Caroline is a human rights lawyer working on gender, inclusion, and development. Her work focuses on social policy, programme management, research, gender equality, and social inclusion. She currently works as a Gender Equity and Social Inclusion Manager for Porticus Global. Her current work and interest are in developing structures through policies, strategies, and operational frameworks that are inclusive and enable equity for all genders and the socially excluded.
Previously, she worked in the Nairobi office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation as a Programme Coordinator on Gender Democracy in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Somalia/Somaliland, developing strategies for realising gender democracy in the region while identifying key areas of intervention. She was also the Nairobi office’s focal person on gender, feminism, and protection against sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment.
An accredited professional mediator, Caroline has a keen interest in the development and application of civil, political, and social rights in Africa. She has authored several articles on sexual minority rights, feminism, and women’s rights. She is co-editor of the book Challenging Patriarchy: The Role of Patriarchy in the Roll-back of Democracy, published in 2020 by Heinrich Böll Stiftung, and she has also co-edited and co-authored the book Decentralisation and Inclusion in Kenya: From pre-colonial times to the first decade of devolution, published in 2022 by Kabarak University Press.
Caroline is the chair of the Feminist Of_ board, a global feminist movement working to realise gender equality, and a chair of Eagles for Life Kenya, an organisation working to realise the rights of sexual minorities in the western region of Kenya. She is also a committee member of the Africa End Sexual Harassment Initiative (AESHI), a law reform and social movement project which seeks to create regional dialogue about sexual harassment for national impact and to find regional solutions to the problem of sexual harassment in Africa.
Caroline holds a degree in law from the University of Nairobi.
In a world where almost half the population lives in profound inequality, attempts to fight inequality can seem futile. It is a daily reality to those with lived experiences of inequality; it can be hard to point out evidence of change. But understanding inequality as a continuum has helped me to see the wins and count the milestones. Milestones that may seem insignificant can add up to a significant change if there is consistent progress. My biggest lesson in the fight against inequality has been the importance of strategising, restrategising and pausing when it is necessary. Change is a process and not an event.Caroline Kioko