Audrey Mugeni
Type: Host Led (Usikimye)
Hometown: Nairobi, Kenya
Fellowship Location: Nairobi, Kenya
What inspired you to join Mountaintop?
"Inspired by the prospect of a year-long fellowship with mentorship, I acknowledge that, despite external challenges, my belief in the teachability of skills empowers my journey to become a great leader alongside global fellows."
Audrey Mugeni is a community development specialist with 12 years of experience in program management and leadership development.
As a woman growing up in Nairobi, Audrey was shocked by the normalization of femicide and violence against women. Audrey has dedicated her career to researching, advocating, protecting, and supporting vulnerable women and girls. Her most recent experience includes Grant Management and Program Planning in the Global Program Unit of Women for Women International, which provides support for female survivors of war, as Program Lead for the Young Changemakers Program for Akili Dada, an African women leadership incubator, and as Program Manager for WISER NGO, which provides education and health programs to Kenyan girls. Audrey is also the Co-Founder of Femicide Count, which documents and raises awareness about femicides across the country. Through this work, Femicide Count has created a comprehensive database of femicides, collaborated with law enforcement agencies, policymakers, and civil society organizations to advocate for improved responses to femicide, and raised public awareness through media campaigns and advocacy efforts.
Audrey has a degree in social sciences from The Catholic University of Eastern Africa and a Master of Arts in Gender and Development Studies from Kenyatta University, both in Nairobi. In the long term, Audrey hopes to be a professor to bring greater attention to the problems of gender-based violence in Kenya.
In her fellowship, Audrey will serve with Usikimye, a Kenyan organization working towards ending the prevalence of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). In her role, Audrey will lead the Usikimye Empowerment and Response Initiative (UERI), an innovative project designed to prevent and respond to SGBV among women and minorities in Nairobi, Kiambu, and Malindi, which focuses on both prevention and response to SGBV cases. This work will include conducting community outreach and awareness campaigns, training local leaders as SGBV prevention and response ambassadors, establishing SGBV survivor support groups, and implementing skills development and education programs for survivors and at-risk individuals.