‘We must constantly encourage ourselves and each other to attempt the heretical actions that our dreams imply, and so many of our old ideas disparage’ Audre Lorde , Poetry is not a Luxury (1977)

Joaninne is a feminist human rights lawyer, researcher and writer with over seven years’ experience working with criminalized communities including LGBTIQ persons; Sex Workers; Persons who Use and Inject Drugs; and Women, girls and health service providers facing criminal charges of abortion, in Uganda and Kenya. She has experience working in the social justice sector as an activist, litigator, researcher, program developer, legal aid service provider, consultant, administrator and now as part of the philanthropy part of the sector.

She has led and been part of various research and documentation initiatives like the annual documentation of violations suffered by sex workers and LGBTIQ persons in Uganda and the documentation of lived realities of LBQ women in Uganda; creation of partnerships and training of state actors like the Police and the Uganda Human Rights Commission on the rights of LGBTIQ persons; analysis of laws that affect criminalized communities in Uganda; and the building of the legal challenges at the Ugandan Constitutional Court and the East African Court of Justice, that led to the annulment of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act. She has also worked in the East African region as a grant maker.

Her current career interest is in mainstreaming Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) work in different organisations and entities; selling the need for organizations (especially those in the social justice sector) to adopt feminist approaches to their work; and a power analysis of the development aid and philanthropy sectors.

• Post Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice, Law Development Centre, Uganda

• Bachelor of Laws (LLB) , Makerere University, Kampala

1. Self-Portrait in Black and White: Unlearning Race, Thomas Chatterton Williams
2. Feminism and the Servant Problem: Class and Domestic Labour in the Women’s Suffrage Movement, Laura Schwart
3. Theorizing NGOs: States, Feminisms and Neoliberalism, Victoria Bernal & Inderpal Grewal
4. Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World, Anand Giridharadas
5. Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women that a Movement forgot, Mikki Kendall