Florence Sipalla

Florence Sipalla has worked in communication in different capacities as a trainer, communication officer, tutor and freelance writer.  In the field of science communication, Florence has worked with organizations working agricultural research and development such as the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD).

At CIMMYT, Florence implemented communication strategies for two projects, the Drought Tolerant Maize in Africa (DTMA) and the Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS) project. This work entailed video production, where she wrote and voiced some of the scripts, writing success stories, generating content for the projects’ websites and CIMMYT’s internal newsletter and blog.  She also helped to raise the organization’s visibility through media coverage, coordinating field visits for journalists to expose them to the organization’s research outputs.  She also collaborated with communication colleagues to leverage the media coverage through sharing on social media platforms in addition to organizing media training sessions for researchers.

Currently, Florence is working as a communication consultant providing writing, editing and rapporteur services. She also provides communication support to the Multiple Sclerosis Association of Kenya (MS-Kenya) on a voluntary basis. Working as a trainer with the Training Center in Communication (TCC), Florence is also involved in training scientists on how to communicate with non-science audiences which include the media, policy makers and the public. The training sessions cover oral communication and poster presentations for scientific conferences.

Florence holds a postgraduate degree in African Literature from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Language and Literary studies from Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya.