Biography

My first interaction with theorising gender and violent extremism was prompted by a personal tragedy in 2015 when my cousin fell victim to an Al-Shabaab terrorist attack at Garissa University, Kenya. Two years later, during my post-graduate studies, I wrote two papers on the said theme, including, in my thesis, 'Female Militancy in Terrorist Groups and the African Union Response', where I analysed women's experiences as members of terrorist groups operating in Africa.It is my goal to build a career around gender and violent extremism in Africa. This PhD Program and specifically being part of the Gates Cambridge Community will enable me to achieve this goal by equipping me with the substantive knowledge required to advance my teaching career on gender and armed conflict in Africa, and help me grow its currently-limited profile in the continent. Second, this program will help me galvanise advocacy networks with the diverse calibre of candidates that it will no doubt attract. I would then be able to take this experience and apply it to whatever future capacity I will occupy to advance the overall goal in creating a holistic approach to understanding gender and violent extremism not only in Africa but also the globe over.

Previous Education

Harvard University Law 2017
University Of Nairobi Law 2016