TheJourneyVolume1 - Book - Page 78
#NextGenUNDP
Amanda Kabejja Serumaga
MAU RI T I U S AN D S E YC H E L L E S
and engaging with policymakers, I was able to engage
on a wide range of issues including debt relief, trade
and market access, and justice for the poor. Working
with an international organization allowed me to gain a
keen appreciation of how global policies translate into
practice at the grassroots level. It also helped me to better
understand human development that transcends culture,
geography, and other divides.
It is this opportunity for growth that led me to pursue
a career with UNDP, bringing me full circle to an organization that represents the normative values, standards,
and laws that have underpinned my education and career
choices.
I joined UNDP in January 2008 and for the next eight
and a half years, I worked in Sudan and South Sudan.
Serving in these hardship duty stations, first as Deputy
Chief (Rule of Law) and then Team Leader (Governance),
provided a concrete education and opportunity to
contribute in both state and peace building work, and
contributing to the design of pro-poor justice systems,
and supporting seminal electoral and referendum
FAVOURITE QUOTATION
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing
and right doing, there is a field. I
will meet you there. When the soul
lies down in that grass the world is
too full to talk about.”
RU M I
78
processes.
Since then, I have gone on to serve as RBA Coordinator
for Boko Haram programming, Country Director and
Resident Representative ad interim in Kenya, and now
as Resident Representative for Mauritius and Seychelles..
CHALLENGES AND THE JOURNEY SO FAR
My journey so far has been defined by wanting to pursue
social justice, and I am always excited and inspired by the
possibility of bringing together my humanities and law
backgrounds. Along the way I have of course encountered professional challenges, some rooted in race and
gender and others simply about principles of fairness
and integrity within the organizations in which I have
served. It has also been interesting to explore the (re)
connection with culture and identity, and in so doing, to
encounter those things that still divide, even where there
was assumed affinity. My journey so far has included two
continents, six countries, and working in several multicultural contexts.
Working for UNDP affords a great opportunity to learn,
unlearn, and relearn and to confront biases. Looking
back at this journey, I would not change anything. What
I would do, however, is better articulate and advocate for
my truth with as much zeal and passion as I have exerted
on behalf of other causes.
When the reforms were taking place, it was an opportunity for UNDP to gain clarity and unfettered space
to pursue the kind of work it does well – working with
communities and governments, addressing systemic
issues, and influencing development policy in a transformative way.
The RR role remains a key platform for advancing
a comprehensive development agenda, given UNDP’s