• Research Scientist, African Population and Health Research Center

Benta is an education specialist with training in demographic research. Her experience is in education policy issues of access, equity, and quality; the linkages between education and health outcomes for adolescents; gender issues in education; and the impact of families on the education, resources allocation, and health outcomes of their school going children. Benta is currently leading the girls' education and transition to secondary school projects within the Education Research Program at APHRC
Benta is the principal investigator of the Advancing Learning Outcomes for Transformation (A LOT-Change) in the Urban Informal Settlements in Nairobi. Benta leads the education aspects of the DFID funded Adolescent Girls Initiative – Kenya (AGI-K; 2013 - 2019), targeting girls ages 10–14 in the northern arid lands and urban slums of Nairobi. She holds a PhD in education theory and policy, a PhD in comparative and international education and a doctoral minor in demography from the Pennsylvania State University, University Park, USA (2010). She also holds a Master of Arts degree in population studies from the Population and Research Institute, University of Nairobi and a Bachelor of Education (Arts) degree from Moi University.
Prior to joining APHRC, Benta was also an administrator for eight years, as a head of department (humanities). She is driven to engage in generating research evidence that will have a policy impact on education and girls' education in particular.
Benta was a Ford Foundation International Fellow 2005, and a subsequent Ford Foundation scholar at Pennsylvania State University between 2006-2009.

• –present Research Scientist, African Population and Health Research Center

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