Henry Okidi Okoth

Henry Okidi Okoth was born and raised in Karamoja sub region of northern Uganda. He witnessed and experienced the violence, loss of lives and livelihoods caused by the Karamojong armed cattle raiding and the dreaded Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels of Joseph Kony in northern Uganda. 

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Human Resource Management from Makerere University in Uganda, he developed an immense passion for community service. 

He worked both in the humanitarian programmes in Karamoja and post-war development projects in Acholi and Lango sub regions of northern Uganda. He made a significant contribution in mobilizing communities to embrace poverty alleviation programmes and peace initiatives. Henry strives to ensure that the often-invisible voices and experiences of local people in development programmes and policies are heard and given special attention. Henry had a stint in banking as a branch leader, Leadership Coach or Facilitator, and performed compliance roles. He is a founding member of Karamoja Mentoring Network (KAMNET), an independent, apolitical, non-governmental and legally registered company founded in 2016. KAMNET is a team of seasoned Mentors composed of diverse professionals. 

He writes topical articles in newspapers and journals. Currently, he writes for the Nomadic Peoples, an international journal published by the White Horse Press. Throughout his work life, Henry continually interacted with the local people and this motivated me to pursue a Master of Arts in Development Studies at the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands. This study has reinforced his advocacy for community participation in reducing poverty, preventing violence, and reducing inequality through gender and human rights approaches.