DTP alumnus Dickson Ntwiga visits DTP

DTP alumnus Dickson Ntwiga visited the Diplomacy Training Program offices in Sydney on his first trip to Australia earlier this month. Dickson stopped by the DTP offices and updated the team on his recent work, and his trip to Melbourne and Sydney hosted by his Rotary International colleagues to attend a conference.

Dickson said that his focus continues to be directed at dissuading Kenyan citizens from migrating for work. He's specifically working to help educate women on the danger and risks once they become financially dependent on migrant work agencies. Dickson’s advocacy is directed at breaking the cycle of violence against women and improving gender equality both at home in Kenya and abroad.

An award-winning social entrepreneur, former high school teacher, lecturer and human rights advocate Dickson is working in Kenya to empower disadvantaged women and their families. Through training, education, and micro-credit programs, Dickson’s organisation Solidarity International Trust (SIT) has helped thousands of disadvantaged women to overcome poverty and take back control of their lives.

As a life-long human rights advocate, Dickson credits his human rights defender worldview in part to his DTP training. “My 2004 DTP program inspired me. It encouraged me. It showed people could work together. Even in a difficult situation, we can change things for the better. This was an eye-opener for me.”

Dickson was awarded the Leading Women of Africa’s Award in 2015 which he says was a helpful recognition of his life’s mission to elevate women’s status. As a child raised in a home with gender-based violence he couldn’t help his mother, but now he is in a position to help thousands of mothers.