Victor Ndede has been the activist who operates on the plane of ‘Be the change that you seek.’
Having risen from policy officer, to digital rights manager, to head of programmes at Amnesty Kenya—all before turning 30—now he supports and looks after Amnesty’s work on tech and human rights, equality and anti-discrimination, civil liberties, and human rights movement building.
At Amnesty Kenya, he is technically the Number Two, and while all leaders demand respect, Ndede commands it as well. His career has been meticulously planned; he despises a fixed culture and the feeling of being stuck. He has a freakish ability to make sure complacency— that corrosive byproduct of sustained success— does not take hold.
“The one thing that has gotten me to where I am today, and I believe it gets me to the next level, is the belief that I should never be complacent.”
"The one thing that has gotten me to where I am today, and I believe it gets me to the next level, is the belief that I should never be complacent"
What does he do? My family and friends see me leading protests, they’ve seen me supporting mothers in hospitals where their rights are violated as they deliver, he says. “They know I fight the bad guys.”
Ndede says “this job changed me before I changed it.” It has been six years now, and says he did not anticipate that, as well as the amount of work there is to be done. “I am a planner, but human rights work has taught me agility—you have to be well read and abreast of the issues in this space.”
He arrived on the job when traditional human rights discourse still focused on civil and political rights. He expanded that aperture to also work around technology, data, and digital freedoms.
This role has made him to realise that there are communities that go through vetting, something he had never experienced.
His capstone has been advocating for the Data Protection Act ratification and steering Amnesty’s programme work into technology and human rights. He has a law degree from Moi University.
–Eddy Ashioya