Onalenna Rammekwa works and lives in Botswana. Her academic background is in Economics, with extensive training in economic justice, policy development and analysis. Her focus has been on mainstreaming marginalized populations into organisational development plans and policies. Onalenna is an activist, a marathon enthusiast, a lover of art in all its complexities and forms. She has keen interest in creative writing especially poetry.
Onalenna currently works at The Botswana Council of Non-Governmental Organisations (BOCONGO) as a Gender and HIV/AIDS Mainstreaming Officer. Her role is to build the capacity of civil society organisations in Botswana on gender and HIV/AIDS in order to improve the country’s response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. She also serves as a volunteer tutor at the Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative in Gaborone. Onalenna has gained research experience, both qualitative and quantitative, and has also worked for Gender Links Botswana and ‘DITSHWANELO’ The Botswana Centre for Human Rights .
Onalenna recently worked with ASAP as a researcher in Botswana and gathered information on the situation and status of the Gender Based Violence/Gender Equality response in relation to HIV and AIDS. Through her research she identified the key players involved in this area of work in Botswana, the major gaps in the country’s GBV/GE response and opportunities for engagement by HIV and AIDS organizations.
I believe in and endorse all efforts aimed at raising awareness of HIV and AIDS. The knowledge gap is still too high and a lot needs to be done to improve information dissemination to all.