Edith Grace Sempala (née Edith Bafakulera), is a Ugandan

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

and political activist, who has served as Director and Senior Adviser at the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

since 2008. She previously served as Uganda's representative to the

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; literal translation, lit. 'the North') are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmar ...

, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, the

African Union The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the Africa ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

and

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...

Background and education

She was born on 28 December 1953 in Namutamba, in modern-day Mityana District, in the Central Region of Uganda. She attended ''Namutamba Demonstration School'' for her elementary education. She attended Gayaza High School for her O-Level studies and went to Nabumali High School for her A-Level schooling. In 1973, she entered Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, then known as

Lumumba University The Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (russian: Российский университет дружбы народов), also known as RUDN University and, until 1992, Patrice Lumumba University in honor of the hero Patrice Lumumba, is a ...

, where she graduated with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

and a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

Civil Engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage ...

, completing her studies in 1979.

Career

Following her studies in the then

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, she spent next seven years (1979 to 1986), in Sweden as a

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

. In 1986, following the change of government in Kampala, she was named Uganda's ambassador to the Nordic countries, based in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

, serving in that capacity for 10 years. In 1996, she was named Uganda's ambassador to the United States, based in

Washington DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

. She served in that capacity for another 10 years. In 2006, she was named to become Uganda's ambassador to the

, based in

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...

, Ethiopia. She concurrently served as Uganda's representative to

and

. She served in this capacity from 2006 until 2008. In 2008, she joined the

as Director and Senior Adviser, International Affairs, Office of the World Bank's vice-president for External Affairs. In 2015, she was named by the Secretary-General of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

to serve on the ''Advisory Group of Experts on Review of Peacebuilding Architecture''.

Personal

Edith Grace Sempala is married to Patrick Ssempala, although they have been separated since 1996 and she has been seeking a divorce. Edith is a mother of three children.

References

External links

How Uganda’s elite pundits are misunderstanding the election dynamics and why Mbabazi should worry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sempala, Edith Grace Living people 1953 births Ugandan civil engineers Ugandan women engineers People from Mityana District Peoples' Friendship University of Russia alumni People educated at Gayaza High School Ambassadors of Uganda to the United States Ambassadors of Uganda to Denmark Ambassadors of Uganda to Sweden Ambassadors of Uganda to Norway Ambassadors of Uganda to Iceland Ambassadors of Uganda to Finland Permanent Representatives of Uganda to the United Nations Ugandan women ambassadors 21st-century women engineers

Background and education

Career

Personal

See also

References

External links