John Ulanga
John Ulanga is the executive director of the Foundation for Civil Society, an organization that makes grants to support multi-sector efforts to fight poverty, and the largest organization of its kind in Tanzania.
The Foundation for Civil Society builds the capacity of civil-society organizations in Tanzania by providing them with grants, facilitating links among each other and other sectors, and enabling a culture of ongoing learning within the sector. The Foundation's thematic areas include policy engagement, governance and accountability, and civil-society capacity-strengthening.
Prior to joining the Foundation for Civil Society, Mr. Ulanga worked with the Economic Social Research Fund (ESRF), one of the leading policy-research think tanks in Tanzania, as its first Coordinator of Commissioned Studies, where he was charged with the responsibility of forming the consultancy department and coordinating consultancy assignments undertaken by ESRF.
Mr. Ulanga is currently the chairman of the East African Association of Grantmakers, an association of grantmakers and philanthropic institutions headquartered in Nairobi; a board member of HakiElimu, a Tanzanian education and democracy organization; a board member of Tanzania Financial Services for Underserved Settlements; a member of the steering committee of African Grantmakers Network; a member of an independent advisory panel for the World Bank Tanzania office. He is also a fellow of the African Leadership Initiative and the Aspen Global Leadership Network. Mr. Ulanga also has experience working with the public sector through his intensive involvement in public service reform.
