Gertrude Kenyangi
Support for Women in Agriculture and Environment (SWAGEN) - Uganda
Ms. Gertrude Kenyangi Kabusimbi graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Agriculture) from Makerere University, obtained an MA (Integrated Rural Development Planning) and an MA Gender Studies and Women Empowerment. For a short period after her studies she held a white collar job with a bank as a credit officer before discovering that her calling was not in air-conditioned, pristine and sanitized work environments but with the people right at the grassroots getting her hands dirty. She therefore resigned her bank job and co-founded Support for Women in Agriculture and Environment (SWAGEN), where she still serves as Executive Director.
She was democratically elected by Civil Society Organizations across the African continent to the position of Observer on the Climate Investment Fund – Forest Investment Program, Facilitator for Africa Region CSOs at UNEP, Eastern Africa CSO representative to the Committee on Food Security (CFS) and a member of the Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) Multi-stakeholder Advisory Committee - Sustainable Livelihoods Education Program (UNEP / UNESCO)
Ms. Kenyangi has won several prizes among which is the Wangari Maathai prize for forestry awarded by the Collaborative Forestry Partnership at FAO.
I have the privilege of joining the women's leadership circle, where I will meet other women of like mind. Our leadership skills will be fine-tuned and sharpened by experts. It is a forum that will provide us an opportunity to exchange ideas, learn from each other and establish lasting partnerships and networks.