Margaret Alphonsine Kazibwe

Ugandan educator and advocate who transformed rural girls' access to education.

Margaret Alphonsine Kazibwe (b. 1940) is a Ugandan educator and former parliamentarian whose work has reshaped girls' education in Africa. Growing up in rural Uganda, she witnessed the systemic barriers girls faced in accessing schooling. After training as a teacher in the 1960s, she co-founded the Uganda Women's Effort to Save Orphans (UWESO), which built over 100 schools for girls in underserved communities. Her 1980s advocacy led to Uganda's first national policy mandating free primary education for girls.

Kazibwe's 1990s tenure as Minister of Education saw the establishment of girls-only boarding schools in conflict zones. Her memoir My Life as a Torch (2005) details her struggles against cultural norms. Today, her initiatives like the Margaret Kazibwe Foundation continue empowering girls through scholarships and STEM programs, making her a global icon for educational equity.