Zaina Waturi Kombo is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya and a Woman Human Rights Defender. She has over 7 years of experiences working in human rights and development with a mix of both grassroots organising and policy influencing. She holds an LLB and LLM in Law, Governance and Democracy both from the University of Nairobi. She is an active member of Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) – Kenya, International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) – Kenya and the Law Society of Kenya. She holds a certificate from the African Union on Gender Mainstreaming in Peace Support Operations, she is a trained budget facilitator on Gender Responsive Budgeting (By Institute of Public Finance Management – Kenya), and completed training on results-based project management (by Swedish Development Agency) as well as training on inclusion and nondiscrimination (by LSU – Sweden). 

In her various experiences, she has worked with youth and women in efforts to prevent violent extremism. In her current role she is involved in peace and security initiatives geared towards security accountability in African countries through capacity building and supporting grassroots human rights organisations in Kenya and beyond. 

Zaina Kombo believes that women still need to fight for their space in development and decision-making processes as the “glass ceiling” has proved to have numerous layers in different contexts of the world. 

Participant in: January/February 2022 Fellowship: Peacebuilding and Women’s Meaningful Participation in Peacebuilding Processes