Interview of the Month
In the interview of the month MEWC aims to ask questions where the respondent can elaborate on issues regarding women’s present situation in Africa. The interview of the month also gives room for individuals who are doing important and varying work for women’s rights in Africa to express their ideas and answers to some of the pressing current issues.
At MEWC we believe that it is important to listen to different aspects and provide room for discussion, and so we post the interview on our home page to encourage debate. But perhaps most importantly, we strive to make the interview of the month a space where women who might otherwise not be heard, share their views.
Feminist socialist, Micheline Ravololonarisoa is an expert activist and professional . Born and bred in Madagascar she left since 1974 after the student revolt of 1972. Move to different countries but essentially established herself with her family in Nairobi ,Kenya and then in the UK since 1991.
Passionate about working for women’s rights at all levels and with all women, Virginia Muwanigwa is an expert in gender and women’s rights research, analysis, proposal writing; lobbying and advocating for women’s rights. As the Chairperson of the Women's Coalition of Zimbabwe, in addition to the WLZ, she has 8 years extensive use of human rights based approaches, 19 years working experience on socio-economic and political analysis in SADC and vast experience working with women and men at local and national level in both urban and rural.
Chika Oduah is an independent journalist and photographer based in Abuja, Nigeria. She freelances for Al Jazeera, Associated Press and other news outlets. Chika has reported from Africa, the United States and Central America. A blogger for the Huffington Post's world news edition in collaboration with the Berggruen Institute on Governance, her reportage has been published by the New York Times, National Geographic, The Atlantic, CNN, NBC, MSNBC, The Guardian, and Religion News Service, among others.
Purity Kagwiria is a feminist activist and the Executive Director of Akili Dada, a leadership incubator for girls and young women who are passionate about social change based in Nairobi, Kenya.
Yasmin Jusu-Sheriff is a lawyer and women’s rights advocate. She is a prominent member of the women’s movement in Sierra Leone, and retired from the Executive board of Femmes-Africa-Solidarité in 2012.
Dr. Okello is the Coordinator of Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET), established in 2000, with a mission to promote and support the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) by women and women organisations in Uganda. Dr. Okello is particularly active in the area of getting more women, small-scale enterprises and rural communities engaged in the information society for development via gender & ICT policy advocacy and via program implementation and monitoring & evaluation. WOUGNET's vision is a society in which women are empowered through the use of ICTs for sustainable development and the programs are guided by two pillars, namely, ICTs as tools for development, and gender responsiveness of ICT programs and policies. Over the years, WOUGNET's development partners have included Association for Progressive Communications (APC), Hivos, Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA), Swedish Program for ICT in Developing Regions (Spider), Indigo Trust, and UNESCO International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC). Dr.
Christine Khasinah-Odero, is the CEO of Supamamas, an event and marketing company that endeavours to provide an exclusive platform for Kenyan mums and mums-to-be to share, connect and get information through a website www.supamamas.co.ke and events. She also owns another marketing company Cosma Ventures that provides marketing and events management solutions.
Mary Akangbe, is an international motivational speaker and mentor. She takes pride in her capacity and ability to encourage and support others to be the best they can and reach their full potential.
Rolake heads the Energy and Oil & Gas Research at pan-African Ecobank. She is the bank’s energy and natural resources expert, and manages Ecobank’s research output across the energy industry value chain, covering a wide range of energy products and industry players. She provides strong expert and advisory support to the investment banking (M&A), asset management, commodity & trade finance, project finance, and Group strategy teams in generating investment ideas and strategies for clients, as well as sourcing new deal opportunities in the industry across Ecobank's 34-country African footprint.
As Chief Operations Officer at AFRINIC, Anne-Rachel Inné is responsible for developing, implementing, and managing the operational aspects of the annual budget driven by the strategic objectives. She oversees Member Services, Communications and IT teams in the organisation.
Sylvie Aboa-Bradwell is the Founder and Executive Director of the Policy Centre for African Peoples (PCAP). She has an MPhil in Post-Colonial Studies and an MA in English from the Complutense University of Madrid, and a Diploma in Development Studies from Birkbeck, University of London. Sylvie created PCAP to provide a platform for the engagement and education of African communities and key stakeholders on topics that are of relevance to Africans in the United Kingdom, Africa, and all over the world.
Nnenna Nwakanma trained across Sociology, Humanities, and History where she holds Bachelor Degrees, and in International Relations and Law, where she holds graduate degrees; across the American, British, French and Spanish academic zones. She is one of the earliest actors of the knowledge society in Africa.
Dinah Musindarwezo is a gender equality advocate with nine years of experience working on issues of gender and development, women empowerment and human rights at national, regional and international levels. Currently Dinah is the Executive Director of FEMNET(African Women’s Development and Communication Network) where she is in charge of management of the day today running of the organization and support advocacy work across the continent and beyond to ensure that African women are able to engage and influence policy processes affecting their lives.
Tola Onigbanjo is one half of the dynamic founding duo 'Women4Africa'. She is a project manager, entertainment journalist, compere and author. She is a visionary leader, women's champion and dedicated wife and mother. She has an unusual ability to foster, develop and nurture key inter-personal relations. Tola is a qualified project manager, experienced mentor and a down to earth communicator.
Elizabeth Bintliff is the Vice President of AfricaPrograms at Heifer Project International, where she has worked since 2000. From her base in Little Rock, Arkansas she leads Heifer’s program in Africa, managing a portfolio in over 12 countries.
Aida Opoku-Mensah is the Director of ICTs, Science and Technology Division of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), based in Addis Ababa Ethiopia. Through the work of the division she manages sections/programmes in library/knowledge/information services, ICTs, geospatial technology and innovation for Africa's development. Consequently she's led and implemented impressive initiatives
My name is Leah Chatta-Chipepa, and I like to tell people that I was born in Zambia and made in Africa. I am a true Pan- African at heart as attested by my work across the continent. I am happily married with three grown children and two adorable grandsons. I am currently working with Akina Mama wa Afrika in Kampala, Uganda where I am the Executive Director for the organization since September 2011. Prior to this, I had worked with the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) from 2005 - January 2011.
Rai is a resilient advocate for a peaceful and equitable world. Since the age of 12, she have been working and advocating to promote African women and girls rights. Rai is the Founder & Executive Director of Make Every Woman Couunt (MEWC), a young African woman led organisation based in UK.
Betty Makoni (BA Gen, BA Special Hons) is CNN Hero 2009 for Protecting the Powerless, where she was honoured by Nicole Kidman. She has 28 global awards for innovation, commitment and passion for her work to protect over 300,000 girls in Zimbabwe. United Nations Red Ribbon award honoured Betty Makoni and Girl Child Network as having the most innovative strategy for gender equality. Betty Makoni is an Ashoka Fellow and singled out as one of the investors in poor and marginalised women and girls deserving of this life honour as a fellow.News Week named Betty as one of the 150 women who shake the world, alongside US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Lindy Wafula is the Founder and Executive Director of Project Africa – a nonprofit organization established in Kenya to promote gender equality and empowerment of women. She is also a social entrepreneur and community organizer who is a passionate advocate for the advancement of women in leadership and decision making position in every social, economic and political spheres of life.