Abella Bateyunga
Tanzania

Abella Bateyunga has more than nine years’ experience working with international non-profit organizations, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Water Aid. She currently works with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), where she is Governance Officer at BBC Media Action Tanzania. Her career focuses on enhancing good governance through civic engagement and promoting positive self-identity and creativity amongst the youth in Tanzania through media and the arts. In her present role with the BBC Media Action, Abella is responsible for designing and implementing a civic education training program for Tanzanian media to equip them with knowledge, skills and resources that enable them report objectively on the country’s political events while promoting a constructive conversation between citizens and leaders, politicians and the electorate. As a media personality, she is renown for her use of an ‘edutainment’ style that combines education and entertainment to reach out to Tanzanian youth to be active and engaged in their communities’ social, economic and political processes. Abella holds a Bachelor of Arts in Law with honors (LL.B. Hons.) from the University of Dar-es-Salaam. Upon completing the Washington Fellowship, Abella plans to continue working on civic education projects in Tanzania.