Winnie Byanyima, executive director of Oxfam International, is the speaker at the annual David Morrison Lecture in International Development on Tuesday, October 20, 2015 at 7:30 p.m. in Market Hall, 140 Charlotte Street. Her talk, Rising Inequality and the Need for an Economy that Works for All, is free of charge and the community is encouraged to attend.

“Ms. Byanyima is a world leader in the fight for equality and social justice,” said professor emeritus Dr. David Morrison, who established the lecture series with his wife and fellow Trent professor, Dr. Alena Heitlinger. “Both Peterborough and Trent have a strong environment of social activism and social justice. We are extremely fortunate to have Ms. Byanyima share her insights on how we build an economy, and a society, that is fair and just for all.”

Ugandan-born and educated in Uganda and the UK, Ms. Byanyima was a combatant with the National Resistance Army that succeeded in overthrowing a dictatorship in the 1980s. After the war, she served as Uganda’s ambassador to France, and then returned home in 1995 to help draft a new national constitution. After 11 years as a Member of Parliament and cabinet minister, she left Uganda to serve as Director of the Gender Team in the United Nations Development Program.

In 2013, Ms. Byanyima became the executive director of Oxfam International, and has since then become a globally-recognized figure in the struggle for women’s rights, social equality, democratic governance and peace-building. She co-chaired the 2015 World Economic Forum, using that gathering to demand action to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor.

About the David Morrison Lecture in International Development

Since 2007, the David Morrison Lecture in International Development has brought globally distinguished scholars and practitioners to the Trent and Peterborough communities who are renowned for the impact that their intellectual and applied work has had on international development studies. The Lecture focuses on areas that are important to David Morrison's own contributions to the field, most notably approaches to reducing poverty and inequality, and achieving sustainable livelihoods in ways that promote social justice and respect the human and biophysical environment. The David Morrison Lecture in International Development is funded by a generous endowment made to Trent University in the name of David Morrison and Alena Heitlinger, with the aim of providing a focal point for discussing vital issues of our time from a critical interdisciplinary perspective.