Ms. Josephine Nkurunziza is a policy analyst and gender-aware accountability specialist interested in social justice, economic empowerment, and global health. Josephine’s career journey of over 17 years has allowed her to work with various institutions at the government level, civil societies, and community-based organizations in East Africa and the USA. However, her love for being a part of where actual impact happens in people’s lives keeps driving her passion for research, its translation into policy change, and the design of contextually relevant solutions.

Among various initiatives she has been a part of, she is an awardee of the Global Health Corps Fellowship 2011/2012, Mandela Washington Fellowship 2017 in the Civic Engagement Track, a Co-founder of Empower Rwanda, whose focus is advancing girls’ and women’s rights to promote gender equality and a Co-founder of AfriHoGroup where gaps are bridged between America and Africa through cultural exchange, meaningful experiential learning and travel experiences and strategic business partnerships.

At a personal level, she is a mother of two boys and a daughter, a wife, a PhD Student in Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers The State University of New Jersey, a Volunteer, and a Mentor. As a mother, Josephine's connection to the issues she works on is profound. Her application of an equality, inclusion, and equity lens to all her work is a powerful tool in uncovering issues that may have a seemingly neutral effect across different groups of people.