Harunah Awarded the 2024 Alumni Impact Award

Harunah Damba, the chair of United Persons with Disabilities (UPDS) and Professional Fellows Program alumna, has been selected as the recipient of the 2024 Alumni Impact Award for the Professional Fellows Program. He will receive this award in Washington, DC, during the Spring 2024 Professional Fellows Congress. Harunah has also been invited to give a speech to the current Professional Fellows who will be attending the Congress betwwen June 10-14, 2024.

The Professional Fellows Congress program is funded by the U.S. Department of State and administered by World Learning and the Global Leaders Division in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) at the U.S. Department of State. World Learning, a nonprofit organization founded in 1932 and headquartered in Washington, DC and Brattleboro, Vermont, is the grantee organization for this program.

With over 2,000 fellows, World Learning has awarded approximately 40 Professional Fellows Program Alumni Impact Award (AIA) winners since its establishment. AIA winners are selected based on who best demonstrates their experience as a professional fellow, contributed to their efforts in making a positive impact in their home community, and exemplify outstanding leadership qualities.

This recognition comes at a time when Harunah and his mentor, Dr. Wendy Parent-Johnson, are leading efforts towards fostering inclusive employment as a national movement in Uganda. They have launched a professional course on Employment-First Policy and Practice, a collaboration between Virginia Commonwealth univeristy Rehabilitation Research and Training Centre (VCURRTC), United Persons with Disabilities and Kyambogo University Faculty of Special Needs and Rehabilitation (FSNR). Harunah acts as a collaborative liaison, facilitating quality partnerships between these great institutions.

Harunah’s prior engagements with his mentor, Dr. Parent-Johnson, include winning the Professional Fellows Program Outbound Award. This award supported Dr. Parent-Johnson in delivering training on best practices in self-employment for disability leaders in Uganda. Harunah has also worked with Dr. Parent-Johnson to organize the ‘Journeys to Inclusion’ series, an innovative campaign strategy focusing on disability inclusion with lessons from the U.S. In this series, disability subject matter experts, professionals and individuals with lived experiences shared insights on proactive disability advicacy with Ugandan disability leaders. The series attracted professionals from topnotch institutions in the U.S, including the University of Arizona, Harvard University, Virginia Commonwealth University, and the World Institute on Disability.

Harunah and his team have harnessed lessons from these engagements into a national movement building strategy to inspire widespread advocacy and policy changes to foster greater inclusivity for persons with disabilities in Uganda. Harunah’s role as a facilitator has been particularly instrumental in bridging the gap between local initiatives and global expertise, ensuring that best practices are shared and implemented effectively to create lasting impact.

To that end, the U.S. Department of State has awarded Harunah the prestigious Professional Fellows Program Alumni Impact Award in recognition of his noble work uplifting people with disabilities in our setting, a group he identifies with.