Dr. Auma Obama, is an activist, sociologist, journalist and author in Kenya, who serves as the executive chairperson of Sauti Kuu Foundation, a non-profit organisation that helps orphans and other young people struggling with poverty.

For several years, Dr. Obama lived and worked in Germany and the UK before returning to Kenya. An important part of her work there was the establishment and coordination of the network ‘Sport for Social Change’. This initiative brought together organisations from different countries of East Africa, from Egypt and Bangladesh, in order to familiarise girls in particular with sport as a means for improving their own social situation.

Dr. Auma Obama is also a member of the World Future Council, an organisation that works worldwide to promote responsible, sustainable thinking and action on behalf of future generations. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the ‘German Reading Foundation’ as well as a member of the Advisory Board of the Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies at the University of Bayreuth. Dr. Auma Obama is a member of the Governing Council of the Kilimanjaro Initiative in Nairobi (Kenya), which organises an event once a year that offers which disadvantaged young people an opportunity to climb Kilimanjaro, Africa’s tallest mountain. This project gives these young people an opportunity to strengthen their self-confidence and put this to positively use in the community.

Dr. Auma Obama is also a widely read author. Her book, And Then Life Happens: A Memoir, was published in German in 2010 and subsequently translated into English. In great demand as a speaker, she is active at numerous events worldwide on topics of socio-economic development. Her focus here is on the relationship between the so-called ‘developing countries’ and the ‘developed states’.