Mercy (Koki) Muli Grignon

Koki Muli Grignon joined HRAP in 1992 when she worked at the Nairobi Law Monthly magazine. Her human rights work led her to her country’s diplomatic corps. In 2013, she was appointed as Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Kenya to the United Nations. 

About her experience with HRAP, Ambassador Koki Muli Grignon reports: “Participation in HRAP helped sharpen my advocacy and lobbying work in securing and protecting human rights. It also led me to seek further studies in human rights. My subsequent work has always been premised on human rights, governance, democracy, environmental protection/climate change, and the interlinkages between human rights, peace, and development. These have enriched my work exponentially and significantly contributed to my legacy in these areas in any of the places I have dedicated myself to work.”

HRAP was crucial in opening new opportunities for Ambassador Grignon. After HRAP, she was immediately hired as programs officer by the International Commission of Jurists’ Kenya Section where she worked for three years in the field of human rights, governance, democracy, rule of law and independence of the judiciary. She then received funding from the Ford Foundation to study for a master’s in arts degree at the Institute for Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Studies at the University of London. 

“My experience and the networks I established while at the HRAP have endured to date and helped me when I was in the civil society to fundraise very successfully for the NGOs that I worked for,” says Ambassador Grignon.

“Exposure, training, networking, and solidarity are the greatest takeaways from HRAP,” she reports.” I will always remember the friendships, solidarity and new experiences I was exposed to during my stay in New York, especially during the internships, study visits and networking meetings.”

 - Article composed by Chiora Taktakishvili, Fulbright Exchange Visitor, July 2019