Amanda Nasinyama is a social justice advocate who is passionate about promoting and protecting the rights of vulnerable and marginalized people and communities. Amanda received her undergraduate Law degree (LLB) from Makerere University in Uganda and her Master’s Law degree (LLM) from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. She is a Penn Law LLM Rule of Law and Human Rights Fellow.

Amanda began her career as a Resettlement Intern at the UN Refugee Agency in Uganda. She later joined HIAS Refugee Trust of Kenya as a Resettlement Officer, interviewing refugees and drafting applications for them to be resettled to a third country. Amanda has worked with UN Women’s East and Southern Africa Regional Office, managing governance, peace, security, and humanitarian projects and provided technical support to 13 UN Women’s country offices within the region to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Amanda later joined the UN Department of Peace Operations at the UN Headquarters in New York. She worked on protecting civilians in UN peacekeeping operations by developing policy and guidance, coordinating with various stakeholders, including member states, and providing backstopping support to UN peacekeeping missions.

Currently, as the Director of Strategic Initiatives, Amanda manages and leads strategy, work, and operations within Build Up, Inc. (BUI). She is responsible for designing and implementing policies, exploring thought authority and leadership opportunities throughout the sector, and expanding BUI’s role within the nonprofit sector and fiscal sponsorship in particular.

When she’s not working, Amanda loves spending time with her family and friends and going on road trips with her partner. She enjoys dancing, listening to music, watching films and television, and writing.