| Winnie Byanyima | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1 January 1957 Mbarara, Uganda |
| Residence | New York City, New York State, USA |
| Nationality | Ugandan |
| Ethnicity | Munyankole |
| Citizenship | Uganda |
| Education | Degree in aeronautical engineering |
| Occupation | Engineer, Politician & Diplomat |
| Years active | 1981 — present |
| Known for | Politics |
| Home town | Mbarara |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Winifred "Winnie" Byanyima (born 1 January 1957) is a Ugandan aeronautical engineer, politician and diplomat. She has served as the Director of the Gender Team, in the Bureau for Development Policy at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), since 2006.[1]
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She was born in Mbarara District, in Western Uganda. Her parents are Boniface Byanyima, one-time National Chairman of the Democratic Party in Uganda, and Gertrude Byanyima, a former school teacher, who died in November 2008.[2] Winnie Byanyima attended Mount Saint Mary's College Namagunga, in Buikwe District. She went on to obtain a degree in aeronautical engineering, outside Uganda, becoming the first female Ugandan to become an Aeronautical Engineer.
Following the completion of her training as an aeronautical engineer, Ms. Byanuyima worked as a flight engineer for the now-defunct Uganda Airlines. When Yoweri Museveni started the 1981 -1986 NRA War, Byanyima left her job and joined him. Museveni and Byanyima had grown up together at the Byanyima household when both of them were young.[3]
After the NRA won that war, Byanyima became an active participant in Ugandan politics. She served as a member of the Constituent Assembly that drafted the Ugandan 1995 Constitution. She then served two consecutive terms as a Member of Parliament, representing Mbarara Municipality, from 1994 until 2004. In 2004, she was appointed Director of the Directorate of Women, Gender and Development at the headquarters of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She served in that capacity until she was appointed as Director of the Gender Team in the Bureau for Development Policy in November 2006.[4]
Winnie Byanyima is married to Kizza Besigye, the Chairman of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) political party in Uganda. Together, they are the parents of one son called Anselm. Byanyima is a member of the FDC party, although she has significantly reduced her participation in partisan Ugandan politics since she became a Ugandan diplomat in 2006.[5] She has five siblings: Edith, Anthony, Martha, Abraham and Olivia.[6]