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RECOGNITION: Winnie Byanyima

THE UNIVERSITY of Manchester awarded an honorary degree to the executive director of Oxfam International, Winnie Byanyima, as part of its renowned Foundation Day celebrations.

Byanyima, who is also an alumna of the University, used the occasion of the ceremony to give a Foundation Lecture entitled, ‘Advancing Women’s Rights in an Unequal World: A Personal Perspective’, to outline some of the experiences of her unique career in politics and international development.

She also received an honorary doctorate alongside Lord David Alliance, Professor Dame Sue Bailey, Mr Anil Ruia and Sir Norman Stoller as the University celebrated the anniversary of the bringing together of the Victoria University of Manchester and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) in 2004, to form The University of Manchester.

Ugandan-born Byanyima leads Oxfam International, a confederation of 19 organisations working in more than 90 countries, empowering people to create a future that is secure, just, and free from poverty. She led Uganda’s first parliamentary women’s caucus which championed ground-breaking gender equality provisions in the country’s 1995 post-conflict constitution. A signatory to her country’s 1985 peace agreement, Byanyima has helped to broker and support women’s participation in political transitions in Ethiopia, Rwanda, South Africa, Burundi, Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya and other countries emerging from conflict.

Byanyima has a BSc in Aeronautical Engineering from Manchester and returned to campus earlier this year to launch the Univer- sity’s Global Development Institute, Europe’s largest research and teaching institute dedicated to international development

Accepting her award, Byanyima said: “It’s a great honour that my alma mater recognises the work that I have done, but it’s very much an honour for the African women that I have worked with and with whom we have struggled, won rights and changed our communities and our countries.”