TheJourneyVolume1 - Book - Page 76
#NextGenUNDP
Amanda Kabejja Serumaga
Coun tr y o f O r igin :
UNDP Co u n t r y O f f ic e :
Date o f Ap po in tm e n t:
UGA N DA /CA N A DA
M AU R I T I US A N D S E YC HEL L ES
MAY 2019
“WORKING FOR UNDP AFFORDS
A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN,
UNLEARN, AND RELEARN.”
I
was born in Kampala, Uganda. My father was an
economist, author, and playwright. My mother is
a retired teacher. At the age of 10, my family fled
Uganda during the Idi Amin regime. We were exiled
and became refugees in Kenya and other countries. Over
the next five years, while Uganda experienced a civil war,
we experienced several transformations in our circumstances, which separated us from everything we had
come to know about ourselves and our aspirations.
With support from IOM (International Organization
for Migration) and the UNHCR (UN High Commissioner
for Refugees), we were eventually granted citizenship in
Canada. We settled in London, a small town in southwestern Ontario. And it was in Canada where I studied
and thrived for the next twenty years. Living there
provided a much-needed sense of safety and security,
and a space where life was more predictable. It also
influenced my perspective on organizations, how states
should govern, justice, fairness, and equity. The transformational role of the United Nations in my personal life
continues to be a a constant incentive in my professional
life.
EDUCATION AND DESIRE TO RIGHT WRONGS
I studied Humanities, English Language, and Literature
at York University. As an undergraduate student, while
studying Political Economy focused on Latin America,
the Caribbean, and the Commonwealth, I learned about
the cultures of oppressed people. I was interested in
understanding issues of identity and belonging, first as a
culturally dislocated youth, and then as a Canadian with
roots elsewhere. My interest was to work with commu-
nities to understand how they can overcome societal
barriers that hindered their capacity to live a life of
dignity and to achieve their potential.
By graduation, I had decided that I was going to be a
lawyer. I was inspired by the lives of those who had tried
to use the law to right wrongs, rebalance power in favor of
the disenfranchised, and hold governments and decisionmakers to account.
I needed a structured space to channel my frustration
and desire to help. I wanted to change the world! So, I
chose to study at Osgoode Hall Law School, in North
York Ontario, a top school renowned for a more liberal
study of the law. It also allowed for a semester of work in
a poverty law clinic representing indigent clients across
several disciplines, in lieu of classroom studies.
Law school was sobering and challenging, and legal
practice even more so. I increasingly saw the systemic
barriers that cut across individual cases and I became
more interested in transformational issues, more so at
the group level, rather than pursuing individual cases.
While it was gratifying to provide support to individuals and families, it was also frustrating to encounter the
injustices or inequities, which were often rooted in race,
gender, or social class.
UGANDA, CAREER PATH AND BECOMING RR
I returned to Uganda after more than twenty years and
started off as a human rights volunteer. I later served as
Senior Technical Advisor of a pioneering justice, law and
order sector-wide reform program, with the Ministry of
Justice and Constitutional Affairs. This has since been
replicated across Africa.
After four years, and again to pursue advocacy and
social justice work, I transitioned into civil society, taking
on the role of Country Director for ActionAid International in Uganda. While working with communities ›
In Mauritius and
Seychelles, UNDP has been
instrumental in tracking trends and
providing technical and policy
advice, and in using catalytic
investment.”
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