Jacob Oketch
Position
- School Gardening and Service-Learning Coordinator
Jacob is the School Gardening and Service-Learning Coordinator for the Iowa State University-Uganda Program (ISU-UP) and the Innovation for Conservation (ICON) project in Masindi District, Uganda. In this role, he collaborates with schools near a National Wildlife Park to create, manage and maintain productive school gardens which act as outdoor laboratories for the pupils, service learners, and nearby communities as well as a source of food for the school meals. He strives to promote agricultural education, environmental stewardship, and community engagement through experiential learning.
He holds a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (Crop Science) from Makerere University and a Diploma in Horticulture from the Kfar Silver Agricultural Campus in Israel, where he also gained hands-on experience as an Assistant Farm Manager. Since 2018, Jacob has worked with farming communities in Uganda and Kenya, focusing on productivity and sustainability.
Jacob joined ISU-UP as a service learner in 2023 and has since served as a student leader, education programs volunteer, and intern at Iowa State University's Department of Horticulture (Fall 2024). He has participated in key events such as the 2024 Norman Borlaug Dialogue and represented service learners on the panel discussion during the 20th-anniversary celebration of CSRL in Ames, IA.
He is currently enrolled in a Postgraduate Degree program in Project Monitoring and Evaluation at the Uganda Management Institute.
He holds a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (Crop Science) from Makerere University and a Diploma in Horticulture from the Kfar Silver Agricultural Campus in Israel, where he also gained hands-on experience as an Assistant Farm Manager. Since 2018, Jacob has worked with farming communities in Uganda and Kenya, focusing on productivity and sustainability.
Jacob joined ISU-UP as a service learner in 2023 and has since served as a student leader, education programs volunteer, and intern at Iowa State University's Department of Horticulture (Fall 2024). He has participated in key events such as the 2024 Norman Borlaug Dialogue and represented service learners on the panel discussion during the 20th-anniversary celebration of CSRL in Ames, IA.
He is currently enrolled in a Postgraduate Degree program in Project Monitoring and Evaluation at the Uganda Management Institute.