Winnie Byanyima is a grass-roots activist, human rights advocate, and senior international public servant. Born in Uganda in 1959, Byanyima earned engineering degrees in the UK and began her career as an engineer for Uganda Airlines. She was appointed to the diplomatic service in 1989, representing Uganda in France and at UNESCO. She returned to Uganda in 1994 and over the next 10 years she served as a MP, created an all-woman parliamentary caucus, and was founding leader of the Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE), set up to champion women's equal participation in decision-making. Byanyima held high-ranking positions in the African Union Commission and the UN, working on gender, development and environmental issues, before being appointed head of Oxfam International in 2013. She has expressed an interest in becoming Uganda's first female president. Byanyima is in the Pacific to talk about climate change and will speak at Q Theatre in Auckland on June 12.