Jeanine Condo is the acting Principal of University of Rwanda’s College of Medicine and Health Sciences. She is passionate about research; something she believes helped build her career. She spoke to Women Today’s Sharon Kantengwa about why she believes communication is key in career building.

Tell us a little bit about yourself

I am a doctor by profession and got my PHD in 2009. I’m currently an associate professor for public health and have been the acting principal of College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Rwanda for three weeks now. I love research. I was the Deputy Dean of Research and Projects at the same university. I’m 41 years old and I’m married with two kids.

How did you get to the position of principal of the college?

It came from my passion to serve. I have had tutorial assistance since I was young and I wanted to transfer what I know to my students. Since 2012, I was the academic secretary for School of Public Health, National University of Rwanda and in 2005, I was the acting dean of School for Public Health for a short time. I was doing my sandwich programme in and out of the country and when I came back, I worked as the deputy dean in 2010. At that time, I was in charge of research and that’s when my eyes opened. I encouraged and worked with my students to see how best we could improve our research, plan grants, and create a network not only in the university but also outside. It’s a challenging job which requires a lot of attention, especially if you have household duties to handle.

However, it is also pleasant because my young students see me as a role model and I feel the need to inspire them, support them and build them so that one day, they can follow in my footsteps.

How do you balance family responsibilities with research projects and administrative duties?

It’s bidirectional. First of all, it starts at home because I do not keep my husband outside my work. He listens to me, knows what I do and supports me, so I always seek his advice. It is important to involve your husband in your work because his support is needed if you are to become successful. I also talk to my house keepers about my work so that when I’m stressed, they are able to take care of my children. My bosses are also cooperative and they understand me. They grant me leave when I need it because they know that when I am around, I deliver to their expectations. So they are the first people to support me when I have a brilliant project. Creating that relationship and an environment where we all feel like family has helped me succeed. It has been about communication, working hard, creating trust, team spirit and support from family.

What do you expect to achieve?

I expect to achieve a lot in terms of collaboration between my institution and other institutions. We are now working with Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC), to see how they can use my students in research. I also want to create debates because students have good ideas but they don’t know how to express them, make a case, and how to write. This is something that I want to push so that our students can learn. Another thing is to improve the Information Technology (ICT) sector because classes are becoming too small to accommodate all the students.

The last thing is to make sure that all my students get jobs. I want make sure that at least the best students, if not all, get good jobs. We want to work with College of Science and Technology to see how students can create jobs or work with the private sector. This is something we haven’t done in a while.

Any challenges?

I don’t really have major challenges. I observe a lot while talking to people and during meetings and most of the challenges that we have so far, I believe we can handle. I see it as a big opportunity to create links between the university and the private sector so that we can support other people who want to do research.

What is your philosophy in life?

The first thing you need to do is to love yourself because if you do, you can achieve anything. When we try to please others, we may fail along the way. By loving ourselves and what we are doing, we create a path to success. We may not get it back immediately but it will eventually pay off.

What advice do you have for women who want to climb the ladder of success?

It’s possible; first of all, I’m not that intelligent, but I am a hard worker and it pays off. Being a woman doesn’t mean that I should consider myself ‘handicapped’. We have to work hard. My advice is to have confidence so that you can do whatever you want to do because there is a lot that women can do. We need more women in leadership, research and academia. We just need to work hard and take a step forward.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw