Moraa Obiria

Moraa Obiria is an award-winning journalist with the Gender Desk at The Nation in Nairobi, Kenya. Her work with the Fuller Project began in 2020 as part of our partnership with The Nation. She co-reported a story with Louise Donovan about toxic trash sites that are making women sick, and another about migrant workers forced to return home during the pandemic. Beginning in 2023, Moraa will collaborate closely with a dedicated Fuller Project reporter for our unique partnership. 

Moraa has been recognized for her excellence in producing impactful stories, which often lie at the intersections of gender and human rights. Most recently during the 2022 Media Council of Kenya, Annual Journalism Excellence Awards, for her story Why Kitale Men are Warming up to Kangaroo Mother Care, which won second place in the development award category for digital media, and she was named a finalist for UN Women Gender Journalism Awards for her story How feminists shaped Kenya’s response to gender-based violence amid Covid-19. In 2021, she received a Journalists for Human Rights award for her work investigating cross-border female genital mutilation between Kenya and Tanzania, and the National Gender and Equality Commission recognized work to champion gender equality and inclusion in Kenya. In 2017, she won an impactAFRICA award for reporting about challenges women with disabilities face while seeking maternal health services. 

Moraa lives by the mantra “I cannot change anything without doing something.” So, every day she is motivated to write stories and go further to advance societal progress. In addition to her rigorous journalism, she is a 2022 WanaData fellow and a 2022 cohort of the WAN-IFRA Women in News Leadership Accelerator Program, where she has also served as a team leader. She is also a trainee of Journalists for Human Rights. Moraa is a member of the Association of Media Women in Kenya and the secretary to its committee on resource mobilization and planning. 

Moraa’s reporting has taken her to Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and Ethiopia to cover regional stories on gender and human rights. Her work has appeared in The Guardian, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Al Jazeera, among other highly regarded media outlets. 

Prior to entering journalism, she worked as a human rights advocate, with a focus on the rights of minority communities in Kenya and Africa.  

Moraa has a Bachelors in Communication from Egerton University and is currently pursuing her Master’s in Gender and Development at Kenyatta University.