ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP - CLASS OF 2019
United Nations Academic Impact and MCN are proud to partner on the Millennium Fellowship. In the three months the application was open in 2019, over 7,000 young leaders applied to join the Class of 2019 on 1,209 campuses across 135 nations. 69 campuses worldwide (just 6%) were selected to host the 805 Millennium Fellows.
During the Millennium Fellowship, Millennium Fellows' dedicated 96,705 hours and their 422 unique projects positively impacted the lives of 564,366 people worldwide.
UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT AND MCN PROUDLY PRESENT MUHANUUZI DORAH NABISIIMA, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW FOR THE CLASS OF 2019.
Makerere University | Kampala, Uganda | Advancing SDG 5 & UNAI 6
" I am excited to be a Millennium Fellow because the Fellowship exposes me to a global stage and thus
an opportunity for me to meet like minded youth
allover the world who are ready to help
achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and create the future that we want to live in.
I do what i do because i want to make a difference; to provide solutions and change the status quo.I have come to learn that the smallest things can create the biggest difference And each day i am driven by this passion to make a difference in someone's life. "
Millennium Fellowship Project: The Makerere Youth in Action Project(SheReigns)
The Makerere Youth In Action Project was a one month long project that aimed at eliminating sexual harassment on campus and communities around the universe. My target group was young women and girls but even more importantly was bringing men on board in this fight against sexual harassment. In partnership with the student leadership at the university, we organised a talent contest themed on elimination of all forms of sexual violence against women. Within the presentation, young men and women were able to highlight important aspects such as speaking out, toxic beliefs regarding gender and the notion of consent.
This project was premised on the fact that Uganda is a highly patriarchal society and many women and girls suffer at the hands of such patriarchal beliefs and misogynistic attitudes rooted in the society. Particularly, we addressed sexual harassment and rights of women and girls on two separate occasions.
The project was very significant as can be seen from the number of students that got involved in the projects. For the first project that addressed sexual harassment, I patterned with the student leadership in which I am part of to organise a talent contest themed on eliminating sexual harassment. For that event, we registered over 400 attendees. The presentations on form of poetry, art and dance were very informative especially in so far as challenging the gender stereotypes.
For the second phase of our projection, a group of friends from law school and I moved to communities sorounding our communities in a bid to advance social justice in those areas - which are mostly slum areas
We concentrated on Katanga and kikumi kikumi where we did door to door sensitisation on marriage rights and land rights. We were warmly welcomed and were actually surprised by how little women in these areas understood their rights.
Where as we had promised to do another outreach, we were incapacitated by funds or lack of therefore.
However , working on this project has been one of the most fulfilling adventures of my life. After all, to empower a woman is to empower a nation .
About the Millennium Fellow
Dorah Muhanuuzi is a third year student of Law at Makerere University. She is currently a research team leader with Mbarara University, Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies. As a student leader she represents over 1500 students of Marystuart Hall in the 85th Students Guild Council of Makerere University.
She is very passionate about gender equality and human rights- particularly the rights of women and children. Dorah is also active in a number of civic,cultural and youth-led organisations including League of Young Professionals, Uganda, Actionaid and Scrabble Uganda.
