Judith Mbula Bahemuka - Sociologist and Ambassador

Prof Judith Mbula Bahemuka is a trained sociologist whose specialization is rural development, focusing on poverty reduction through the utilization of farming systems to provide sustainable livelihoods for rural families.

She has done sizeable work in the area of women and development, looking at the role of women in agricultural development. Her work with agriculture extension staff, producing training manuals in post-harvest systems for small-scale framers and linking farmers’ knowledge to that of the extension personnel has been widely acknowledged.

Prof Mbula Bahemuka worked with the Kenya National Aids Secretariat, as a member of the Education and Information Committee since its inception. She supported the WHO 1992/93 evaluation of HIV/AIDS in Kenya. In 1995/1997 she participated in the preparing the Sessional Paper on HIV/AIDS, chairing the committee on women, children and HIV/AIDS.

Internationally, she has worked closely with the Global Partners Project which brings together the Great Lakes Colleges Association of USA, Associated Colleges from the South, and the Association of Colleges of the Midwest.

She established the International Learning Centre at the University of Nairobi in 1998 where she was the founder Director. In 1997 she was honoured with the UNESCO Chair on Women Education, Health and Sustainable Development. She was the holder of the Chair until 2003, when she was appointed the Kenya Permanent Representative and Ambassador to United Nations in New York.

In 2000, Bahemuka, with funding from Andrew Mellon Foundation, and the support of Global Partners, established the International Learning Centre in Nairobi. The centre caters for scholars from the Region by facilitating Collaborative Research on Education, Social Change and Development. The centre has so far produced high quality scholarly work under the title “East Africa in Transition.”

Prof Mbula Bahemuka holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Marygrove College, Detroit, USA; a Master of Arts and Doctorate in Sociology from University of Nairobi; Post Doctorate Certificate in International Agriculture and Rural Development from Cornell University and a Certificate in International Relations from Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota. She holds honorary Doctorates of Humane Letters from Kalamazoo College in Michigan and Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.

Judith Mbula Bahemuka is currently the Kenya High Commissioner to Canada and Ambassador to Cuba.

Source: http://www.mcgill.ca/globalfoodsecurity/speakers/bios/#JBAHEMUKA