Dr. Donald Rukare is an access-to-justice and human rights specialist with decades of experience across the legal, judicial, and academic sectors in Uganda and the broader region. He currently serves as the Chief of Party for the USAID Rights and Rule of Law Project, managed by Freedom House Inc. in Uganda. His extensive background includes roles as a lawyer, a governance advisor with the Inspectorate of Government (IG), and a manager of multilateral initiatives for the European Union and Irish Aid.

Dr. Rukare was a co-founder of the Governance and Public Policy Research Centre in Kampala and served as the Country Director for Global Rights. In academia, he is a part-time lecturer in sports law at Christian University Mukono and a regular guest faculty member at the International Law Institute Kampala and the Center for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria. He also holds the title of MEMOS Professor of Governance, teaching Sports Law.