Virginia is a Ugandan social researcher with over 20 years of experience. She specialises in monitoring and evaluation, consumer research, behaviour change and communications research. She works across sectors and cross cutting subject matter including livelihoods, financial inclusion, agriculture, education, health, nutrition, gender equity and Women’s Economic Empowerment, vulnerable populations, and emergency. Her experience spans Sub-Saharan Africa doing research and evaluations for international organisations, development partners and governments. Virginia is currently Director of Public Affairs at Ipsos Sub-Saharan Africa, where she oversees the Africa centre for Development Research and Evaluations. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Social Work and Social Administration (SWASA) from Makerere University and an Executive MBA from the East and Southern African Management Institute (ESAMI) as well as host of courses on cross-cutting issues.

Deborah is a Ugandan Utilization-Focused Evaluator & Evaluation Mentor who promotes the role of Evaluation Science in the advancement of girls and women’s well-being, human dignity, gender equality, equity, organizational effectiveness, inclusive development, and transformative leadership. She is an active member of women’s economic empowerment collectives and associations in Uganda and Africa. She designed a community based Self Help Empowerment and Leadership SHEL framework (the iCON Women & Young People’s Leadership Academy) that catalyzes the economic empowerment of women survivors of gender-based violence and civil conflict in Northern Uganda. She is currently the Africa Director at the campus wide 4W Initiative for Women & Wellbeing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. Deborah is also a specialist in project management, policy and program interventions in Gender-Based Violence Prevention Initiatives, Social Entrepreneurship, Women & Youth Entrepreneurial Leadership Development, Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE), Family Stability, Community Empowerment and Social Movements.

Development Economist is committed to Political, Social and Economic Justice including deepening learning on socio-economic development, women’s rights and gender justice. Thirty years’ work experience – from academia to Civil society – with a focus on science and technology education to economic justice particularly from a feminist economist perspective. Held policy advocacy and women’s rights roles at ActionAid International Uganda and the Eastern African Sub-Regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women (EASSI). Currently Women’s Rights Advisor at Oxfam in Uganda. Written extensively on trade and economic policy as well as women’s rights and the convergence between these areas, including economic development strategies, regional integration, women’s economic empowerment, the unpaid care economy, and VAW/G; and, have, consulted for several organisations. Served on the Boards of national and regional organisations including the Southern and Eastern Africa Trade Information and Negotiations Institute and Uganda Women’s Network. Hold an MSc Development Economics.

Jackie Kitiibwa is the Digital Economy Lead at Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) Uganda – working with regulators, policymakers and the private sector to formulate and enhance policies and laws and promote the development of robust financial markets infrastructure that facilitate inclusive growth. Jackie is a financial sector specialist with over 15 years experience in digital financial inclusion, payments, and financial market infrastructure. She has led and supported capacity building initiatives in 14 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA). She also worked as the Head of the Central Securities Depository and the Head of Payment Systems Oversight at the Bank of Uganda. She has supported countries in ESA to formulate and implement financial services’ policies and technologies and has participated in regional payment systems harmonisation initiatives in the EAC and SADC. Jackie holds a master’s degree in Economics and Financial Economics from the University of Nottingham, UK and a Bachelor of Statistics from Makerere University Kampala, Uganda.

Edton is a dedicated team leader with over seventeen years of professional experience in Project Planning and Management, Livelihood and Economic empowerment of marginalized groups. Edton has been involved in the management of multimillion, multi-partner cooperative agreements and contracts funding. He has significant experience leading technical teams, supporting local partners and working closely with Government. Edton has served in various technical and managerial capacities in various INGOs. Currently, he is the Livelihood Program Manager at CARE International in Uganda. Edton holds a bachelor’s degree in social sciences from Makerere University (MUK), A post-graduate diploma (PDG) in Project Planning and Management, a Master’s degree in Management Studies (MMS) from Uganda Management Institute (UMI), and a Master’s degree in Public health (MPH) from International Health Sciences University (IHSU). Edton is a philanthropist and has served Rotary International in different capacities. He is passionate about empowering youth to achieve their full potential.

Ms. Maureen Kangere is a Communications and Advocacy Specialist based out of the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW)-Uganda office. For over a decade, Maureen has worked in the civil society sector with extensive experience in driving research uptake and advocacy around gender power analysis on violence against women and girls and applying a feminist communication lens to broaden circles of research and policy influence and driving new socialization processes around gender hierarchies and power in intimate partner relationships. Her current work at ICRW includes communications and advocacy, coordination of Sexual Violence against Children prevention collective activism and strategic initiatives, leading the development and implementation of the child sexual abuse research uptake strategy, social research and program evaluations related to child sexual abuse, adolescent health, rights, and gender equality. She has worked throughout Uganda and has been involved in grassroots and national movement-building work in nine African countries.  She supports the ICRW Bill and Melinda Gates funded project on COVID-19 and Women in the Informal Economy in India, Kenya and Uganda in the advocacy engagement in Uganda. Prior to joining ICRW, Maureen worked at Raising Voices with the GBV Prevention Network as Senior Programme Officer where she co-developed a program to foster solidarity among Network members, built capacity of activists in the East, Horn and Southern Africa and managed the network communication (materials, digital platforms, and social media).  She co-authored a journal article on social media activism in the region. While working with Akina Mama wa Afrika, Maureen coordinated feminist leadership development institutes in four African countries and implemented a Gender and Forced Migration Project. She implemented three projects on women’s leadership and vulnerable women empowerment when she worked with Forum for Women in Democracy. She also oversaw the young leaders mentoring programme, participated in advocacy campaigns and was involved in pitching at donor events. She participated in an award-winning competition on behalf of the organization and won the Gender Governance Award. Maureen has published a book on Miscarriage and Motherhood.

Leah Eryenyu is an emerging political economy analyst deploying Pan-African and intersectional feminist tools of inquiry to examine and understand systemic injustices and their manifestations. She is interested in challenging and dismantling structural inequalities in a world increasingly controlled by plutocrats. She is currently the Head of Programmes at Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA) where she provides strategic leadership to the team across seven African countries in the thematic areas of Women’s Political Leadership, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and Economic Justice and Climate Action. Her work looks at the intersection of economic exploitation and gender oppression and its implication on the achievement of broader women’s rights. In this regard she focuses on issues of tax and labour rights, but with contributions to a diversity of other macro-economic policy issues. Leah’s research and writing interests include economic governance focusing on tax justice and Illicit Financial Flows, corporate accountability, and decent work for women, particularly those in global value chains.

Florence N. KUTEESA is an economist with four decades of experience in public financial management (PFM) in domains of development planning, public sector budgeting, public investment, and gender and equity budgeting.  Now an independent consultant in PFM and an acting Executive Director of non-government agency pursuing women economic empowerment.  Prior served the International Monetary Fund (2007-2016) – providing PFM technical assistance to ministries of finance in low-income countries and Ugandan Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (1983-2004) and as a director Budget, championed public sector budget reforms, including gender and equity budgeting. A founder member of the Council for Economic Empowerment of Women in Africa- Uganda Chapter and Collaborative African Budget Reform Initiative (CABRI) – a network of budget officials in Africa.  Holds a master’s degree in Human Resource Development from University of Manchester, UK, and a Hubert Humphrey fellowship in strategic planning and public policy from University of Texas at Austin, USA.