Ima Chima

Ima Chima is the current Country Director for Nigeria at Evidence Action. Ima has over ten years of experience working in global health with a focus on nutrition, eye health, and neglected tropical diseases.

Prior to their current role, Ima served as the Country Director for Helen Keller International from August 2011 to December 2015. In this role, they were responsible for overseeing a diverse portfolio of nutrition, eye health, and neglected tropical disease projects. Ima managed country programs from design to close-out to ensure targets were achieved according to contracts and grants, coached and mentored staff, and created and sustained productive partnerships with various stakeholders including development partners, government, and donors. Through partnerships and fund-raising, the country operating budget tripled by their third year in office. The program portfolio significantly expanded in nutrition and neglected tropical diseases across 19 states while staff strength increased from 9 to 42. Ima strengthened internal controls, accountability, and put in place effective systems management in all the support functions of the country program office such as HR, finance, procurement, and tax compliance among others.

Before their time at Helen Keller International, Ima served as a Technical Advisor for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation from January 2008 to August 2011.

Ima Chima has a Master of Business Administration from the University of Liverpool, a Master of Public Health from The Johns Hopkins University, and a FWACS from the West African College of Surgeons. Ima also has a MBBS from the University of Benin and a certification from LinkedIn in Esther Dyson on Cultivating Health at Scale.

Ima Chima works with Evans Ithiria - Director, Finance & Administration, Sanjeev Chauhan - Director, Finance, and Jyoti Puri - Director, HR. Ima Chima reports to Kanika Bahl, CEO.