BIOGRAPHY OF NATIONAL COORDINATOR

Ugonna Ukaigwe

Ugonna Ukaigwe Esq is a lawyer, with over 10 years’ experience in the governance sector. Ugonna Coordinates the Ghana Civil Society Organisation’s (CSOs) Platform on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). She has successfully championed the coordination of civil society advocacy on the SDGs in Ghana and coordinating strategic multi-stakeholder partnerships between government, civil society and private sector.

Ugonna has previously worked as the Coordinator for the Ghana Right to Information Coalition, a network of NGOs working to promote the passage of the Ghana Right to Information Law. She also worked as a Programme Officer at the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) where she coordinated a regional network of lawyers from ten countries of West Africa to provide legal defence for journalists & free expression advocates and initiate media law reform programmes in West Africa. Under her leadership, the network successfully litigated cases at the ECOWAS Community Court on behalf of journalists who were victimized by their government including providing safe haven for journalists on exile.

Ugonna was instrumental in the drafting of the ‘ECOWAS Supplementary Act on a Uniform Legal Framework on Freedom of Expression and Right to Information in West Africa.  She also contributed to the drafting of country resolutions on freedom of expression at the 44th and 48th Sessions of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR) as well as promoting awareness about the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights based in Arusha, Tanzania.

Ugonna has initiated advocacy at the level of the United Nations (UN) through the UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR). She has led fact finding and trial observation missions in some countries of West Africa. She was also involved in media law reform processes in Ghana, Burkina-Faso, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire and Guinea.

She is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association, holds a Diploma in French and a Master of Arts Degree in Gender, Peace and Security (MGPS) from the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) where she emerged as the best graduating student for the MGPS II class of 2013.