Betty Oyella Bigombe
Betty Oyella Bigombe | |
---|---|
Social Scientist, Public Administrator & Politician | |
Years active | 1986 – present |
Known for | Peace Efforts & Politics |
Title | Senior Director World Bank |
Children | 2 |
Betty Oyella Bigombe, also known as Betty Atuku Bigombe (born 21 October 1952), is a Ugandan politician who served as the Senior Director for Fragility, Conflict, and Violence at the World Bank from 2014 to 2017. She was appointed in June 2014.[1] From May 2011 until June 2014, she was the State Minister for Water Resources in the Uganda Cabinet. She was appointed on 27 May 2011.[2] She concurrently served as the elected Member of Parliament (MP), representing Amuru District Women's Constituency.[3] She resigned from the two appointments on 1 June 2014.[4]
Background and education
Betty Bigombe was born in Amuru District on 21 October 1952, formally known as Acholi District. She is one of eleven children by her father, who was a nurse. She is an ethnic Acholi. Bigombe attended Gayaza High School for her O-Level studies, graduating in 1968 and Trinity College Nabbingo for her A-Level education, graduating in 1970. She entered Makerere University, Uganda's oldest public university, graduating with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Social Science, in 1974. Later she attended Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the United States. She graduated with the degree of Master of Public Administration. Her studies at Harvard were sponsored by a Fellowship from the Harvard Institute for International Development.[3][5]
Career
From 1981 until 1984, she worked as the
Following a ten-year stint in the Uganda Parliament from 1986 until 1996, she failed to win the parliamentary seat for Gulu Municipality in 1996 and left government service. In 2011, fifteen years later, she bounced back by winning the parliamentary seat of Amuru District Women's Constituency, on the National Resistance Movement party ticket.[3]
In 1997, following her graduation from Harvard, she took up employment with the World Bank in Washington, DC, as a Senior Social Scientist with the Post-Conflict Unit. Later, she served as a Consultant to the Bank's Social Protection and Human Development Unit. In 1999 and 2000, Bigombe provided technical support to the Carter Center in a successful mediation effort between the governments of Uganda and Sudan.
Following the February 2004
In 2006, she returned to the United States and served as a Senior Fellow at the
She was appointed the chairman of the National Information and Technology Authority in Uganda (NITAU) in 2009.[9] In May 2011, she was appointed by President Yoweri Museveni as State Minister for Water Resources, a position that she held until June 2014, when she resigned to take up her assignment at the World Bank.[4] On 29th January 2024, during Makerere University's 74th Graduation Ceremony, she was awarded a Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree, Honoris Causa of Makerere University.[10]
Other considerations
Betty Bigombe was at one time married to then Uganda's ambassador to Japan.
See also
- Acholiland
- Acholi sub-region
- Cabinet of Uganda
- Lord's Resistance Army Conflict
- Robert Carmona-Borjas
References
- ^ "Women Peace Experts: Betty Bigombe". Institute for Inclusive Security. 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
- Facebook.com. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
- ^ a b c "Profile of Atuku Bigombe Betty, Woman Representative, Amuru District". Parliament of Uganda. 2012. Archived from the original on 1 May 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
- ^ AllAfrica.com.
- ^ a b c Boustany, Nora (11 July 2007). "The Woman Behind Uganda's Peace Hopes". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
- ^ O'Kadameri, Billie (2002). "Accord Magazine: Protracted Conflict, Elusive Peace: Initiatives To End The Violence In Northern Uganda". C-r.org/Accord/Uganda. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
- ^ a b McLaughlin, Abraham (13 September 2005). "Africa's Peace Seekers: Betty Bigombe". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
- US Institute of Peace. 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
- ^ Weddi, Davis (30 August 2009). "Bigombe To Head IT Authority". New Vision (Kampala). Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
- ^ "Citation for Hon. Betty Oyella Bigombe's Award of Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa of Makerere University". Makerere News. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
- ^ "Bigombe the peacemaker". The East African. Retrieved 15 May 2020.