Winnie Watera

Program Officer, East Africa

Languages Spoken: English, Luganda

As a program Officer for Women First, Winnie has the desire to see communities thrive, fueled by women's active participation at all levels of society. Through her role, Winnie provides all round support to a portfolio of high-impact grantee partners in East Africa to help them achieve their respective mandates. Winnie has management experience focusing on advocacy and communication, economic empowerment, women’s rights, public policy and social justice.

She has worked in civil society in various capacities and led on programs focusing on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, parliament transparency, political participation of women and social behavior change. Winnie has also consulted for Akina Mama Wa Afrika, Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD) and Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa and Research World International.

Winnie has a degree in Development Economics from Makerere University and is currently pursuing a Master’s in Research and Public Policy from Uganda Christina University. Winnie loves festivals, when she is not at one, she will binge watch her favorite show at the time.

Women in Africa are some of the most hardworking people in the world, but circumstances, sometimes beyond their control predispose them to abject poverty. In whatever capacity you are reading this, I hope that you can reflect on some of these realities, humanize the statistics and then make a contribution in your own way not to retrench systems that contribute to their predicament. At Women First, economic justice, is our contribution, I ask therefore, what is yours?