Jamila Sulu is a Human Rights Specialist and International Development Practitioner with a strong passion for empowering widowed women and orphaned children. She is the Founder and Chairperson of the Widows and Orphans Development Foundation (WODF) based in the Netherlands while also serving as the Project Advisor for WODF Tanzania.

Previously, Jamila worked at Tanzania’s Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance which is an independent government institution from 2007 to 2019 after which she relocated to the Netherlands and established WODF to continue her advocacy and development work for the underprivileged widows and orphans in Tanzania.

Jamila holds a Master’s degree in Development Studies, with a specialization in Human Rights, Gender, and Conflict Studies, from the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University Rotterdam in The Hague. She also earned a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from Tumaini University Dar es Salaam College and a Diploma in International Relations and Diplomacy from the Centre for Foreign Relations in Tanzania.

Having lived as a widow herself between 2012 and 2019, Jamila personally understands the challenges faced by widowed women and their children in Africa. This lived experience deeply inspired her to dedicate her efforts to development work for this group through WODF within the spirit of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), focusing mainly on the economic and social empowerment of widows in rural Tanzania and supporting the education of orphans.