Gertrude Mongella
Member of the Tanzanian Parliament
In office
2000 – 2010
Prior term: 1980-1993
Succeeded byMachemli Naluyaga
ConstituencyUkerewe
1st President of the Pan-African Parliament
In office
May 2004 – May 2009
Succeeded byIdriss Ndele Moussa
ConstituencyTanzania
Tanzanian High Commissioner to India
In office
1991–1992
PresidentAli Hassan Mwinyi
Minister without Portfolio
In office
1987–1990
PresidentAli Hassan Mwinyi
Minister of Lands, Tourism and Natural Resources
In office
1985–1987
PresidentAli Hassan Mwinyi
1st President of the Commission of the African Union
In office
16 September 2003 – 1 February 2008
ChairmanAlpha Oumar Konaré
Personal details
Born
Gertrude Ibengwe Makanza

(1945-09-13) 13 September 1945
Ukerewe Island, Tanganyika
NationalityTanzanian
Political partyCCM
SpouseSilvin Mongella
Children
3
  • John
  • Patrick
  • Emmanuel
Alma materUDSM (BA)
Mongella with Malik Yakubu (r)

Gertrude Ibengwe Mongella (née Makanza; born 13 September 1945) is a Tanzanian politician who was the first president of the Pan-African Parliament[1] and was president of the African Union Commission from 2003 to 2008.

Early life and work

Mongella was born in 1945 on Ukerewe Island in modern day Ukerewe District of Mwanza Region.[2] In 1970, President Mongella graduated from the University of East Africa in Dar es Salaam.[3]

For four years she was a tutor at Dar es Salaam Teachers Training College. In 1974, she became curriculum developer for the Dar es Salaam Institutes of Education, which she did until 1978. From 1977-92, President Mongella was a Member of the Central Committee and National Executive Committee of the CCM party. From 1975-82, she was a member of the Council of the University of Dar es Salaam, Also during this time she was on the Board of Directors for the Tanzania Rural Development Bank.

Governmental work

In the mid seventies President Mongella was a Member of the East African Legislative Assembly. Throughout the 1980s and for some part of the 1990s Mrs. Mongella was a member of the Parliament of Tanzania. From 1982 until 1988 Mongella was Minister of State within the Prime Minister's office, from there she became Minister of Lands, Tourism and Natural Resources a post she held from 1985 to 1987.[4] Finally, from 1987 to 1990 she was a Minister Without Portfolio within the President's Office.

International work

In 1985 Mongella became Vice-Chairperson to the World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the UN Decade for Women. In 1989 Mongella was Tanzanian Representative to the Commission on the Status of Women. From 1990 to 1993 she was a Member of the Trustee to the United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW).

From 1991 to 1992 President Mongella was Tanzanian High Commissioner to India, in 1995 she was UN Assistant Secretary General and Secretary General, Fourth World Conference on Women on Women in Beijing, China, from 1996 to 1997 Mrs. Mongella was UN Under-Secretary and Special Envoy to the Secretary General of the United Nations on Women's Issues and Development.

In 1996 she was a Member of the Advisory Group to the Director General UNESCO for the follow-up of the Beijing Conference in Africa, South of the Sahara. Also in 1996 she was a Member of the Board for the Agency for Co-Operation and Research in Development in London. In 1996 she was a member of the board for both The Hunger Project in New York City, and the UN University in Tokyo, Japan. Also in 1996 she was President of Advocacy for Women in Africa. In 1997 Mongella was Senior Advisor to the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa on Gender Issues.

In 1998 she became a member of the OAU sitting on the Women Committee for Peace and Development, In 1999 she was a member of the "Council of the Future", UNESCO, Paris, France, in 2000 she was a Member of the Tanzanian Parliament Ukerewe Constituency. In 2002 she was a member of the OAU's High Level Advisory Panel of Eminent Persons. In 2002 Mongella was a member of the Regional Reproduction Health Task Force for the World Health Organization's African Region, she was also leader of the OAU Election Observer Team to the Zimbabwean Presidential Election. 2003 saw her as Goodwill Ambassador for the World Health Organization's Africa Region. She became a Member and President of the Pan African Parliament in 2004.[5] In 2005 the University of Georgia awarded her the Delta Prize for Global Understanding.[6] She was designated Chairperson of the International Advisory Board of the African Press Organization (APO) in February 2008.

Mongella is member of the World Future Council.

Non-Governmental Organization participation

President Mongella is a member of the following NGOs:

  • African Press Organization. (APO)
  • Tanzania Association of Women Leaders in Agriculture and Environment. (TAWALE)
  • Society for Women and Aids in Africa Tanzania Branch. (SWAAT)
  • Tanzania Dental Association. (TDA)
  • Meaendeleo ya Wanawake Ukerewe. (MAWAU)
  • World Future Council

Awards and honours

Honorary Degrees

References

  1. ↑ "African Parliament Elects Gertrude Mongella the Leader of Africa", Mathaba News Agency, 19 March 2004, archived from the original on 21 September 2004, retrieved 27 May 2010
  2. ↑ Skaine, Rosemarie (2008). "Gertrude Ibengwe Mongella". Women Political Leaders in Africa. McFarland & Co. pp. 38–40.
  3. ↑ Zaccaro, Sabina (7 December 2006), Women Take Some Steps Ahead of the West, Inter Press Service, archived from the original on 9 June 2010, retrieved 27 May 2010
  4. ↑ Bouvard, Marguerite Guzman (1996). Women reshaping human rights: how extraordinary activists are changing the world. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 221–234.
  5. ↑ Meeting with Gertrude Mongella, President of the Pan-African Parliament Archived 21 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, The Courier, Issue no. 3 (November/December 2007)
  6. ↑ "Gertrude Mongella - The Delta Prize for Global Understanding". uga.edu. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  7. ↑ "Ewha Hosts WW05, First for Asia". Ewha Womans University. September 2005. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
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