Mrs. Laker Jolly Grace Andruvile Okot
Board Member
Jolly is a vibrant, kindhearted, charismatic and an outsmart person whose zeal towards community transformation is evident by her work.
While in leadership with Invisible Children, she was directly involved in the Juba peace process under civil society organizations. Following her captivity, Jolly went back to fully support education as the best chance for bringing about peace and transformation in this country. In 2001, she was offered a new life in the United States but declined, because she felt she had been blessed to return to her family and the community she grew up in and that she has an obligation to help other women and children. Jolly Okot’s early war- ravaged life in Northern Uganda inspired her to bring support and advocacy to displaced persons and formerly abducted children.
She developed many successful programs, including the Legacy Scholarship, which placed 6,000 girls and about 4,000 boys in school; Oversaw the construction of 11 government schools worth 20 million USD and aided in rural economic development.
Today Jolly oversees operations for Wend Africa, a social enterprise organization she founded in Uganda and registered in the US which helps women provide for women empowerment, employment and education and oversee an Investment Club of 1500 Women in Gulu City.
RECOGNITION AND AWARDS
- NOBEL PEACE PRIZE NOMINEE 2005
- UTL COMMUNITY AWARD 2006
- NEW VISION WOMENS ARCHIEVER 2013
- MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF FINLAND, FINN CHURCH AND UGANDA MUSLIM YOUTH DEVELOPMENT FORUM PEACE AWARD SPECIAL CATEGORY WOMEN PEACE AND SECURITY AWARD 2021
- GUSSOSA HUMANITARIAN SERVCICE AWARD 2021
- LACOBA APPRECIATION AWARD 2022
- WOMEN IN ROTARY AWARD 2022
OTHER VOLUNTARY ROLES
- BOARD MEMBER ARCHDIDIOCESE OF NORTHERN UGANDA EDUCATION GOVERNING COUNCIL
- ADVISORY BOARD TAKATAKA UGANDA
- FORMER BOARD MEMBER KORO SS AND CRESTED CRANE HIGH SCHOOL
- PUBLIC RELATIONS NORTHERN ZONE DISTRICT 9213
- PUBLIC RELATIONS DIRECTOR ROTARY CLUB OF GULU
- FUND RAISING DIRECTOR ROTARY CLUB OF GULU
- SECRETARY
- THE ROTARY FOUNDATION FOCAL PERSON NORHTERN ZONE ONE
- PRESIDENT ELECT ROTARY YEAR 2023/24
- PATRON – THE POWER OF ONE THOUSAND INVESTMENT CLUB