Zeph Kivungi

Zeph Kivungi is an African climate leader building partnerships that turn clean energy into food and water security, healthier children, and productive livelihoods. His ambition is to make Africa’s energy transition a foundation for shared prosperity - placing greater agency and economic power in the hands of communities most exposed to climate change, while creating markets and investment opportunities that benefit Africa and the world.

As Director, Climate, Africa at the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), Zeph leads investments and partnerships across clean growth, energy access and resilience. He brings together governments, communities, African institutions, philanthropy, development finance and private capital to turn policy ambition into investable programs and accountable delivery. His work positions schools and community institutions as anchors for integrated energy–food–water systems, linking modern cooking and reliable power with water access, irrigation, better nutrition, local food production and livelihoods. He also advances African-led country platforms and cross-government delivery systems that connect community outcomes with industrial development, mineral beneficiation and regional trade.

Zeph is also a co-founder of ELICO Foundation, a Tanzanian nonprofit advancing people-centred renewable-energy systems for rural communities. ELICO has raised over $5.7 million and expanded clean-energy access and services to more than 665,000 vulnerable people. Before CIFF, he helped establish the Global eCooking Coalition at GEAPP and co-developed Rockefeller Foundation programs, including Ethiopia’s DREAM solar-irrigation initiative for small rural farmers.

Across his career, Zeph has pursued a consistent mission: building institutions and unlocking capital so that vulnerable communities can shape and thrive in the transition.