Victoria Nyanjura | |
---|---|
Born | circa 1982 (age 41–42) Oyam District, Uganda |
Education | St. Mary's College Aboke (High School Diploma) Kyambogo University (Bachelor of Development Studies) Uganda Management Institute (Postgraduate Diploma in Monitoring and Evaluation) University of Notre Dame (Master of Global Affairs) |
Years active | 2004–present |
Known for | Gender activism |
Title | Founder of Women in Action for Women (WAW), an NGO |
Victoria Nyanjura (born circa 1982) is a Ugandan community activist, who is the founder of Women in Action for Women (WAW), a Ugandan-based non-governmental organization, that attempts to improve the lives of young people and women through vocational training, business education and guidance in accessing community and government services. [1]
Nyanjura was born in Oyam District, in the Lango sub-region, in the Northern Region of Uganda. She attended primary school locally. She obtained her High School Diploma from St. Mary's College Aboke, in Kole District. [1] [2]
Her first degree, a Bachelor of Development Studies, was obtained from Kyambogo University, in Kampala, Uganda's capital city. As of February 2020, she is pursuing a Master of Global Affairs, specializing in International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. She also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Monitoring and Evaluation, awarded by Uganda Management Institute, also in Kampala. [1] [2]
Nyanjura worked as a volunteer at the Justice & Reconciliation Project, a non-governmental organization that aims at rehabilitation war-ravaged communities in Northern Uganda, based in the city of Gulu. She later became an employee at the NGO, in its Gender Justice department. [3] She has also worked at International Justice Mission, another NGO, focused on protecting Ugandan widows on property ownership. [1]
In 1996, at the age of 14 years, Nyanjura was one of the 139 girls abducted from St. Mary's College Aboke on 10 October 1996, by rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army. The deputy headmistress of the college, Sister Rachele Fassera of Italy, pursued the rebels and successfully negotiated the release of 109 of the girls. 30 of the girls were retained by the rebels. Nyanjura was one of the 30. After eight years in captivity, characterized by torture and sexual abuse, she was able to escape and regain her freedom in 2004. [1] [2]
In 2018, she was the recipient of the Navarra International Solidarity Award, organized by the Government of Navarre, Spain, and Laboral Kutxa, a Spanish credit union. The award recognizes individuals, NGOs, and institutions whose work advances the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. She shared the award, and a €25,000 prize with three other African women, Hulo Guillabert, Theresa Kachindamoto and Oumou Sall-Seck. The group was nominated by the Spanish diplomatic organization Casa África. [4]
Betty Oyella Bigombe, also known as Betty Atuku Bigombe, is a Ugandan politician who served as the Senior Director for Fragility, Conflict, and Violence at the World Bank from 2014 to 2017. She was appointed in June 2014. From May 2011 until June 2014, she was the State Minister for Water Resources in the Uganda Cabinet. She was appointed on 27 May 2011. She concurrently served as the elected Member of Parliament (MP), representing Amuru District Women's Constituency. She resigned from the two appointments on 1 June 2014.
John Paul Lederach is an American Professor of International Peacebuilding at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, and concurrently Distinguished Scholar at Eastern Mennonite University. He has written widely on conflict resolution and mediation. He holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Colorado. In 1994 he became the founding director for the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University where he was a professor. He currently works for the foundation Humanity United.
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The Aboke abductions were the kidnapping of 139 secondary school female students from St. Mary's College Secondary school by rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) on 10 October 1996, in Aboke, Kole District, Uganda. The deputy head mistress of the college, Sister Rachele Fassera of Italy, pursued the rebels and successfully negotiated the release of 109 of the girls. The Aboke abductions and Fassera's dramatic actions drew international attention, unprecedented at that time, to the insurgency in northern Uganda. A book titled "Aboke Girls" was written by Els De Temmerman about the abductions and effects of the abductions.
Aboke is a town in the Kole District of the Northern Region of Uganda. It was the location of the Aboke abductions in October 1996.
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