JENIFFER MUKHWANA, B.ED
FOUNDING DIRECTOR, NIGH UGANDA
Jeniffer Mukhwana, BEd, is a school teacher, lay midwife and community leader in her rural district of Wakiso — east of Uganda's Capital, Kampala. She left her professional teaching in 2002 to become more involved in her community through empowering the women in her region for self-help and entrepreneurship. She continues to educate women in her region and serves as a Founding Director of "NIGH Uganda".
At the request of the Ugandan Ministry of Health, she has also taken on the role of voluntary lay midwife in her local community health centre - working with skilled nurses and approved by her district leaders and health authorities to do so. Her dream is to continue her nursing training and to acquire other advanced skills in health related matters. In this role, she notes that health must be based on teamwork at the village level. Jeniffer has also worked on NIGH's focus to increase awareness about Maternal Health with the 'Daring, Caring & Sharing to Save Mothers' Lives' Campaign - with a focus on the specific needs of Ugandan women.
Jeniffer, along with her husband Andrea, serves as Co-Founder of NIGH Uganda. Affiliated with a growing circle of collaborators from NIGH, the Mukhwanas have established the 'NIGH Uganda' team to advocate for and achieve the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Uganda, East Africa and worldwide. Recently they worked with school districts across Kampala to celebrate the 2017 United Nations Day by raising awareness about the UN SDGs.
Together, in 2012, the Mukhwanas have also helped to organize the Muslim & Christian Teachers' Dialogue convened in Lira, Uganda — in association with the International Initiatives of Change (IofC). Attended by teachers, head teachers and principals of primary schools and colleges — as well as district education officers and political leaders — this conference focused on 'Enhancing Teachers' Role in Development, Peace Building and Good Governance.'
In these leadership roles, the Jeniffer and Andrew met with NIGH representatives, in 2010, at an International IofC conference in Switzerland. There they began their planning to collaborate with NIGH — to strengthen their own community service — particularly for rural womens' and girls' health and education — and to provide the NIGH representatives with much-needed insights for the 'on-the-ground' needs of women in rural Africa.
Jeniffer's online article was first published on NIGH's original website. She regularly ‘meets’ electronically within the NIGH leadership to implement their collective worldwide outreach and to empower the voices of nurses and midwives with messages of concern and hope for 'Improving Maternal Health' the UN Millennium Development Goal # 5 and the new UN SDGs.
At the request of the Ugandan Ministry of Health, she has also taken on the role of voluntary lay midwife in her local community health centre - working with skilled nurses and approved by her district leaders and health authorities to do so. Her dream is to continue her nursing training and to acquire other advanced skills in health related matters. In this role, she notes that health must be based on teamwork at the village level. Jeniffer has also worked on NIGH's focus to increase awareness about Maternal Health with the 'Daring, Caring & Sharing to Save Mothers' Lives' Campaign - with a focus on the specific needs of Ugandan women.
Jeniffer, along with her husband Andrea, serves as Co-Founder of NIGH Uganda. Affiliated with a growing circle of collaborators from NIGH, the Mukhwanas have established the 'NIGH Uganda' team to advocate for and achieve the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Uganda, East Africa and worldwide. Recently they worked with school districts across Kampala to celebrate the 2017 United Nations Day by raising awareness about the UN SDGs.
Together, in 2012, the Mukhwanas have also helped to organize the Muslim & Christian Teachers' Dialogue convened in Lira, Uganda — in association with the International Initiatives of Change (IofC). Attended by teachers, head teachers and principals of primary schools and colleges — as well as district education officers and political leaders — this conference focused on 'Enhancing Teachers' Role in Development, Peace Building and Good Governance.'
In these leadership roles, the Jeniffer and Andrew met with NIGH representatives, in 2010, at an International IofC conference in Switzerland. There they began their planning to collaborate with NIGH — to strengthen their own community service — particularly for rural womens' and girls' health and education — and to provide the NIGH representatives with much-needed insights for the 'on-the-ground' needs of women in rural Africa.
Jeniffer's online article was first published on NIGH's original website. She regularly ‘meets’ electronically within the NIGH leadership to implement their collective worldwide outreach and to empower the voices of nurses and midwives with messages of concern and hope for 'Improving Maternal Health' the UN Millennium Development Goal # 5 and the new UN SDGs.
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Photo Credits: From Jennifer Mukhwana's archives depicting her work at the Wakiso District Clinic near Kampala in Uganda.