Even on an impressive list of women doing ground-breaking work in the areas of science, technology and innovation for development and change in East Africa, Dr. Dorothy Okello’s name and achievements still stand out.
A Ugandan engineer, academic, and activist, Dr. Okello has made it her life’s work to increase the inclusion and participation of women in using information and communication technologies (ICTs) to address development challenges in Uganda.
She is the founder of Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET), a platform with a mission to promote and support the use of information and communication technologies by women and women organizations in Uganda. WOUGNET works to create a society in which women are empowered through the use of ICTs for sustainable development.
Dr. Okello holds a B.Sc. in Engineering (Electrical - First Class Hons.) from Makerere University, the first woman to graduate with a first class in the male-dominated Electrical Engineering department at her university at the time. She also has a M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Kansas, United States (Fulbright Scholar), and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from McGill University, Montreal, Canada (Canadian Commonwealth Scholarship Recipient). She is the immediate past president of the Uganda Institution of Professional Engineers (UIPE), the first woman to hold the position and has served on the UIPE Council since 2010. She is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and served on the 2018 IEEE Ad Hoc Committee on Activities in Africa (AHCAA). She has also served as a Commissioner and an Interim Chairperson with Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), where she also served as Chairperson for the Rural Communications Development Fund (RCDF). She is also an Adjunct Member of Faculty at the Institute of Technology in Carlow, Ireland.
From 2008-2009, she was a Member of the Strategy Council for the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development. Dr. Okello worked as an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Makerere University and as a Lecturer in College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology (CEDAT) from 1998-2013, where she taught courses on Information and Communication Technology, Telecommunication Systems and Wireless Propagation. She became a Senior lecturer at Makerere University in May 2013.
She is presently the Dean, School of Engineering, College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology (CEDAT), Makerere University where she is also a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. She is a Researcher with netLabs!UG, a research center within the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering that seeks to be a leader in collaborative research, development and solutions on innovative telecommunication and networking technologies with a goal to strengthen the innovation ecosystem in Uganda and across East Africa.
In addition, she is the Director of Innovation, ResilientAfrica Network (RAN) hosted by Makerere University. Supported by USAID, RAN is a multi-disciplinary network of 18 Sub-Saharan African universities that seek to identify, develop and scale innovative solutions in science and technology to strengthen the resilience of African communities.
Dr. Okello has been recognized with a number of international and national awards over the years including as a ‘Top ICT Woman – Uganda ICT Excellence Awards 2009’ organized by the Uganda ICT Forum. She has been featured in 12 Top Technology People in East Africa who are technologists with a social twist by Enterprise Technology Magazine, September 2012. She received the Women Achievers Award in 2012 for enhancing women’s empowerment through Science & Technology. In 2013, she became Africa’s first-ever Digital Woman of the Year, an award given to her at the Africa ICT Days gala ceremony for the Digital Woman Award finalists that took place in Yaoundé, Cameroon. In 2014, she was selected as a Vital Voices Fellow for distinguished emerging and established women leaders who promote women and girls’ progress.
Why TechHer Loves Her:
In addition to being activist in the area of getting more women engaged in the information society, science and technology for development, Dr. Okello has and continues to break through the glass ceiling in male dominated spaces. She continually sets the standard for what women working in science and technology in Africa can achieve.
Lisa has a degree in Software Engineering from Makerere University Kampala, Uganda. She was funded by the Network Start up resource Center to attend the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference in Minneapolis, United States of America.
She is proficient with Java, CSS, HTML and Shell scripting. She has won several awards such as: the first prize of the Orange Community Innovation Awards in 2013, by building an agricultural App called AgroMarketday with Isaac Omiat. It features details of agricultural markets, market days, and farmers in district of Uganda.
