Akina Mama Wa Afrika’s flagship program the ‘African Women’s Leadership Institute (AWLI)’ provides a powerful and holistic feminist grounding for African women to enable them define, analyze and articulate their experiences of inequalities and devise solutions for sustained change.
We called for mentors to support our goal of shaping a feminist future through our Feminist and Transformational Leadership Fellowship supported by UN Women and feminist leaders from all over Uganda answered our call.
Meet the mentors who will support the personal and professional leadership development of the fellows and foster a community of bold young women catalyzing social change and transforming their communities.
Meet the Mentors
Eunice Musiime is a lawyer, feminist, and development specialist with considerable experience in advancing social justice at national, regional, and international levels. Eunice is the current Executive Director of Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA). Eunice has a track record in Feminist and Transformational Leadership Development, Strategic Planning, Research, Advocacy, and Movement Building. She has also actively engaged in influencing the following critical policy processes including: The Sustainable Development Goals; The Commission on the Status of Women, The Maputo Protocol on Women’s Rights, the Development Effectiveness Agenda, and Financing for Development.
Eunice possesses a Bachelor’s Degree in Law from the University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and a Masters in Business Administration majoring in public policy analysis from the University of Birmingham (United Kingdom) with several other professional trainings in feminist leadership, human rights, good governance, and social accountability.
Leah Eryenyu is the Research, Advocacy, and Movement Building Manager at Akina Mama wa Afrika. She has a keen interest in the intersection of economic exploitation and gender oppression. Her work looks at economic governance focusing on tax justice, corporate accountability, and decent work for women, particularly those in global value chains in the horticultural sector.
Twasiima P. Bigirwa is a feminist lawyer and organizer from Uganda. She has experience working with international and national non-profit organizations working on civil and political rights, women’s rights, and public interest litigation. Twasiima currently works with Akina Mama wa Afrika as the Women’s Economic Justice Lead. She serves on the FRIDA| The Young Feminist Fund advisory committee and on the Board of Womankind Worldwide. Twasiima has an LL.B. from Makerere University and an LL.M. from Georgetown University – Law Center.
Chipo Bangira is an African Feminist who has been active in the development sector raising women and young people’s consciousness of their rights and enhancing their leadership capacity to influence governments to promote and protect their rights. She is currently working with Akina Mama Wa Afrika as the Feminist and Transformational Leadership Manager. She holds a Master of Science in Media and Society Studies from the Midlands State University in Zimbabwe
Shira Natenda is a feminist, writer, and women human rights defender with a Bachelor’s Degree in Guidance and Counseling. Shira has vast experience in Gender Justice, Sexual Reproductive Health Rights, Human Rights, and Transformational leadership. She is currently the Executive Director of Golden Centre for Women’s Rights Uganda a group for and by women migrant/refugee and native sex workers. She is passionate about empowering fellow women in finding their purpose.
Mary Lilian Manyonga Nabunya is a multi-sectoral Human Resources (HR) and an Organizational Development (OD) expert, a Certified Trainer, and Coach, grounded in business development. She has over ten years of experience successfully designing, leading, and implementing Human Resources Business partnering with leading multinational organizations. Mary is currently the Head of Human Resources, FINCA Uganda. She is a member of the International Coach Federation and a founder member of the International Coach Federation- Uganda Chapter. Mary is a fervent transformative career and performance management coach.
Annet Birungi is a feminist with a passion for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, women’s leadership and economic rights. She has over 6 years of work experience in the development, technical management and implementation of women and youth programs particularly in rural areas of Uganda. She is an alumna of the African Women’s Leadership Institute (AWLI). She is a social worker by profession, driven by passion from childhood to see women live in a fair and just society where they have equal access to opportunities that support their socio-economic development.
Akur Lucy Okwera is a Founder Member and Executive Director of Charity For Hope, a Community Based Organisation (CBO) based in Pader district, Northern Uganda. She is also a member of the Activista, an Action Aid youth network that fights social injustices across the world. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Human Resource Management from Makerere University Business School and is currently pursuing her Masters in Business Administration at Gulu University.
Hope Nankunda is a Teacher and Counselor by profession with 14 years’ experience working closely with students in schools and parents in communities. She is the founder / Executive Director – Raising Teenagers- Uganda and the Central Region Coordinator- Girls Not Brides Uganda National Alliance working to End Child Marriage in Uganda. She is a mentor under the Duke UNICEF Innovation Accelerator -focusing on Innovating sustainable solutions for Menstrual Health and Hygiene in East Africa. She has engaged in various global and regional processes including speaking at CSW62 and CSW63 while Promoting and advocating for Gender Equality.
Doreen Ruta is a political scientist and gender professional with 20 years of working experience in the development sector in Uganda and across the region. She is very passionate about women’s empowerment and feminism. Doreen currently works with the Democratic Governance Facility (DGF) as a Programme Manager and is a member of many philanthropic initiatives. She has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Makerere University and an accredited Gender Pro by George Washington University.
Primah Kwagala is a Feminist and Human Rights lawyer. She is the Chief Executive Officer of the Women’s Pro Bono Initiative (WPI) in Uganda which aims at utilizing legal tools to bring justice to women and girls that cannot afford it through the use of Commercial lawyers. She is also an alumna of the African Women’s Leadership Institute (AWLI) by Akina Mama wa Afrika.
Rosebell Kagumire is a Pan-African feminist writer, award-winning blogger and socio-political commentator. She is the curator and editor of African Feminism AF, a platform that documents narratives and experiences of African women. Rosebell was honored with the 2018 Anna Guèye Award for her work on digital democracy, justice and equality by Africtivistes. The World Economic Forum recognized Rosebell as one of the Young Global Leaders under the age of 40. She holds a Masters in Media, Peace and Conflict Studies from the University for Peace in Costa Rica. She also studied Global Leadership and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, and Nonviolent Conflict at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University.
Mercy Grace Munduru is a Human Rights lawyer who has over 7 years of experience advancing women’s human rights in Uganda. She has a wealth of experience in advocacy, communications, and network building. She currently serves as the Program Manager, Democratic Governance at ActionAid Uganda. She previously worked in FIDA Uganda as a Program Manager and most recently MEMPROW Uganda as a Program Manager. Outside of her legal work, she is a sports administrator currently heading the Marketing, Communication, and public relations department of Onduparaka Football club.
Ophelia Kemigisha is a feminist activist, human rights lawyer, and writer. She is interested in infusing radical politics into legal structures in order to fight patriarchal violence and oppression. Ophelia reads, dances, and tweets for the revolution.
Namata Tendo is an activist and the founder of Embibo Gender Initiative, a feminist non- profit that works around gender and Enterprise development for women, youth, and communities through training, research, and consultancy. She has previously worked in education, rural development, and women empowerment projects. She has a degree in Mass Communication and is currently pursuing her Master’s Degree in Gender Studies at Makerere University.
Annabel Okot has 25 years’ experience in gendered rights-based development work including providing programmatic and financial oversight in the development and management of human rights and gender programs in the thematic areas of Human rights, Democracy, Women and girls Economic Empowerment, conflict transformation, HIV, sustainable environment use and Humanitarian programming. Annabel is trained as a development manager with 19 years of the progressive program, people development, and management within medium and large-sized international development organizations. She has hands-on experience in training and utilization of participatory development and learning methodology.
