Founder’s Profile

Jane Wambui Kiragu is a lawyer with over 23 years’ experience.  Jane is a skilled manager, possesses institutional building, advocacy and lobbying skills and is a good fundraiser. She has served in the private, public and international organizations in various capacities namely: Commissioner, Kenya Law Reform Commission chairing the Gender responsive law making committee and the change management committee; Executive Director National Anticorruption Campaign; Member, Member of the Task Force on the Establishment of a Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission, Executive Director, Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya (FIDA –Kenya); Founding Director, Kangemi Women Empowerment Center.   Jane has served in various governance boards: Currently Jane is a member of the African Women’s Leaders Network; Board member of the Refugee Consortium of Kenya (RCK); Trustee of FREDA Trust; Board member of the Kenya Association of Women Business Owners and chairing the Advocacy committee; Board member of the Limuru Cheshire Home for the Physically Disabled.  In previous years, Jane has served as the Vice Chairperson National Council of NGO’s (1998-2000); Treasurer and Board Member of , Urgent Action Fund Africa (UAF-A) (2001-2011) and Board member of the Kituo cha Sheria (1999- 2003).   Jane Kiragu has also been appointed as Temporary Adviser to the technical working group at the World Health Organisation who are currently developing guidelines on rights and family planning. Jane attended the wider technical consultations meeting in Montreux in April 2013 and most recently to a smaller working group in Geneva September 2013.

Jane is the Founder of Satima Consultants Limited and is currently the Managing Director of this Kenyan based consultancy firm established in March 2005.  She has extensive experience in human rights, gender, legal research, evaluations, institutional assessments, training, facilitation, operational management and fundraising.   Since the inception of Satima Consultants Ltd, Jane has undertaken a variety of assignments ranging from strategic visioning, institutional building, gender and human rights, she has worked in the area of governance for national, regional and multilateral organizations including the United Nations (UN) and emerging institutions in Southern Sudan. Jane has specialized skills on gender mainstreaming and women’s rights advocacy – this has seen her work closely with government ministries executing the gender and women affairs mandates in terms of policy formulation and strategy development in Kenya, Swaziland, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Eritrea. She has conducted several gender reviews and evaluations; facilitated gender audits of constitutions in the region as well as supporting institutional performance based management through training on results based management and developing monitoring systems. Jane also has extensive experience in the area of sexual and reproductive health rights in Kenya and within the Eastern, Western and Southern African region.

Jane has an MA from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University,  USA. A Post graduate certificate, Human Rights Lawyering from Oxford University, UK. A Postgraduate Diploma from the Kenya School of Law and a Bachelor’s of Law (Hons) degree from the University of Bristol, UK.She is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya. In 2009, she was the recipient of the UNDP 2009 top woman in business and government award in the micro category.

Membership of professional bodies:

i.      Law Society of Kenya.

ii.      FIDA-Kenya Chapter.

Publications (including some unpublished papers)

• The oldest injustice in human history is the way we treat women, Transitional Justice and Gender, 2010.
• Gender and Reparations, Reflections for the Transitional Justice Reconciliation Commission, Kenya 2008.
• Application of Gender, Rights and Sexuality principles in sexual and reproductive health rights 2006.
• Women’s Vulnerabilities in the Agricultural sector in Kenya, 2009.
• The Role of Women’s Organisations in Civil society building 2002.
• This Body!” Supporting Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) Organizing in East Africa Conference Report written by Jane Kiragu June 2006 .
• The True Test for Human Rights Defenders, December 2005, Written and Edited by Jane Kiragu and Zawadi Nyong’o.
• Leadership Challenges in Strengthening National Legal Instruments and Frameworks to Address the Consequences of HIV/AIDS from a Gender Perspective, 2000.
• Women of the World: Laws and Policies Affecting their Reproductive Lives. Anglophone Africa 1997.
• HIV prevention and women’s rights: working for one means working for both. By Jane Kiragu, 1996.