She founded Kibada Widow’s Voices and vowed to defend women who have suffered horrible injustice at the hands of relatives when their husbands die. As a 13-year-old, she helplessly watched as her mother was tormented and dragged to jail by her father’s relatives who believed a woman cannot inherit a man’s property.
That mistreatment gave her the fuel to pursue law and be the shield for most women in Tanzanian communities, who have no one to defend them when the tragedy hits home. Born and raised in Arusha, this elegant lady of Tanga origin now resides in Indiana, US.
Cecilia Kibada is one of the brightest minds who represents Tanzania’s vast wealth in human talent. Before her permanent relocation to the US, she was among the selected young Tanzanians who were selected for a prestigious YALI programme, the Young African Leaders Initiative, which opens every year for young Africans under the age of 35 to go to the United States and learn about leadership.
“I encourage young people under 35 to apply. If you are working to improve your community or bring positive change, the YALI programme is looking for you,” Kibada said. She applied to YALI because she wanted to learn more about leadership.
She had founded a non-governmental organisation, Kibada Widows’ Voice, which provides legal aid to widows. She also wanted to expand her network, which she said is very important in today’s fast-moving, globalised world.
Most importantly, she wanted to step outside her comfort zone, face new challenges, discover new possibilities and learn new things.
Through YALI, she was able to achieve all of these. That was her first time visiting the US. She was able to interact with other young African leaders who were doing amazing work in their countries. She connected with them, learned from them and built lasting relationships. YALI taught her to become a stronger leader capable of handling challenges effectively.
It prepared her to take on greater leadership responsibilities and she is happy that she is now applying the skills she gained in her current role working with the Indiana Civil Rights Commission as the Director of Public Outreach and Civic Engagement and without a doubt, YALI prepared her for this position.
Her mother inspired her to study law. She lost her father when she was just 13 years old and after his death, her mother faced many challenges. Relatives from her father’s side sold some of their properties, believing that a widow could not inherit her late husband’s estate.
She vividly remembers when police officers came to their house, arrested her mother and held her at the station for several days over false allegations from those relatives who wanted her to suffer.
Because of what happened to her mother, she decided to pursue a Bachelor of Laws degree to better understand the law and ensure that no woman would suffer the way she did.
After graduating from St. Augustine University of Tanzania, she saw the need to create an organisation that could support widows with legal matters. That is when she founded Kibada Widows’ Voice, a non-profit organisation that provides legal aid to widows in Arusha.
She also worked as a human rights activist, raising awareness about widows’ and women’s rights through radio programmes, workshops and training sessions. Because of her contributions to human rights, she was selected for the prestigious Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders in 2019.
She was placed at the University of Virginia, where she studied leadership and civic engagement. Today, her mother is very proud to see her using the law to protect women like her. When widows come to Kibada Widows’ Voice and realise they have rights, their relief and joy remind her why she chose this path.
Cecilia has always been passionate about human rights and she always felt that she would one day practice law at the international level.
When she got an opportunity to work at the African Court, it allowed her to grow professionally in an international organisation, which prepared her for global opportunities. She wanted not only to impact her community but also to contribute at a global level. She practices Civil Rights Law.
After earning her Master of Law, she worked with a law firm in Indiana and later joined the Indiana Civil Rights Commission. She started as a Civil Rights Specialist and was later promoted to Director of Public Outreach and Civic Engagement, the position she currently holds.
She looks back at her time at the African Court in Arusha with a sense of pride and accomplishment, not only for her but for the East African community. She was able to promote human rights in the region while also advancing her career.
Her experience with the African Court and the United Nations positioned her well to compete with other human rights lawyers worldwide. When applying for the University of Notre Dame’s Human Rights LLM programme only 15 human rights lawyers globally were selected and she was one of them.
She believes her background with international organisations gave her a competitive advantage. She moved to the US in 2022 after being awarded a scholarship to the University of Notre Dame, where she pursued a Master of Laws in International Human Rights Law. That same year, she was also awarded the Chevening Scholarship to study in the UK, but she chose to go to the United States.
She encourages anyone interested in studying law in the US to apply and should not be afraid. “An additional benefit is that if you earn a Master of Laws in the US and come from a common law country, you can still sit for bar exams, such as those in Indiana or New York,” she said.
She enjoys living in the US The people are kind and there are many opportunities, she said. “I used to hear people say that America is the land of opportunities and after coming here, I realised it is true,” she added. Her family was very happy when she moved to the US because she had always told them it was her dream to study and work in the country.
She talks to them every day, so even though they are far apart, they remain very close. She is still making an impact in Tanzania through her organisation Widows’ Voices. She is also proud to represent Tanzania wherever she goes.
For instance, when she joined the Notre Dame LLM programme, she was the only student from Tanzania. The last Tanzanian student in that programme had attended 20 years ago. Even at her workplace, she is the only Tanzanian.
She often tells people about the beauty of her motherland whenever they ask. Their curiosity about the country becomes her opportunity to build bridges that could one day benefit her community back home. Her long-term goal is to expand Kibada Widows’ Voice into a trust fund that partners with international organisations to reach more widows.
The Law school in Tanzania, where young aspiring law students who would one day follow Cecilia’s path, has been facing challenges, drop out and failures have been noticeable, Cecilia noted that many students complain about the Law School, which
suggests that there are underlying issues that need investigation. Some aspiring lawyers have lost hope because they repeatedly fail the bar exam, sometimes even after attempting it 10 times.
She hopes they will conduct a thorough investigation to identify the problems and implement solutions so that students can succeed and pursue their dream of becoming lawyers. She believes there is no such thing as a dream that is too big.
She has always dreamed big. She said you can achieve your dream by believing in it no matter the circumstances, staying consistent and remaining focused. Surround yourself with people who encourage and support you. “Sometimes, no one will understand your dream and that is okay.
The key is to stay focused and keep working toward it,” she advised. ”For example, when I was younger, I used to dream of studying at one of the world’s top universities.
Years later, that dream came true when I was admitted to the University of Notre Dame with a full scholarship. That experience showed me that no dream is too big if you stay determined,” she concluded.
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