Dr Yumba Bernadette Kakhobwe

Dr Yumba Bernadette Kakhobwe is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Children’s Rights Project at the Dullah Omar Institute for Constitutional Law, Governance and Human Rights, University of the Western Cape.

Her research sits at the intersection of gender, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), children’s rights, and public responses to violence in African contexts. She holds a Master’s degree in Gender Studies from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and both Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Sexual and Reproductive Rights from the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria.

Her work examines how legal, health and policy systems can respond more effectively to violence and unequal outcomes affecting women, girls and children. Drawing on both research and practice experience, she has worked across youth participation, gender-based violence prevention and response, harmful practices, rural women’s empowerment, and rights-based programming.

Her current research focuses on violence against children, with particular interest in harmful practices and the ways in which health systems and public institutions engage prevention, response and care. She is especially interested in participatory and context-sensitive approaches, and in the domestication and implementation of regional human rights mechanisms to strengthen equitable health and social outcomes across African contexts.