Dr. Kizzie Shako is a Medical Doctor and Forensic Medical Practitioner with over 10 years experience working in the Criminal Justice System, and thousands of cases under her belt. She also doubles up as a Human Rights Defender, advocating for promotion of Science for Justice and child protection for a safer Kenya. She is Kenya’s former first female first forensic Police Surgeon during her time as the Head of Clinical Forensic Medicine, Division of Forensic and Pathology Services, Ministry of Health Kenya.

She acquired in-depth knowledge and skills in Clinical Forensic Medicine, including Injury Interpretation, aspects of Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR), Adult and Child Physical and Sexual Abuse, Custodial Medicine, and aspects of Forensic Sciences. She has also received training and work experience in various fields of Forensic Medicine related to the dead, including, but not limited to, Dead Body Management, Disaster victim Identification, and Death investigation.

Dr. Shako has been actively involved in development of policy frameworks, manuals and guidelines for numerous arms of government and non-government organizations, such as Independent Medico-legal Unit, Department of Reproductive Health – MOH, UNWOMEN, UNDP, among others. She is a contributing author for manuals and guidelines on management of sexual violence for adults and children, and is also a National trainer for the same. She sits in several Technical Working Groups tasked to bring about improvement in the management of Sexual and Gender Based Violence and within the criminal justice system, including spearheading the review of the Kenya Police Service Medical Report (P3) Form.

Over the years, Dr. Shako has demonstrated diversity in the application of her skillset when she served not only as a technical forensic practitioner and expert witness for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution, but also as a Special Medical Board member for the National Police Service Commission tasked with analysing the welfare of police officers, and as the Secretary to the Ministerial Gender Welfare In Sports Committee (MOSCH) tasked to identify possible solutions to the SGBV menace in the Sports Industry, to mention a few achievements.
Given the nature of her work with victims and suspects of violence, she has purposed to make a positive impact in her community in the following areas:-

1. Strengthening the prevention and response systems for cases of sexual and physical abuse.
2. Capacity building of key players involved in investigations, rehabilitation, restoration and access to justice for victims and suspects.
3. Women and child empowerment.

This desire motivated initiation of VUNJA KIMYA FOUNDATION, initially an online platform where she addresses sensitive issues and gives advice, highlighting key elements of violence.

Vunja Kimya Foundation, through key partnerships, actively supports shelters for survivors of sexual abuse including impregnanted teenage girls, intimate partner violence, and is involved in the initiation of an online platform acting as a Rapid Response mechanism to address distress calls involving children and other victims of Sexual and Gender Based Violence.

Dr. Shako went a step further to create E.S.C.A.P.E. Forensic Consultancy, a consultancy aimed at providing forensic and medicolegal services to the public after identifying a gap in the provision of these services.

Dr. Kizzie Shako has received accolades for her work beyond the call of duty as a Human Rights Defender. Her vision is to ensure optimal management of victims and suspects of violence, to facilitate women empowerment by promoting self-defense skills acquisition for women and children, and educating the larger community on the need to promote child protection to live in a violence free Kenya in line with Sustainable Development Goals 5 and 16.