Ruth Ojiambo Ochieng, women’s rights advocate from Uganda
Ruth Ojiambo Ochieng is the Executive Director of Isis-Women’s International Cross Cultural Exchange (Isis-WICCE), a global action oriented women’s organisation based in Uganda that promotes fairness, equality and justice in all human relationships. Ms. Ochieng joined Isis-WICCE in 1994 and for more than a decade she has worked to empower women at all levels – particularly those affected by armed conflicts – to recognize their right to communicate and advocate for access to communication platforms and tools. She has further spearheaded the development of projects to promote women’s leadership in conflict resolution, peace building and reconstruction processes. Most recently, Ms. Ochieng played a critical role in lobbying for women’s participation in the peace talks between the Government of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army for one of Africa’s longest civil wars. Under her leadership, Isis-WICCE has advocated for the rights of women in more than 50 countries through training and skills building while urging governments and international bodies to recognize women’s voices and their critical participation in decision making and achieving sustainable peace in conflict ridden areas. In lobbying for change, Ms. Ochieng, her staff and different networks have documented women’s rights violations in countries throughout Africa, South East Asia and Eastern Europe. She also co-produced six documentaries to tell the stories of women and war and communications rights in Africa. With her extensive information and communication background, Ms. Ochieng strongly advocates for equal access to communication channels especially those living in remote areas in developing countries. Through her guidance, Isis-WICCE introduced rural women information units in four districts in Uganda and launched the first Internet café for women and girls in Kampala. Before assuming her position at Isis-WICCE, Ms. Ochieng was the head of a documentation centre at the Uganda Constituent Assembly Commission, where she was instrumental in guiding the delegates and researchers to relevant information. Prior to that role, she managed the Attorney General’s Library in the Ministry of Justice for 14 years. Ms. Ochieng is recognized widely for her extensive research on communication rights and women in armed conflict situations in the global south. She has presented papers at a number of international conferences held by the World Summit on the Information Society, the African Union, United Nations agencies and various academic institutions. Ms. Ochieng is a member of numerous regional and international organisations and has authored a variety of articles on women’s human rights issues including conflict resolution and reconstruction, communications rights, community media, social economic empowerment, gender based violence, and peace and security. She serves on the Amnesty International Committee for Movement Growth, is a board member on the Technical Advisory Committee of the African Partnership for Women’s Sexual Reproductive Rights (Amanitare), the Communication for Development Foundation Uganda (CDFU), the Advisory Committee of the Women’s Initiative for Gender Justice at The Hague, and the Advisory Committee of Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRD). She was recently invited to the Advisory Panel of the African Women’s Rights Observatory (AWRO), whose key objective is to serve as a comprehensive data source of research findings on women’s rights in Africa. A Ugandan national, Ms. Ochieng earned a B.Sc. in Information and Communications from the Polytechnic of North London and an M.A. in Communications Policy Studies from the City University, London in the United Kingdom where she also conducted research at the World Association for Christian Communication Secretariat. |
