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

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

Jamila holds a Master’s degree in Development Studies specializing in Human Rights, Gender, and Conflict Studies from the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University Rotterdam. She also holds a Bachelor of Law (LLB) degree 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 has a deep personal understanding of the challenges faced by widowed women and their children in Africa. This lived experience inspired her to dedicate her work to advancing development initiatives through WODF in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a particular focus on the economic and social empowerment of widows in rural Tanzania and support for the education of orphans.