Uganda Advisory Board Members
Aramanzan Madanda: Aramanzan is a lecturer and coordinator of the Information and Communication Technology Program in the Women and Gender Studies Department at Makerere University. Madanda serves on the board and is a founding member of Mt. Masaba HS in Mbale, Educate!’s primary pilot school. Listen to an interview with Madanda about Educate! that aired on KGNU.
Ben Waira: Ben is the administrative manager for MBW Consulting Engineers and is an associate governor of East Africa Rotary.
Collins Hy Tugumisirize: Collins is the founder and managing director of Afroeducare (www.studyinuganda.com). Afroeducare markets Ugandan educational institutions to East Africa and is currently collaborating with the Ministry of Education to develop a secondary school accreditation system in Uganda.
Edward Ssebukyu: Edward Ssebukyu is the Assistant Commissioner of Private Secondary Schools in the Ministry of Education of the Government of Uganda. Edward has provided valuable advice and guidance as Educate! incorporates it’s model of education into the national education system. In addition he has served as an excellent advocate within the Ministry of Education and helped Educate! to receive a letter of support from the Ministry. Edward, like Educate!, believes in the power of education to drive sustainable development and we are honored to work with him.
Emily Lutyens: Emily was Educate!’s founding Country Director from July 2008 until July 2010 and is responsible for building Educate!’s programs from scratch along with current Program Director Angelica Towne. She worked to develop Educate!’s relationships with 25 partner schools around Uganda and hired the mentors who taught the socially responsible leadership course. Emily, a former management consultant, brought to Educate! her sense of organization, drive, and experience building the necessary structures and feedback systems that will best lead to the success of Educate!’s programs. She will forever remain a part of the Educate! family.
Emily graduated from Brown University, was educated all over the world. In her words: “What drew me to Educate! was not just [the] mission, but a belief in its method. Having grown up moving from country to country, my own education has been a jumbled product of the Japanese, British, French and American educational systems. Each system had its strengths and limitations, and I have come away with a deep conviction that education should go beyond memorizing textbooks and practicing standardized tests. It should be a time to ask ‘what is my potential?’ instead of ‘what is the exam like?’” Emily’s experience growing up in different educational systems embodies Educate!’s work in Uganda: empowering individuals through education to reach their potential both for themselves and their community.
Irene Mutumba: Irene was elected as an Ashoka Fellow in 2005 and has been creating “Young Entrepreneur” Clubs in secondary schools across Uganda where students create and run small business projects. She is also training teachers to create a less regimented classroom and recruits volunteers from business and citizen sectors to participate in the management and growth of the clubs. Her organization is called the Private Education Development Network (pedn.org) She is a speaker for the Educate! Mentor Induction Training and a future judge for the Educate! Social Entrepreneurship Club Competition.
James Bulenzibuto: James is the Public Relations Officer of Kyambogo University and has experience in leadership training.
Jonah Walusimbi: Jonah Walusimbi is the head teacher of Greenhill Academy (Educate! partner school and one of the most well-respected schools in Uganda). Jonah started his own shoe company at the age of 17 and notes that “I have a strong appetite for entrepreneurship.” Students at Greenhill Academy have started a recycling program under him, and sold revision note CDs (for example for the biology A level exam) to raise money for community mosquito nets. Jonah provides excellent advice and perspective on Educate!’s program as a whole and espeically the entrepreneurship aspects of the curriculum.
Leslie Weighill: Leslie, a Canadian, is the founder and director of The Real Uganda (www.therealuganda.com), a successful grass-roots volunteer placement organization she started in 2005 that partners with deserving local NGO’s. Her understanding of the Ugandan context as a Westerner who has lived in Uganda is invaluable to Educate!.
Margaret Wokuri: Margaret is a columnist for the Daily Monitor and is currently on the staff at ACFODE (www.acfode.org), an organization working to promote gender equality in Uganda. In addition, Margaret serves on the board and is a founding member of Mt. Masaba High School.
Martin Kisawuzi: Martin founded Busiro Community College School and has developed it into a centerpiece of the community. He is the head of credit at Centenary Rural Development Bank Ltd (www.centenarybank.co.ug).
Peter Kasenene: As the Minister of Privatization of the government of Uganda, Peter Kasenene helped oversee the rapid spread of microfinance in Uganda. He has experience as a professor in numerous institutions around the world and now runs the Thomas More Leadership Institute in Kampala, Uganda.
Tim Kreutter: Tim is the founder and director of Cornerstone (www.cornerstonedevelopment.org), an organization that builds highly effective leadership academies in Uganda and Rwanda. Cornerstone’s innovative curriculum unites people of different religions and tribes based on common principles.