Victoria Lihiru spent her Professional Fellowship at the University of Vermont Center for Disability and Community Inclusion.

Victoria Lihiru is an emerging leader in Tanzania, bringing with her a wealth of experience on gender and social inclusion in Tanzania and beyond. She is an advocate and lecturer on law, governance and gender at the Open University of Tanzania. She previously served as a Governance Manager for the Institutions for Inclusive Development Project (I3ID), which is run by The Palladium Group. She holds a Doctorate and Master’s Degree of Law in Human Rights, Constitutional Law, and Regional Integration, and has worked with several prominent organizations on disability and gender-focused projects, including UN Women, UNDP, Action for Disability and Development (ADD International), and the Tanzania Women Cross-Party Platform.

Keeping in line with this area of interest, Victoria’s project focuses on bridging the gap between female graduates living with disabilities and potential employers in order to enhance employability in accordance with SDG Goal 8 on Decent work. She intends achieve such a broad goal through the measurable step of having all final year university women with disabilities at university identified, registered on an online platform, capacitated on employability skills, and connected with potential employers.