Gender Equity and Inclusion
Sayson is a human rights, gender equity and inclusion, and safeguard specialist with over twenty years of international experience enhancing the voice and agency of underserved and vulnerable groups in Africa.
Sayson’s experience includes leading the design and implementation of programs focused on youth, women and girls, refugees, and people living with disabilities. Her expertise includes capacity building and policy reforms that tackle entrenched cultural barriers and inequities that constrain traditionally marginalized people from realizing their full potential.
She has broad experience in collaborative governance and advisory activities with government ministries and agencies -- towards integrating gender equality and social and disability inclusion in different national policies, strategies, and action plans. This has included developing the capacity of local governments to consistently embed inclusion in their planning, budgeting, and execution of projects. She has also worked to embed participatory governance and accountability on gender equality and social and disability inclusion with the private sector, civil society organizations, and communities.
In addition, Sayson brings extensive experience as a researcher, with strong analytical and writing skills, and hands-on experience with diverse approaches, including gender responsive, feminist, and people centered approaches. She is adept at building networks and connections to solve barriers and constraints such as financial inclusion, youth employment, poverty reduction, and crises like Ebola and Covid-19 pandemic effects in society.
In the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) funded Cities and Infrastructure for Growth (CIG) program in Uganda, Sayson was the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Advisor, working under ORI from 2019 to 2023. She also provided support to the CIG Zambia Program. In this role, she was responsible for GESI and Safeguarding, which included research, design, and development of GESI and Safeguarding Strategy, intervention design, and implementation support. She led training and capacity building activities and stakeholder engagements. She also helped curate messages and research findings to support strategic communication to effect behavior change across government ministries and agencies. She ensures adherence to the Safeguarding Policy and Protocols across all ORI programs and engagements.
Sayson earned a BA in Social Work and Social Administration and a Postgraduate Diploma in Project Planning and Management from Makerere University. She holds a Diploma in Conflict Resolution and Management, and a BA in International Relations and Women's Studies from Uppsala University in Sweden. She also holds a Human Rights and Local Governance Certificate from Uganda Martyrs University in Uganda.