Betty Bigombe
| Betty Oyella Bigombe | |
|---|---|
| Born |
21 October 1952 Gulu District, Uganda |
| Residence | Washington, DC, United States |
| Nationality | Ugandan |
| Citizenship | Uganda |
| Alma mater |
Makerere University (Bachelor of Arts in Social Science) Kennedy School of Government (Master of Public Administration) |
| Occupation | Social Scientist, Public Administrator & Politician |
| Years active | 1986 – present |
| Known for | Peace Efforts & Politics |
| Home town | Amuru |
| Title |
Senior Director World Bank |
Betty Oyella Bigombe, also known as Betty Atuku Bigombe (born 21 October 1952), is the Senior Director for Fragility, Conflict, and Violence at the World Bank. She was appointed to that position in June 2014. From May 2011 until June 2014, she was the State Minister for Water Resources in the Uganda Cabinet. She was appointed to that position on 27 May 2011. During the same timeframe, she concurrently served as the elected Member of Parliament (MP), representing Amuru District Women's Constituency. She resigned both those positions on 1 June 2014.
Betty Bigombe was born in Amuru District, on 21 October 1952, back when it was part of Acholi District. She is one of eleven children by her father, who was a nurse. She is an ethnic Acholi. Bigombe attended Gayaza High School for her O-Level studies, graduating in 1968 and Trinity College Nabbingo for her A-Level education, graduating in 1970. She entered Makerere University, Uganda's oldest public university, graduating with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Social Science, in 1974. Later she attended the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the United States. She graduated with the degree of Master of Public Administration. Her studies at Harvard were sponsored by a Fellowship from the Harvard Institute for International Development.
From 1981 until 1984, she worked as the Company Secretary of the Uganda Mining Corporation, a government parastatal company. From 1986 until 1996, she served in the Ugandan Parliament as a Member of Parliament. In 1988, she was appointed State Minister for Northern Uganda, which required her to take up residence in Gulu, the largest city in the Uganda's Northern Region. She was tasked with convincing the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) guerilla rebels to lay down their arms, following the failure of military efforts to defeat the rebels. Bigombe initiated contact with the LRA leader Joseph Kony in June 1993. In 1993, she was named Uganda's Woman of the Year for her efforts to end the violence. Despite meeting with Kony, the talks collapsed in February 1994. Soon afterward, the insurgency intensified and no significant efforts towards peace would be made for the next decade.
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