August 26, 2017

Key to the City Recipient

Ambassador Mukantabana (Moo-kan-ta-bana) is the Ambassador of the Republic of Rwanda to the United States of America and non-resident Ambassador to Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina. Prior to her appointment, she was a tenured Professor of History at Cosumnes River College (CRC) from 1994-2013. She is also the co-founder and President of the Friends of Rwanda Association (FORA), an Elk Grove based non-profit American relief association helping orphans and widows of the 1994 genocide against Tutsi in Rwanda. In addition, through the United Nations Development Program, Ambassador Mukantabana started the academic program of Social Work at the National University of Rwanda in 1999, and taught a variety of subjects as an Invited Lecturer in their summer program.

Ambassador Mukantabana has been a passionate community organizer for several decades and co-founded many associations and organizations whose main purpose was to promote the positive collaboration of Rwandan communities in the U.S. with other groups and organizations for the benefit of their respective countries. She is an active Board Member of the Holocaust and Genocide Studies program at Sonoma State University in California and belongs to various local and international organizations, including the International Association of Genocide Scholars and the Organization of African Leaders in Diaspora that she co-founded and for which she has acted as Board Chair. A featured presenter at several film festivals and in demand as an international speaker, she has organized numerous domestic and international workshops and conferences on genocide and on the Rwandan experience.

Her awards include the 2012 Peace and Justice Award from the Center for African Peace and Conflict Resolution; the Global Peace Award (on behalf of the Friends of Rwanda Association) from Global Majority, and the Crystal Apple Award for Best Instructor at Cosumnes River College, in 2012.