Prof. Collette A. Suda, Ph.D
Secretary for Gender and Social Development

Professor Collette Suda was appointed Secretary for Gender and Social Services in July 2007. She is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Women Enterprise Fund and the Board of the National Crime Research Centre.

Before her appointment as Secretary for Gender and Social Development, Prof. Suda was the Director of the Board of Common Undergraduate Studies at the University of Nairobi and a Board member of the National Commission on Gender and Development. Prior to that, she was the Director of the Institute of African Studies, University of Nairobi. After sitting for 0-Level examinations and attaining First Division at Asumbi Girls High School, she did the East African Advanced Certificate of Education (A-Level) examinations in the same school before proceeding to the University of Nairobi for her undergraduate degree programme. Prof. Suda holds a Bachelor of Arts (B.A Hons) degree in Sociology from the  University of Nairobi; Master of Science in Rural Sociology; Master of Science in  Community Development and Ph.D in Sociology from the University of Missouri-  Columbia USA. Prof. Suda is a trained sociologist, gender and social development specialist, community development practitioner, and a researcher in children’s issues.

She has extensive research experience in the areas of gender, children and family studies as well as peace-building and conflict management. Her scholarly contributions from these research enterprises appear in several reputable journals such as the International Journal of Contemporary Sociology; Nordic Journal of African Studies; Child Abuse Review; Journal of Developing Societies and African Journal of Sociology, among others.  Prof. Suda is a co- author of a book entitled: Street Children in Kenya: Voices of Children in Search of a Childhood. Westport, Connecticut: Bergin and Garvey.  2000.

On 4th October 2007, Prof. Suda delivered her Inaugural Lecture entitled: Formal Monogamy and Informal Polygyny in Parallel: African Family Traditions in Transition at the University of Nairobi.