Cynthia Mwende Maswili is a sustainable development researcher and practitioner whose work focuses on food systems, climate resilience, rural livelihoods, and development governance. She is currently a Research Assistant on the ERC-funded GEOFORMATIONS Project at Trinity College Dublin, where she contributes to research on governance, collaboration, and the dynamics of international development cooperation, stakeholder mapping and leading project communications.
Within GEOFORMATIONS, Cynthia’s research focuses on food and nutrition security governance in Kenya, examining how governance assemblages, civil society networks, and multi-scalar actor relations shape development governance processes. Her work is particularly interested in questions of locally led development, knowledge politics, participation, and the role of civil society organisations in navigating complex socio-ecological challenges, including climate change and food insecurity.
Cynthia holds an MSc in Sustainable Development from Technological University Dublin, an MBA in Project Management from Kenyatta University, and a BSc in Animal Science from Egerton University. She brings over a decade of professional experience spanning research, programme management, community development, and sustainable agriculture initiatives in collaboration with local communities, governments, civil society organisations, donor agencies, private-sector actors, and research institutions.
Her previous work includes contributions to climate-smart livestock development, sustainable food systems, women’s economic empowerment, landscape restoration, nutrition-sensitive agriculture, and agricultural value chain development through organisations such as Sustainable Food Systems Ireland (SFSI), Self Help Africa, SNV-Netherlands Development Organisation, IDH’s Initiative for Sustainable Landscapes (ISLA) in Kenya, and Irish Aid-supported programmes.
Her research interests centre on governance and sustainability transitions, food systems transformation, Indigenous and local knowledge systems, and the pursuit of more equitable, climate-resilient, and locally led approaches to development.