In Kampala, Uganda, Robinah Alambuya stands as one of Africa’s most influential advocates for mental health inclusion and the rights of persons with psychosocial disabilities. She is the Executive Director of Triumph Mental Health Support Uganda, a pioneering organization founded and led by persons with psychosocial disabilities, and serves as the Regional Representative for Eastern Africa within Disabled Women in Africa (DIWA).
Robinah’s journey is one of resilience, courage, and transformation. Living with a psychosocial disability herself, she turned personal experience into purpose—building Triumph Mental Health Support Uganda into a powerful voice for human rights, inclusion, and community-based mental health care. Under her leadership, the organization has created safe spaces for women and men with psychosocial disabilities to access peer support, counseling, and empowerment. It also works to challenge stigma, discrimination, and institutionalization by promoting awareness, policy reform, and survivor-led advocacy.
“We are not our diagnosis,” says Robinah. “Women with psychosocial disabilities are leaders, mothers, and agents of change. What we need is acceptance, not confinement; opportunity, not exclusion.”
As a Regional Representative of DIWA for Eastern Africa, Robinah plays a pivotal role in uniting and strengthening national networks of women with disabilities across countries such as Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania. She fosters regional collaboration, supports advocacy campaigns, and represents DIWA in key regional and global policy forums.
Her advocacy has reached some of the world’s most influential spaces. In March 2025, Robinah participated in the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69) at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, where she was featured on several high-level panels, including DIWA’s side event titled “Powerful Yet Overlooked: African Women, Diversity, and Inclusion in Beijing +30.” Her powerful remarks centered on the need for intersectional inclusion within feminist and disability movements and for global frameworks to acknowledge the rights of women with psychosocial disabilities.
“True inclusion means recognizing that mental health is part of womanhood,” she said at CSW69. “Feminist and disability movements must work together to dismantle stigma and ensure that every woman, regardless of her disability, is seen and heard.”
Robinah also represented DIWA during the 85th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) in Banjul, The Gambia, where she spoke at the side event on Reparations, Intersectionality, and Justice for Women with Disabilities. There, she amplified the call for African States to adopt disability-inclusive justice mechanisms that address both historical and ongoing harms faced by women with psychosocial disabilities.
Through Triumph Mental Health Support Uganda, she continues to lead national and regional campaigns advocating for an end to forced institutionalization, involuntary treatment, and violations in psychiatric care. Her work champions community-based mental health support and survivor-led participation in reforming laws and systems in line with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
“Mental health inclusion is a matter of human rights and justice,” Robinah affirms. “When women with psychosocial disabilities take leadership, they help societies heal and grow.”
Robinah’s leadership continues to influence change across Eastern Africa and beyond. Through DIWA, she is helping to shape a continental movement that redefines leadership, inclusion, and justice—ensuring that no woman is left behind because of her disability or mental health condition.
“Our voices matter,” she concludes. “When women with psychosocial disabilities lead, Africa listen
