By Oluchi Obiahu
Jessica Horn (born 1979) is a feminist activist, writer, poet, and an advisor on women’s rights with Ugandan and Malian background. A ‘what next’ thinker, she looks beyond the hori-zon, not just disrupting systemic injustice but imagining daring new paths to liberation.
She is a pivotal figure in African feminism and philanthropy, blending intellectual rigor, creative expression, and strategic leadership to drive systemic change. As the Regional Director for East Africa at the Ford Foundation, she became the first African woman to hold this position since the organization’s establishment in the region in 1963. With over two decades of experience, Horn has dedicated her career to redefining freedom, power, and pleasure for African women, grounding her work in a Pan-African feminist framework that prioritizes structural change over superficial reforms.
Named an African Women Changemaker by ARISE Magazine and one of Applause Africa’s “40 Most Influential Africans under 40,” Horn weaves art and activism to amplify African women’s voices, as seen in her 2025 collaboration on The Temple of Her Skin, a documentary exploring African women’s tattooing and scarification histories.
Jessica Horn – Roots That Run Deep
Born to Ugandan and Malian parents, Horn’s multicultural heritage informs her nuanced understanding of African contexts. Her work is characterized by a bold commitment to gender justice, democracy, and participatory models of change. At the Ford Foundation, she oversees grant making that targets deep-rooted inequities, supporting initiatives that strengthen feminist movements, advance inclusive governance, and challenge systemic oppression. Her approach emphasizes resourcing grassroots organizations and fostering sustainable, community-driven solutions. Prior to her role at the Ford Foundation, Horn served as Director of Programmes at the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF), coupled with board roles at Mama Cash, Urgent Action-Fund Africa, and the Fund for Global Human Rights, solidifying her as a visionary bridge-builder, fostering dialogue between big tech, women’s rights, civil society, impact investors, academics, and practitioners.
She introduced innovative, participatory models that empowered feminist movements across the continent, prioritizing flexibility and responsiveness to the needs of women’s organizations.
A GAME CHANGER
Horn’s contributions extend beyond institutional roles. As a co-founder of the African Feminist Forum, she has helped create spaces for women to articulate their own visions of liberation and build collective power. Her involvement in the Lancet Commission on Gender and Global Health underscores her commitment to integrating gender perspectives into global health policy, with a focus on addressing violence and body politics.
Horn’s recent work continues to challenge conventional funding models. often described as both lyrical and incisive, it amplifies African feminist perspectives. Through essays, poetry, and policy papers, she explores themes of embodiment, power, and resistance, making complex ideas accessible and compelling In a July 2025 interview with Leading Ladies Africa, she emphasized the need for flexible, long-term support for social justice initiatives, advocating for reduced bureaucratic barriers to make resources more accessible to grassroots feminist movements. She highlighted the current funding landscape, marked by sharp cuts in aid, as an opportunity to rethink sustainability through creative strategies like diaspora philanthropy, mutual aid, and impact investing. This perspective reflects her broader push to decolonize philanthropy and center African women’s voices in decision-making processes.
Art as Activism
Her intellectual contributions have also gained prominence in 2025 with the publication of her book, African Feminist Praxis: Cartographies of Liberatory Worldmaking (Sage Publishing). Launched in March 2025, the book explores African feminist principles, kinship, courage, pleasure, care, and memory, as frameworks for transformative action. It draws on generations of African feminist organizing to offer alternative visions for global change, emphasizing collective thriving over individual gain. A book talk hosted by the Institute of Development Studies in March 2025 highlighted her analysis of African resistance, often overshadowed by male-centric narratives, and underscored her commitment to amplifying women’s roles in liberation movements.
Creatively, Horn has been deeply engaged in storytelling as a tool for feminist advocacy. In 2025, she continued her collaboration with Laurence Sessou on The Temple of Her Skin, a creative documentary project exploring African women’s tattooing and scarification histories. This work reflects her belief in the power of embodied narratives to make the invisible visible, connecting personal stories to broader political and cultural transformations. She has also integrated art into her philanthropy, notably curating the Ford Foundation’s Nairobi office art collection with Rosie Olang’ Odhiambo to showcase women artists and historic photographs of East African women changemakers.
Horn’s global perspective, shaped by living on five continents and working in over 56 countries, informs her approach to feminist movement-building. She has been a vocal advocate for rethinking trauma and mental health from an African feminist lens, notably through her leadership in creating AIR (African Institute for Integrated Responses to Violence Against Women and Girls and HIV/AIDS), which reimagines care practices for activists facing violence and economic deprivation.
As earlier mentioned, her contributions at the AWDF from 2015 to 2020 remain foundational to her legacy. As Director of Programmes, she led a four-fold increase in grant making and pioneered initiatives like the AWDF Futures Initiative, which forecasted women’s rights trends by 2030, and the Flourish retreat, focused on activist well-being. These efforts continue to inspire her current work at the Ford Foundation, where she emphasizes sustainable, leaderful movements that prioritize collective care and imagination.
Horn has also been a vocal advocate for addressing gender-based violence, pushing for solutions that are rooted in African feminist principles rather than imported frameworks. Horn’s professional journey reflects a deep commitment to learning from and amplifying the voices of African women. Her work has influenced a wide range of organizations and movements, from local collectives to global commissions, earning her recognition as a leading voice in Pan-African feminism.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Jessica Horn, a Ugandan-Malian visionary, pioneers African feminism, blending bold leadership and creative storytelling to ignite systemic change.
- As the first African woman Regional Director for East Africa at the Ford Foundation, Jessica champions gender justice and grassroots empowerment.
- Her 2025 book, African Feminist Praxis, redefines liberation through courage, care, and collective thriving.
- Through projects like The Temple of Her Skin, Horn weaves art and activism to amplify African women’s voices.
