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Lilian Benjamin Mwakyosi
Medical Doctor, DARE/EMPOWERING Project
Dar er Salaam
Topic: Africa, where are our SRHR? - Understanding the importance of youth involvement in developing and implementing national, regional, and continental SRHR policies.
Lilian Benjamin Mwakyosi is a highly accomplished healthcare advocate and leader based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. She earned her Doctor of Medicine Degree (M.D.) from the Hubert Kairuki Memorial University in 2017, and since then has dedicated her career to improving access to healthcare services for young people and communities living and affected with HIV in East Africa.
Lilian is the Executive Director and founder of DARE organization, a young women-led NGO that focuses on promoting young peoples’ leadership and involvement in designing and implementing innovative approaches to enhance access to differentiated sexual and reproductive health services. She also leads an EmpoweRING advocacy project with the International Community of Women Living with HIV in Eastern Africa (ICWEA), which aims to introduce new Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) options for HIV prevention in the region. Lilian works as an AGYW Technical Advisor via COMPASS Africa, where she continues to drive change and make a positive impact on the lives of young women in her community.
Over the past five years, Lilian has implemented advocacy projects aimed at improving engagement and access to HIV services for Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Tanzania. She also volunteered as a freelance Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) counselor from 2014-2018 at a toll-free National AIDS/health Helpline via Tanzania Youth Alliance. Additionally, she championed access to differentiated service delivery models for young people living with HIV in 2017 with the International AIDS Society, was an AVAC Fellow 2018 and a Women Deliver Young Leader class of 2018.