Who We Are

We are experienced nonprofit leaders working to bridge the gaps in proximity, resources, and trust that can too often serve as barriers to effective collaboration between donors and nonprofits.

Solomon and Jessie first met a decade ago in Kigali, Rwanda, when we were working together to build and scale Gardens for Health International (GHI). In the intervening years our careers diverged, with Solomon stepping up as GHI’s first Rwandan Executive Director and Jessie pivoting to the funder side, serving first as the Executive Director of Child Relief International and then as the Executive Director of Social Venture Partners Boston. 

Daraja Partners was born out of our shared passion to use our lived experience to bridge gaps between donors and nonprofit leaders, and to work together to advance locally led development.

Our Team

Solomon and Jessie bring a wealth of experience in organizational management and leadership, strategy, growth, and fundraising. Additionally, our areas of individual expertise include leadership development, strategic planning, effective grantmaking, and venture philanthropy. What makes our partnership truly unique is our ability to offer concrete insights, tools and resources that are designed to meet each client where you are.

  • Co-Founder

    Solomon Makuza is an experienced development professional passionate about meaningful social change, value addition and connecting communities

    Solomon began his career as a projects lead at AVSI International and later Partners in Health as a Programs Manager overseeing programs, partnerships and teams before joining Gardens for Health International in 2014. For about a decade, Solomon served in senior leadership roles, including as the Executive Director of Gardens for Health International. Under Solomon’s leadership, the organization built lasting partnerships with local and global partners, increased funding, and GHI model’s informed national policies and was integrated into the National strategy.

    He has extensive experience in program development, strategy, fundraising, and organizational development. Solomon has also provided strategy and fundraising coaching to several organizations across the sub-Saharan region.

    Solomon holds a BSc in environmental health Sciences and a Master's in Public Health. He is also an East Africa Acumen fellow, Aspen Health Scholar, Skoll World Forum fellow, and African Visionary fellow. He also holds certificates in Fundraising Management from Indiana University School of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Management and Leadership from the Harvard Kennedy School.

  • Co-Founder

    Jessie Cronan is an experienced nonprofit leader with a proven track record of growing organizations and building coalitions to create meaningful and measurable change.

    Jessie began her career as a Princeton in Africa Fellow with the Tanzanian Children’s Fund, and also worked with TechnoServe Swaziland, before joining the team at Gardens for Health International (GHI) as the nonprofit’s first Executive Director. Jessie led GHI through a period of exponential growth, going from a team of 12 to a staff of over 150, and taking their innovative integrated health and agriculture program to national scale.

    Following her time with Gardens for Health, Jessie pivoted to the donor side of the philanthropic ecosystem, serving first as the inaugural Executive Director of Child Relief International, a member of Big Bang Philanthropy, and then as the Executive Director of Social Venture Partners Boston, (SVP) a Boston-based Venture Philanthropy Fund that invests in high potential local nonprofits and provides both the capital and the consulting support to help them grow. Most recently, Jessie worked with Perkins School for the Blind to launch their flagship initiative to address Cortical Cerebral Visual Impairment (CVI), the leading cause of childhood blindness.

    Jessie is a graduate of Princeton University and the Harvard Kennedy School. Her speaking engagements include the Clinton Global Initiative, Women Deliver Conference, Unite for Site Conference, Princeton University, Yale University, Fletcher School at Tufts, Harvard University, and the BU School of Public Health, and her writing has been published on the Huffington Post, FoodTank, and NextBillion.net.

Our Values

Community

We are incredibly fortunate to be surrounded by people who share our commitment to locally led development, and are proud to be able to create space to learn with and from each other.

Boldness

We believe that complex global challenges require collective efforts and bold solutions, and we are committed to thinking big and taking bold action.

Trust and Partnership

Trust is the foundation upon which our work is built. We are committed to building authentic relationships and fostering vulnerability.

Learning and Growth

We recognize that we don’t have all the answers and are in constant pursuit of new knowledge, experiences, and wisdom.

Quality

We are dedicated to producing excellent work for each client and creating content we are proud of.

Our Story

Jessie and Solomon met in 2013, in Kigali Rwanda. At the time, Jessie was serving as the first Executive Director of Gardens for Health International (GHI) and Solomon was a Program Manager with Partners in Health. They soon began working together at GHI, where they discovered that they shared a passion for community-driven development, and witnessed first-hand both the immense opportunities and the very real challenges that exist for international nonprofits that are working to provide systemic solutions to local problems.

While Jessie went on run a Boston-based venture philanthropy fund and subsequently to help launch the world’s premier center for brain-based blindness, Solomon stepped in to lead GHI through a period of transformation and growth that serves as a blueprint for organizations looking to scale innovative programming in ways that are culturally appropriate, sustainable, and impactful over the long term.  They are excited to apply the lessons they have learned over the course of their careers to help both nonprofits and funders to amplify their impact, building bridges to facilitate real and lasting change.