Leveraging JHU Nonprofit Degree to Transform Lives in Africa

Published August 18, 2025

Mary-Margaret Watson knows how to make an entrance, though definitely not in the typical, demonstrative way. With her MA in Nonprofit Management degree which she earned from JHU, she now hopes to give people entry to the good work that she is leading in the Busoga region of Uganda.

“Each interaction I have, I want to enter humbly, with palms open. I enter from a place of wanting to learn,” Watson said.

Former teacher, school administrator, and mother of three, Watson credits her parents, who partnered with medical mission teams, with providing experiences that have cultivated her worldview and desire to pursue international relationships. Watson believes in the importance of relationships, local to international.

“Since I was 10 years old, I traveled with my parents to developing countries,” she said. “We started in the Caribbean and then South America, and in the early 1990s, we went to Uganda, where we built and deepened relationships.” She has been making the 25-hour trek to the country, situated in eastern Africa along the equator, ever since.

Those cross-cultural friendships grew into the Kibo Group, a faith-inspired nonprofit organization that focuses on the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health of community members. Kibo Group works to empower communities to identify and mobilize their assets, collaborate with outside contributors, and pursue development that is lasting, sustainable, and locally maintainable. Watson, or as her teammates call her “M-M,” has served as Kibo Group’s Executive Director since July 2024, and is working alongside her team to develop locally appropriate solutions and deeper community engagement.

Knowing that the Kibo leadership position would be opening, Watson enrolled at Hopkins to secure the credentials she would need to excel in the role.

“I had several amazing classes, including Nonprofit Governance and Executive Leadership which helped give me a new way to articulate, with data to back it up. It gave me the confidence to speak in those spaces,” Watson said. “The finance class was great because it gave me the ability to understand the financial side through a nonprofit lens. The institutional fundraising class reframed my entire way of thinking about asking for money. I get excited now when I am asked to speak about potential opportunities for donor support and fundraising because of that class. I also loved my organizational leadership and project management classes. I have a different set of tools now to help me engage in the projects that Kibo undertakes.”

Kibo Group implements six programs to guide communities towards economic independence and holistic transformation. One example, the Life Skills program uses Kibo-developed curriculum, presented weekly in the local primary schools, to promote character and leadership skills. Since the Busoga region has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the country, the program also addresses this difficult topic and emphasizes the importance of supporting female students so they can remain in school.

Recently, Kibo’s Community Empowerment program developed a chicken distribution program to promote economic stability. Kibo’s WASH program exists to provide access to safe, clean water, where the staff works to construct new wells and rehabilitate broken wells – teaching community members how to maintain them – giving more than 60,000 people access to drinkable water. The WASH program also addresses sanitation and hygiene by teaching locals how to build and maintain latrines, rubbish pits, and safe shower stalls. To address deforestation and the need for food, shade, beauty, and building materials, Kibo’s Mvule program has distributed over 50,000 mvule trees. Kibo’s Healthy and Safe Kitchen program comes alongside communities by teaching them how to build fuel-efficient stoves made from readily accessible, free materials.

Watson is one of two full-time Kibo employees in the U.S. Her team also includes three part-time U.S.-based employees and 39 Ugandan employees. She works with Kibo leadership to partner with local villages, including several villages that have been in partnership with Kibo Group for 30 years.

Kibo Group is also known for fostering partnership opportunities in the United States. Examples of this include enlisting the help of engineering professors and students from Villanova University to design solar pump systems and reusable latrines. Other institutions that have partnered with Kibo include Pepperdine, Lipscomb, Anderson, and Harding Universities.

“What I love about Kibo Group is that it allows me to participate in problem-solving and inspiring people to address their own problems,” Watson said. “It really fulfills me to engage with the physical community where I live, both in the United States and in Uganda. There are problems all around and in every community – they just may not look alike. That is why I believe that it is important to enter spaces humbly, ask good questions, and lean on the knowledge and experience of those living in that space. The people of Uganda have enriched my life. Every time I get to interface – whether on Zoom or in person in Uganda – I come away feeling inspired, encouraged, and motivated to stay engaged.

“Being able to attend Johns Hopkins was instrumental in continuing to cultivate my worldview,” she continued. “I joke that I was always meant to be a Blue Jay because my middle name is Blue. Through what I have learned, I am trying to lead by showing my Ugandan staff what leadership looks like, how to develop trust, while addressing team dynamics. Kibo is intended to be Ugandan-led and driven. Ugandans teaching Ugandans, and Ugandans teaching others. From my role, it is exciting to see this happening.”