Irene Ikomu
Uganda

Irene Ikomu seeks to create a more transparent, responsive, and accountable democracy by managing Parliament Watch Uganda, an initiative that monitors ongoing legislative, budgeting, and other parliamentary processes and disseminates this information to the Ugandan public through a variety of online platforms. Irene has been involved in governance and democracy dialogue in Uganda for the past five years. She currently sits on USAID Uganda’s Democracy, Rights and Governance Advisory Board, has been recognized as an outstanding young leader by the U.S. Embassy, and selected to serve as a Generation Change Fellow. She also represents youth perspectives in policy and political analysis dialogue on venues such as the Fourth Estate panel, a popular political analysis talk show. She has been behind diverse social change start-ups empowering young people in Uganda to become active citizens through the National Debate Council, Early Life Online Radio and the Green Light Movement. She has been the youngest face on each of these initiatives. Irene holds a bachelor’s degree in Law from Makerere University. Upon completion of the Washington Fellowship, Irene plans to help more young people become meaningfully engaged in policy and legislative discussion, particularly targeting law students at Makerere University by advocating for a legislative and policy analysis course and fellowship program to train more young lawyers in this field.