Hellen Waiswa Lunkuse

Founder & Executive Director, Rape Hurts Foundation (RHF)

Hellen Lunkuse is the Executive Director of Rape Hurts Foundation (RHF), a Ugandan NGO which works extensively with women and at-risk children, child victims of sexual abuse, and survivors of domestic violence and other forms of GBV. Hellen and her staff have connected survivors to emergency medical and psychosocial services and helped relocate survivors in imminent danger to safety.

Hellen just received one of the 2018 Trust Law Awards from the Thomson Reuters Foundation (specifically the Impact Award), for the project Protecting Children in Uganda. Hellen wanted to ensure that staff and volunteers were fully protecting the rights of children within their network. To add to the Award received, Hellen was a nominee from Global Thinkers Forum in the category of ‘African Female Leaders' which recognizes the best female Philanthropist in Africa. Hellen worked with several partners, including Trust Law and Thomson Reuters Foundation, to create a children’s protection and safeguarding policy. The legal assistance facilitated by Trust Law allowed RHF to train their staff members on the rights of children, as well as handling sensitive information and images in relation to the children under their care. Through community awareness campaigns in surrounding villages and the RHF information centers in rural Uganda, the Child Protection Policy started to create a ripple effect. Word quickly spread through the neighbouring communities, attracting the attention of Moses Binoga, a police officer and Coordinator of the Ugandan National Counter Human Trafficking and US Hero Acting to End Modern Slavery. Mr Binoga, an outspoken advocate and experienced anti-trafficking worker, contacted Hellen about the policy.