dr. LA (Auma) Okwany

Biography

I am Associate Professor of Social Policy at The International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam. My scholarship centers on the relationship between policy, practice and theory for children, youth and their families in contexts of risk and marginalization. My research and teaching revolve around the themes of education, including care and development in the early years, child vulnerability, and child-sensitive social protection, (adolescent) sexuality and reproductive health with a specific focus on Eastern Africa. My scholarship building privileges research that is attentive to epistemic diversity, highlighting the need to foreground-situated accounts, which are often marginalized by the dominant narrative. In this endeavor of pursuing epistemic justice, I have built alliances with scholars in the region in nurturing and mentoring emerging researchers on Afrocentric, situated approaches. My current research outputs include a co-edited volume, Early Childhood Care and Education on the Margins: African Perspectives (Forthcoming 2018, Routledge); An Edited Volume, Social Protection for Vulnerable Children and Youth in Africa (Forthcoming 2018, CODESRIA Books); Ongoing research on young motherhood in Kenya/Uganda and an edited volume on Sexuality and Reproductive Health and Rights in Uganda. I am co-editor of the Routledge/ISS-EUR Gender and Sexuality Book Series. Using this scholarship to improve policy and practice, I have been involved in coordinating several externally funded research, development and capacity building projects in Eastern Africa. I am currently the Lead Researcher for Tanzania of a two-year Oak Foundation-funded research project “Adolescent Perceptions on Healthy Relationships in Tanzania and Bulgaria.” I am also the Overall Director of the four-year (2016-2020) Netherlands Government funded EUR-ISS project, “Strengthening Education and Training Capacity in Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SET-SRHR) in Uganda.