Her Work:
Why TechHer Loves Her:
At TechHer, we believe in collaboration and support. Miss Katusiime agrees with us as she reiterates the essence of women networking. She says, “It is so great when women come together to network and share brilliant ideas because through such networks great ideas are formed that lead to greater things”
Culled from the Internet
About Her:
Barbara is an award-winning female technologist, a mother of two children and a graduate of Makerere University Business School. She has a Postgraduate degree in Project Planning and Management from Uganda Management Institute. She is a web designer and a social entrepreneur who is focused on how to help women be better at whatever they're doing using technology.
Honors and Awards
Her Work:
She started her career as a Research Assistant at Makerere University at the age of 20. She did some research on how to better enable craftswomen get their products online.
Mrs. Birungi is also one of the organizers of the Apps4africa competition in Uganda hosted by Appfrica Labs. She became the Country Manager of Appfrica Labs in February 2009.
In July 2010, she co-founded Hive Co-lab in Kampala, Uganda. Hive Co-lab is a business incubator for start-ups in Uganda. The incubator was established to create a collaborative environment that promotes experimentation of scalable ideas with positive social and economic returns.
She took part in a Makerere university initiative to help rural craft-making women market their produce on the internet. She also aimed at improving their livelihood through counseling, encouragement and teaching practical financial saving skills.
She is also the Founder of Women in Technology, Uganda (WITU) which started in September 2012. WITU seeks to address the gender technological gap through recruitment, encouragement, training, empowerment and career advancement of women in the ICT sector. WITU has taught over 500 young girls and contributed to more than 100 women finding tech jobs.
Mrs. Barbara also creates a Hackathon programmes whereby women design several apps based on identified needs under the WITU umbrella. One of the projects birthed a notable app called Nakazade. The app is a maternal and infant health app that provides information for mothers and traditional birth attendants. Embedded in the app are information relating to pregnancy, health care, use of contraceptive also known as family planning, infant care and immunization schedules local to them.
She also has expertise in Business Development Advisory, Strategic Planning, Project Management and Implementation.
She has two publications on African Women in Business + Tech. BBC, October 1, 2012 and African Women in Tech, UNESCO Journal, Word of Science, April 1, 2013.
Why TechHer Loves Her:
She has empowered women based on the lack of support group for women in the technology industry in Uganda. Mrs. Barbara has highly impacted the economy of Uganda and created solutions to some of its challenges in areas of unemployment, digital gender divide, health and technology.
In an interview with AFKInsider, Mrs Birungi outlined her vision succinctly. My hopes for Hive Colab and WITU are highly to impact Uganda’s youth to think differently and create their own solutions to many of Uganda’s challenges. These challenges include unemployment, poor governance, health and infrastructure among others. I want WITU to bring the digital gender divide down to 50/50 by 2023 by helping to raise a new generation of girls that think differently about technology than the current generation.
She is a role model to other women working or aspiring towards mastery of digital technology.
About Her:
Viola Nuwaha is an Ugandan Information and Communications Technology for Development (ICT4D) expert, a programmer and a rural development enthusiast. Many caps on this lady! She attended the Mary Hills High School in Uganda and graduated with a B.Sc in Computer Science from the prestigious Makerere University in Uganda in 2013.
Viola Nuwaha has always loved computers starting the age of 10. She would play with them on frequent trips to her mother's office. There’s no doubt about the fact that an early exposure to computers and her sheer determination really helped in broadening her horizons and shaping her career in the field of Information and Communications Technology.
Her Work:
Viola is passionate about using technology to provide solutions that would improve and impact on the lives of rural dwellers in Uganda. This shines through the roles she has taken;
Viola Nuwaha has also mentored young programmers and organized series of Ubuntu workshop classes for young girls in Uganda who are keen on knowing more about how technology works. She is also a regular at Hackathon events where she contributes knowledge, skill and tons of support!
Why TechHer Loves Her:
She is an amazing embodiment of both talent and motivation to women, especially to young girls. She has been able to prove that nothing is impossible for women to achieve. The geographical location or where we come from have nothing on a strong will to excel. On several occasions, via the blog site of Farm Radio International; Viola Nuwaha discusses the challenges women in technology face, but goes beyond that to provide solutions.
Information gleaned from the Internet
