Meet two PROLAW alums advocating for justice and human rights in Africa
September 26, 2024
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Located at the John Felice Rome Center in Italy, Loyola’s Program on International Rule of Law and Development (PROLAW) offers Master of Laws and Master of Jurisprudence degrees to a diverse cohort of international students. This academic and experiential learning program is designed to prepare students for careers in the expanding field of rule of law and development.
Since its inception in 2011, over 237 students from more than 60 countries have participated in PROLAW. Many graduates have emerged as influential leaders in the domain of rule of law, launching successful international careers spanning the public, private, civilian, and academic sectors.
Two graduates whose careers were propelled by the PROLAW experience live and work in Africa, focusing on human rights and the law. Nokukhanya (Khanyo) Farisè (LLM ’16) is the Johannesburg-based deputy director of research for Amnesty International Southern Africa. Her team collects evidence of human rights concerns in 11 southern African countries and designs strategies for positive human rights change to improve the lives of ordinary Africans. “It’s quite research focused, but obviously the research is not just theory; we want to get practical tools that we can use for advocacy and campaigning,” Farisè says of her work.
Farisè began her corporate career working for a top law firm in her native South Africa. It was challenging, fast-paced work that helped her hone her skills as a technical lawyer. However, her job didn’t quite align with her goal of doing work where she could see a tangible change in people’s lives. Farisè, whose first house in rural KwaZulu-Natal was made of mud, grew up amid poverty and patriarchal oppression. Working in law was a way out, but she wanted to do more to address the problems she saw as she grew up.
She learned about PROLAW from a friend, and it sounded like the opportunity she sought. “I was always keen to move out of corporate and work on things that have an impact on human beings, just trying to make the world a better place, as cliche as that sounds,” Farisè says. “It was very exciting to put together the two things that I’m very passionate about, which are law and seeing development in the African context.” In 2014, she left South Africa for the first time, studying in Rome with PROLAW until 2015. She stayed on to intern and work at the International Development Law Organization (IDLO).
The program immediately impacted Farisè’s career. Her first job after PROLAW came via a recommendation from Founding Director Emeritus William Loris, who cofounded what is now the IDLO. “I can say it was a massive stepping stone,” Farisè says. “I don’t think my career would have gone the direction that it did without that solid foundation.”
She now works to mitigate the impact of climate change on human rights and fights discrimination against women and LGBTQ people. “PROLAW was a very strong starting point for me to be able to step into the world of development and human rights and the work I do now, especially program management and design,” says Farisè. “I learned those basics through the PROLAW program.” Farisè intends to work toward a PhD. “The bigger picture is continuing to contribute to meaningful change, especially in Africa.”
There is no amount of money that can pay for international exposure. When you are with different people, you learn from them, you learn how they feel, and then it helps you become a better person. You learn how to talk to people better; you know how they react to things.
— Brenda Anugwom (LLM ’12), CEO of the Nigerian Women Trust Fund
Brenda Anugwom (LLM ’12) is another PROLAW alumna working on human rights in Africa. She is the CEO of the Nigerian Women Trust Fund, a nongovernmental organization that advocates for more inclusive governance and against gender-based violence.
Growing up in Nigeria, Anugwom’s dad was an economist whose brother worked as a lawyer in the United States. “That was hammered into my head as a child,” she says. “I grew up thinking, ‘I’m going to go to law school,’” and so she did. After graduating from law school, she was drawn to the development sector because, she says, “I saw the need. There’s just so much to be done and so little that is being done. I felt that all hands needed to be on deck.” While working on development projects for the World Bank, a colleague told Anugwom about PROLAW. “I was like, ‘Oh yes,’ because I’ve always wanted to get a master’s degree and saw it as an opportunity.”
Her time in PROLAW fast-tracked her experience and skills. “It made me grow faster than I would have, had I stayed on where I was.” Professor Loris and former PROLAW Executive Director Thomas McInerney were especially influential in helping Anugwom fine-tune both her leadership and research skills, which paid off, literally. “During COVID, I did a lot of research to pay bills. I’m so grateful and thankful to [McInerney], because COVID was almost 10 years after [my time with PROLAW], and everybody was at home, but organizations needed researchers. That was when the research skills that he put in all of us now came to save my life.”
The PROLAW network proved to be as beneficial as the curriculum. “You are with people from all over the world,” Anugwom says. “There is no amount of money that can pay for international exposure. When you are with different people, you learn from them, you learn how they feel, and then it helps you become a better person. You learn how to talk to people better; you know how they react to things.” PROLAW opened one particular door for Anugwom: After seeing a job link on the PROLAW alumni LinkedIn page, Anugwom applied, and in 2022 became the legal adviser and host country agreement representative for Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders in South Sudan. She says, “That’s all thanks to PROLAW.”
In the long term, Anugwom aims for an executive director role in the development sector to make even more of an impact with her experience and skills. “There’s so much to do in this part of the world, but so little is being done.”
