Paulin Basinga

Dr. Paulin Basinga leads the foundation’s work across the African continent and is based in Nairobi, Kenya. He brings to his role extensive experience with country- and global-level engagements, including from his previous role as the foundation’s global director of program advocacy and communications, based in Seattle. His responsibilities in that position included orchestrating strategic advocacy initiatives and forging partnerships with the foundation’s advocacy teams in Southeast Asia and Africa.

Paulin joined the foundation in 2012 as a senior program officer on the HIV team, where he worked on the HIV Efficiency and Effectiveness initiative, pioneering strategies to maximize the impact of the foundation’s investments in combating HIV/AIDS. He then joined the Integrated Delivery team as a senior program officer, overseeing investments in community and child health, before becoming deputy director of the Country Primary Health Initiative team, which focused on countries including Ethiopia, Nigeria, Senegal, and Burkina Faso. 

In 2015, Paulin was seconded to Rwanda to serve as a senior advisor to the Rwanda Biomedical Centre within the Rwandan Ministry of Health. During his tenure there, he provided crucial decision support for health sector reforms in Rwanda.

Paulin went on to serve as the foundation’s country director in Nigeria, where he revitalized critical partnerships and advanced the foundation’s health, nutrition, agriculture, gender, and financial inclusion priorities, aligning them with the Nigerian government’s Human Capital Development Strategy. He then served as the foundation’s director of health for Africa, leading a team that devised and implemented comprehensive country plans to advance health priorities across the continent. 

Before joining the foundation, Paulin served as deputy director of research at the National University of Rwanda’s School of Public Health, where he led groundbreaking research initiatives addressing HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and maternal and child health that contributed significantly to efforts to strengthen Rwanda’s health care systems.

Paulin has a medical degree from the National University of Rwanda as well as a master’s degree and Ph.D. in international development from Tulane University.