New to the East Africa Team: Isaac Amuku

As the Project Manager for Policy Dialogue East Africa at horizont3000, he oversees policy dialogue and advocacy activities in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. Before this, he worked at Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) as a fundraising and monitoring and evaluation officer.

Isaac has conducted numerous research studies on gender and women's rights, integrating gender and digital rights into government policies and supporting the use of ICTs for the empowerment of women and girls. He is a fellow of the African School on Internet Governance, an economist, and a monitoring and evaluation specialist. In his leisure time, Isaac enjoys reading, writing, and exploring new opportunities.

Different actors perceive different problems and they link problems to different systems and frameworks that cause such problems and my role as the policy dialogue and advocacy expert is to provide technical assistance and platform for mutual negotiations and common understanding. I look forward to supporting the civil society organisations that are partners of horizont3000 in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania to meaningfully and effectively participate in making and implementing policies and programs that serve the best interest and needs of the people affected as a result of existence of discriminatory, gender exclusive and inequitable policies and programmes.

An inclusive and equitable policies is the heart of wealth and power as seen between China and the United States of America. I have a long history of providing evidence for policy formulation through conducting evidence-based studies on gender and digital rights in general and used this to advocate for formulation of good policies with adequate budget and increase awareness on online gender-based violence, rural gender and digital rights challenges. horizont3000 is uniquely positioned to address some of these rural development and human rights challenges through preparing and strengthening the capacity of civil society actors across the region to negotiate and implement actions that fulfil the aspiration and will of its people. That is how and why I joined horizont3000 and I really feel enthusiastic to work with the amazing team and partners across the globe to reach greater horizons and thank you everyone for welcoming me and rendering necessary support during my orientation.

Gender equity is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. There is wide spread discrimination and women and girls are subjected to gender-based violence which is against their fundamental human rights as enshrined in the international and national human rights treaties and standards. At community levels, cultural norms and practices that do not allow equal sharing of roles and distribution of resources among men and women remain the root cause while at policy level, patriarchal dominancy and limited appreciation of gender and gender concerns remain the leading cause of discrimination and abuse of fundamental human rights. My role will be to work with the horizont3000 team and partner organisations within the East African region to foster an environment for an inclusive engagement between all stakeholders to ensure a society where people of all genders are treated with equal respect and dignity everywhere.

An ideal world to me is a word where everyone has an equal opportunity to thrive using the available resources at their disposal.

Doing new things and learning new ways of doing things differently every day but in an impactful manner and strengthening partnership and collaboration with people who have a common vision of making this world a better place for everyone.