Founder and Team Leader

Hamza Businge

Hamza Businge is the founder and team leader at Ray of Choice Africa. He is a graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in Procurement and Logistics Management and has also pursued a Bachelor of Laws at Islamic University in Uganda. He has been entrusted in several organizational and leadership nonpaying positions for close to 5 years rising through the ranks into a remarkable youth leader in addition to founding and/or establishing several student organizations aimed at bringing about the kind of social change that embraces, Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights, public speech in line with harmonious co-existence of different shades of opinion, dialogues, truth, honesty, integrity, accountability, constitutionalism, good governance, culture, respect for fundamental human rights. He has an outstanding record as a critical analyst and untiring reader and Moderator.

By founding Ray of Choice, Africa (ROCA), Hamza a young lawyer, has created a movement of young SRHR advocates through a youth-led and youth-serving platform of 8 core team members, and over 84 volunteers (growing per year) under the Community Branches Trainings. Since 2016, over 2,556 people have been reached through peer learning sessions and more than 5,212 have been reached through ROCA’s community outreach in the different parts of the country, helping young people, women, men and youth access age-appropriate SRHR information in different regions in the country. Hamza’s mission is to support young people to take control of their lives and present themselves in ways that inspire, impress and spur confidence in themselves under a platform where they have full opportunities to take part in the process of breaking barriers hindering them from making informed choices in life regarding their SRHR.

Chief of Staff

Karen Ihimbazwe

Karen Ihimbazweis a vastly engaged social worker by practice who is passionate about volunteerism and civic engagement of youth, with a firm belief that everyone is their own community’s glimmer of hope; with this, she voluntarily assists with leadership and programs for various youth-led organisations to date.

Karen has served in the first and running Straight Talk Youth Committee under the Straight Talk Foundation, the MenEngage Africa Youth Advisory Committee and the MenEngage Uganda Youth Steering Committee to advocate for and ensure meaningful participation of youth in rights advocacy and capacity development both Under MenEngage Africa alliance whose mandate is to stand in solidarity with the on-going struggles for women’s empowerment and rights.

She currentlyserves as a chief of staff at Ray of Choice Africa, a youth led organisation committed to Sexual Reproductive health and Rights education, the fight against early and child marriages and sexual and gender based violence against girls and women.

She is an administrator by profession and has also attained training in Youth Leadership and International Project Management from the Danish Youth Council. With the above training, she formerly participated in a youth leadership project, training and monitoring over 120 straight talk clubs in SRHR club development and sustainability.

She is also actively involved in promoting inclusive education and literacy for every child and currently heads the Angaza program department, a 40 Days Over 40 Smiles Foundation’s flagship literacy program for children in and out of school children, which is committed to helping underprivileged children and communities to access quality, all round education support and entrepreneurial training aimed at sustainability.

Finance and Administration Manager.

Hadijah Nanyonjo

Hadijah Is a Finance and social worker with over 4 years’ experience in SRHR, Human Rights, peer education, community and stakeholder engagement. She has a wealth of experience having worked with Youth Rising, Reach a Hand Uganda, Uganda Youth Development Link and the British Council in various capacities. Hadijah holds a certificate in accounting and a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Sciences from Makerere University.

Hadijah joined ROCA in 2018 with intentions of gaining knowledge in SRHR and working with young People, her interests are seeing youth make well informed health decisions, at ROCA, she ensures that funds entrusted to ROCA by donors and personal contributions to carryout activities are used appropriately and therefore ensuring proper accountability. Since then, she has grown her knowledge in SRHR and her mindset on life changing issues has changed.

Programs manager/M&E Officer

Emmanuel Kateregga

Kateregga Emmanuel holds a Bachelors Degree in Development Studies from Makerere University. He is a co-founder of the SafePal, a platform for confidential reporting of sexual and Gender Based violence. He has experience in social change innovations rollout and management and self made Ending GBV activist.

He works as a Program Manager and plays an assistant role in monitoring & evaluation at Ray of Choice of Africa. Emmanuel is an SRHR advocate, social worker, social media influencer with a reputable experience in peer education. As a young person, through the volunteerism approach, Emmanuel also represents youth by volunteering on the Reach a Hand Uganda advisory board as a Youth Advisory Representative.

He is a consultant with United Nations Population Fund under the GBV unit implementing social change innovations geared towards ending GBV. Here he has for the past 5years participated in the development and scale up of the SafePal innovation.

Advocacy manager SRHR and communications

Haruna Juma Bin Zingo Zal

Haruna Juma Zingo is the ROCA Communications Manager, a volunteer with Straight Talk Foundation, Uganda and Reach a Hand Uganda whose focus is on Public Health Communications and Advocacy. He is passionate about using digital and traditional media, and strategic communications to influence positive change focusing on Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights and Human Rights. His current role puts him at the center of managing the organization’s Communications, tasked to create both traditional and digital advocacy, and behavior campaigns through digital strategies, content, media planning and creation of strategic partnerships that address SRHR issues like teenage pregnancy, child marriages, HIV/AIDS awareness, and prevention.  He is currently perusing a bachelors’ degree in Journalism and Mass Communication at Islamic University in Uganda, Kampala Campus.

Programs officer MHM and schools

Kajumba Patricia

Patricia Kajumba “Abwooli”(pet name meaning “cat”) is the programs officer MHM and Schools at ROCA since February 2019. She founded the Twekonyere, a project that seeks to create rural communities where young people autonomously champion their wellbeing and contribute to the development of African communities. She is currently serving as the Vice-Chairperson for the Youth Action Movement (YAM) at Reproductive Health Uganda, Hoima Branch and is also a proud Tuwezeshe fellow under Akina Mama waAfrika, a Pan- African Feminist and Transformational Leadership Development organization, based in Kampala, Uganda.

Through working with Sex Rights Africa Network as an advocate with keen interest in advocating for Menstrual Health Rights in East and Southern Africa, she has managed to champion the Happy Flow Campaign using different platforms and has written a number of articles and blogs around issues associated with Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights in Africa. Patricia Kajumba values serving beyond self. Under the Twekonyere Project, she runs a peer to peer inspiration hub for young girls and women called the “Twekonyere Life Stories”

Operations Manager/Programs Officer SRHR & Learning

Sophie Savio Masika

She is the Operations Manager and doubles as a programs Officer SRHR & Learning at Ray of Choice Africa (ROCA) and a Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights advocate. She fell in love with SRHR after enrolling for the ‘Teen Star Program’ as a teenager in high school and this is when it hit her that there is actually more to sexuality than meets the eye. This resolve stuck with, leading her to pursue a Diploma in Law from the Law Development Center and currently, a Bachelor of Laws at the Islamic University in Uganda.

She is also a peer educator at Reach a Hand Uganda which has given her good bearing, to reach out to fellow young people and to spread the good news on the different aspects of SRHR; HIV/AIDS awareness, Menstrual Hygiene and Management, Gender-Based Violence, Behavioral Change and Communication, along with others. Through this sharing, Sophia believes that it is uncommon for young people’s lives to unravel when they experience hurdles with their wellbeing. As an empowered young woman in self-understanding, self-esteem and confidence to cause a positive change in society: this change, she believes, happens when people are given the guidance they need to draw on their own strengths and realize their full potential. When she is not at work, Sophia is reading a book or two, listening to music, singing or watching a movie.