UGANDA’S 100 OIL AND GAS LEADERS: Winfred Ngabiirwe, Executive Director – Global Rights Alert

Winfred Ngabiirwe wields influence in civil society space and has also contributed immensely towards policy formulation in the extractives industry.

Ngabiirwe and her team work to empower resource-rich communities to participate actively in decision-making, negotiating fair benefit sharing, and fighting against human rights risks associated with natural resource exploitation and development processes.

Ngabiirwe believes that whereas oil, gas and minerals sectors generate significant profits for public and private entities, these activities often have a huge negative impact on the environment and human rights with communities being affected by these operations, and quite often communities hesitate to report the violations due to these entities’ immense power and influence. It is for such reasons that Ngabirwe established the Corporate Accountability and Transparency (CAT) programme which advocates for adopting and implementing various international, regional and national initiatives for accountability within the oil, gas and minerals value chains.

The programme relies on national accountability frameworks to demand complete transparency from duty-bearers to achieve meaningful accountability. To achieve the programme’s overall goal, we collaborate with established national and accountability coalitions such as the Civil Society Coalition on Oil and Gas (CSCO) and Publish What You Pay (PWYP).

She’s also a big promoter of smart renewable technologies, which she believes can create a better society for the current and future generations.