Kijo-Bisimba was born on October 10, 1954 in the
Kilimanjaro Region in Tanzania. She went to school in the Tanga region at
Korogwe High school where she was deputy head girl. She felt unfairly victimised when she was accused of sending an insulting letter to the head teacher. The resulting suspension shaped her feeling of justice when she had to admit to the deed despite her innocence. Kijo-Bisimba was appointed as the executive director of Legal and Human Rights Center (LHRC) in 1995. She dealt with
Female genital mutilation. FGM was made illegal in Tanzania in 1998 but twenty years after this it was estimated that 10% of girls still suffer this treatment. in 2001 she earned a (2008) "Woman of Courage" award from the US Embassy after she issued a public statement in opposition to the government. She was the first woman to make a public statement when she was objecting to the number of people killed in
Zanzibar after election protests. She was replaced by
Anna Aloys Henga who was recognised in 2019 as a
Woman of Courage. In 2019 the Tanzanian Minister for Home Affairs
Kangi Lugola noted that he could not understand why Kijo-Bisimba had not been honoured by her country. ==Personal life==