Rene Claudel Mugenzi (born 13 April 1976) is a British author, community and social development practitioner,

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

activist, community organiser and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. He stood as a Parliamentary candidate for Poplar and Limehouse in The

United Kingdom General Election of 2015 The 2015 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 7 May 2015 to elect 650 members to the House of Commons. It was the first and only general election held at the end of a Parliament under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011. Loca ...

which was held on 7 May 2015. He represented the Red Flag Anti-Corruption political party. In October 2020, he was found guilty of fraud at Norwich Crown Court.

Early life and education

Rene Mugenzi was born in

Pyatigorsk Pyatigorsk (russian: Пятиго́рск; Circassian: Псыхуабэ, ''Psıxwabæ'') is a city in Stavropol Krai, Russia located on the Podkumok River, about from the town of Mineralnye Vody where there is an international airport and about ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

n parents. He grew up in Kigali

until age of 18 when he left his native country fleeing

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...

and massacres. In 1997, at the age of 21, he moved to the UK, where he has been living since. He studied

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

and

astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline said, Astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the nature of the h ...

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

. He also studied organising for social and

community development The United Nations defines community development as "a process where community members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems." It is a broad concept, applied to the practices of civic leaders, activists ...

London Metropolitan University London Metropolitan University, commonly known as London Met, is a public university, public research university in London, England. The University of North London (formerly the Polytechnic of North London) and London Guildhall University (f ...

. Mugenzi is a fluent speaker of

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, French, Swahili and

Kinyarwanda Kinyarwanda, Rwandan or Rwanda, officially known as Ikinyarwanda, is a Bantu language and a dialect of the Rwanda-Rundi language that is spoken in Rwanda and adjacent parts of Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda (where there ...

Community and social development work

Mugenzi was a community support and

social innovation Social innovations are new social practices that aim to meet social needs in a better way than the existing solutions,Howaldt, J./ Schwarz, M"Social Innovation: Concepts, research fields and international trends" IMO international monitoring, 2010 ...

development executive. He has been granted Lifetime Membership of the Millennium Awards Fellowship and was nominated as a

Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough covering much of the traditional East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former metropolitan boroughs of Stepney, Poplar, and Bethnal Green. 'Tower Hamlets' was originally ...

community hero, in recognition of his achievements in contributing in improving the quality of lives of local people, through developing and empowering innovative community development projects and services. Mugenzi has also won various community awards such as Community Champion and UnLtd awards. Mugenzi has developed and taught various

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

support methods and social innovation development for community,

voluntary Voluntary may refer to: * Voluntary (music) * Voluntary or volunteer, person participating via volunteering/volunteerism * Voluntary muscle contraction See also * Voluntary action * Voluntariness, in law and philosophy * Voluntaryism Volunt ...

and

statutory A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by le ...

sector. As a social and community development practitioner, he has worked in addressing various social challenges within

underprivileged Social privilege is a theory of special advantage or entitlement, which benefits one person, often to the detriment of others. Privileged groups can be advantaged based on education, social class, caste, age, height, weight, nationality, geogra ...

communities particularly in

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

. Rene Mugenzi has developed award-winning social innovation initiatives that have been used in various

poverty alleviation Poverty reduction, poverty relief, or poverty alleviation, is a set of measures, both economic and humanitarian, that are intended to permanently lift people out of poverty. Measures, like those promoted by Henry George in his economics clas ...

and

projects in the UK and abroad. He has designed various capacity building training for social and community development workers. He is the founder of the British Grassroots Action Awards, a national award giving initiative that recognises innovative and successful

grassroot A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...

s-based initiatives that have made significant impact in the lives of their service users. Mugenzi is also the founder and chairman of the London Centre for Social Impact, a UK social innovation development organisation and

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

Political and human rights activities

Mugenzi has been involved in UK politics particularly in relation to

social policy Social policy is a plan or action of government or institutional agencies which aim to improve or reform society. Some professionals and universities consider social policy a subset of public policy, while other practitioners characterize soci ...

development and social justice campaigns. In 2010, he stood as a candidate in a local election in

Thamesmead Thamesmead is an area of south-east London, England, straddling the border between the Royal Borough of Greenwich and the London Borough of Bexley. It is located east of Charing Cross, north-east of Woolwich and west of Erith. It mainly consi ...

Moorings ward within

Royal Borough of Greenwich The Royal Borough of Greenwich (, , or ) is a London borough in southeast Greater London. The London Borough of Greenwich was formed in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. The new borough covered the former area of the Metropolitan Borough ...

for the Liberal Democrats. Mugenzi stood as the Parliamentary Candidate for Poplar and Limehouse representing the Red Flag Anti-Corruption political party in the 2015 UK general election. As an international

activist, Rene has frequently criticized foreign governments that abused human rights. He has a particular interest in

Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

(Burma) and

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

. In May 2011, Mugenzi was informed by the

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...

, that they had discovered a plot to assassinate him by the Rwandan government. He was put under protection and the

UK government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

warned the Rwandan government against trying to assassinate its citizens on its soil. The Rwandan government denied those allegations. Mugenzi has spoken at various national and international conferences and events on issues of human rights and freedoms.

Fraud conviction

In October 2020, Mugenzi was convicted at Norwich Crown Court of stealing £220,000 from St John the Baptist Cathedral, Norwich while volunteering as its

treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury o ...

, in order to feed his gambling habit, and jailed for more than two years. His legal team had attempted to prevent his name being released to the public, claiming that his life was in danger despite him having revealed his location frequently on social media and having stood to become an MP.

Publications

* ''Strategic Planning for Sustainability – A practical guide for social enterprises'' * ''Enabling Social Mobility in London: Effective ways to facilitate social ladder climbing'' * ''Sustainable Social Outcomes at the Grassroots: Effective Grant making methods and social investment to community-based organisations'' * ''Community Development and Leadership at the Grassroots Level: A tool-kit for councillors'' * ''Strategic Planning in Social Actions: A guide for not for profit organisations'' * ''Financial Control and Accountability: A practical guide to not for profit organisations''

References

External links

Official website

Rene Mugenzi blog on The Telegraph

Rene articles on Jambo News

Red Flag Anti-Corruption party

Global Campaign for Rwandan's Human Rights

Kurdistan Community Support Agency
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mugenzi, Rene Claudel 1976 births Living people Alumni of King's College London British political candidates Rwandan emigrants to the United Kingdom