Agnes Leina

Biography

Agnes Leina comes from Northern part of Kenya, Samburu who are also mainly pastoralists and very traditional in their way of life. She holds a Masters Degree in Rural Sociology and Community Development, from the University of Nairobi, Kenya, and a Bachelors, degree in Communications and Community Development from Daystar University, as well as a Post-Graduate Certificate in International Development from the University of Birmingham - United Kingdom.
Agnes is the Founder and Executive Director of Il’laramatak Community Concerns: - whose name denotes care givers, or pastoralists, an Indigenous People’s Organization whose main objective is to restore dignity among Indigenous people, with special emphasis to Girls and Women, and which envisions a society of Indigenous Peoples of Kenya that is free from all forms of discrimination. She is also the Gender Coordinator of IPACC, Indigenous People of Africa Coordinating Committee, and she sits in the Advisory Committee of FIMI, a global Indigenous Women’s network among others.
She has over 15 years of experience in working for Indigenous Pastoralist Communities, especially women and girls, in defending their human rights concerns in Education, Climate Change, Land and Natural Resource rights, Violence against women, Early Marriages and FGM, as well as access to alternative livelihoods among others, at the Community level, National, Regional and International levels
As an indigenous girls’ and women’s rights defender and a social scientist, Agnes has presented various papers concerning indigenous girls and women in various fields, at the UNFCCC, UNPFII, FOKO Conference in Finland,, Indigenous Women s’ Conferences in Lima and Manila, Presented papers at the EGM at UN HQs, attended preparatory meetings for World conference on Indigenous Peoples -WCIP, in Alta, and in New work at the PGA meetings among