.

Edwin Shri Bimo is a senior journalist, film producer, and communications practitioner based in Jakarta, with 24 years of experience and insights. For the past 12 years, he has contributed to major media outlets, including The Tokyo Shimbun, BBC, KBR, and KOMPAS TV, reporting on international and Southeast Asian affairs. In addition to his journalism career, Edwin has spent 13 years in strategic communications, where he has led and overseen campaigns in program planning, budgeting, implementation, and monitoring for organizations like ChildFund International, Chemonics International, The Nature Conservancy, and Coral Triangle Center. He has also collaborated with funders such as AusAID and USAID, with projects focusing on social advocacy, conservation, and community development. As a film producer with Periuk Imajinasi Films, Edwin specializes in creating impactful documentary films that address social issues. Edwin holds a Master’s in Documentary Filmmaking from the Indonesia Institute of Arts, Yogyakarta, and remains dedicated to impactful storytelling across journalism and communications.

Han Zhen (寒槙) has an extensive background in working and conducting research in both China and Africa. Unfortunately, for personal security reasons, we can’t use their real name or provide any other identifying information about them. Han explained that they’re not concerned about the Chinese government’s reaction to their work with CGSP, since most of this content will draw on material already in the public domain. Rather, they’re concerned about attracting the attention of nationalist trolls online. Getting doxxed and harassed by the online mob is a real concern today. There are a lot of people, regrettably, who regard the contextualizing of Chinese-language content for an international audience as unpatriotic.

Lucy Stevenson Yang’s primary research areas are China’s impact on international peace and security, US-China relations, and China’s engagements in the Global South. Before joining CGSP, Lucy was a Policy Fellow at the Seoul-based think tank Asia-Pacific Leadership Network, where she worked on regional security threats and nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. Lucy spent a decade in Washington, DC, where she worked on the China and North Korea teams at the United States Institute of Peace. Lucy is a member of BASIC’s Emerging Voices Network and was a 2021-2022 Climate Security Fellow with the Climate Security Advisory Group. She was born and raised in Beijing, China, and is now based in Taipei, Taiwan.

C. Géraud Neema Byamungu is an analyst and observer of China-Africa relations who graduated from Renmin University of China and has a master’s degree in International Development from the International University of Japan. In addition to his role at CGSP, Géraud is also a non-resident scholar in the Africa program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C. Previously, he worked as a project manager for a small Congolese mining company in DRC and later as a consultant on good governance and policy advocacy for the “Centre d’Etudes pour l’Action Social.”

Eric Olander is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience reporting, producing, and managing newsrooms for some of the world’s leading editorial organizations, including CNN, FRANCE 24, and the BBC World Service, among others. He has an extensive background working in newsrooms and doing content production in the U.S., Europe, Africa, and Asia. China, though, has been the central focus of Eric’s professional career. He first went to China in 1989 and spent more than a decade of combined time living, studying, and working there. Eric is fluent in both French and Mandarin Chinese. He received his undergraduate degree in East African history from the University of California at Berkeley and a Master’s of International Public Affairs with a focus on Chinese foreign policy from the University of Hong Kong.

For more information about Eric and his professional background, please visit his LinkedIn profile.

Dr. Cobus van Staden is an accomplished scholar, journalist, and think tank analyst with more than 20 years of experience in Africa and Asia. Previously, he was the senior China-Africa researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) in Johannesburg. Cobus completed his Ph.D. in Japanese studies and media studies at the University of Nagoya in Japan in 2008. He focused on comparisons of Chinese and Japanese public diplomacy in Africa during postdoctoral positions at the University of Stellenbosch and the SARCHI Chair on African Diplomacy and Foreign Policy at the University of Johannesburg before joining the Department of Media Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2013. His academic research focused on media coverage of the China-Africa and Japan-Africa relationships, as well as the use of media in public diplomacy in the Global South.

For more information about Cobus and his professional background, please visit his LinkedIn profile.