Harunah Damba received the Professional Fellows Program Alumni Impact Award in Washington, DC, during the Spring 2024 Professional Fellows Congress, held from June 10–14, 2024. The award recognizes alumni who have used their fellowship experience to make a positive difference in their communities and have demonstrated strong leadership. Since the program began, World Learning, the awardee organization, has recognized about 40 Alumni Impact Award recipients from a network of more than 2,000 fellows.
The Professional Fellows Congress is funded by the U.S. Department of State and administered by World Learning together with the Global Leaders Division in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
Harunah received the recognition at a time when he and his mentor, Dr. Wendy Parent-Johnson, were actively advancing efforts to strengthen disability-inclusive employment in Uganda. Their work included the Employment-First Policy and Practice course, a collaboration involving Virginia Commonwealth University’s Rehabilitation Research and Training Center, United Persons with Disabilities, and Kyambogo University Faculty of Special Needs and Rehabilitation. Harunah served as a collaborative liaison, helping connect these institutions and strengthen the partnership.
His previous work with Dr. Parent-Johnson also included winning the Professional Fellows Program Outbound Award, which supported Dr. Parent-Johnson in delivering training on self-employment and disability inclusion in Uganda. They also organized the Journeys to Inclusion series, bringing disability experts, professionals, and people with lived experience from the United States to engage in conversations with disability leaders in Uganda.
The series drew professionals from institutions including the University of Arizona, Harvard University, Virginia Commonwealth University, and the World Institute on Disability. It provided an opportunity for Ugandan disability leaders to learn from different experiences and approaches to disability advocacy and inclusion.
Harunah and his team have since used lessons from these engagements to support a broader movement for disability inclusion in Uganda, particularly around employment, advocacy, and policy change. His role has helped connect locally led initiatives with international expertise and create opportunities for knowledge and experience to move in both directions.
