She studied social sciences and social work at university and built up a strong skill set.
"I was involved in supporting orphans and widows, to connect them with services to advocate for their needs," Ms Kyomugisha told AAP.
"Sometimes they were mistreated by their relatives, when their husbands would die, they take over their property, or the children are not going to school."
But when she moved to Australia two-and-a-half years ago, she was forced to work as a cleaner to earn money.
Ms Kyomugisha said she faced several barriers to continuing her skilled career in her new home, the largest being the financial cost of a skills assessment.
"I needed guidance, for a degree, on the standards here, I didn't know what documentation they needed, I didn't have any references, I had completely no knowledge," she said.
She now works as a support worker in aged care and said her journey had caused her to lose confidence in the skills she had built up back in Uganda.
More than 340,000 migrant and refugee women are working below their level of skill and qualification, and they are 20 per cent more likely to have their skills underutilised than migrant men, a report released earlier this year found.
The Activate Her Skills report revealed migrant women were earning 31 per cent less than Australian-born women with similar qualifications.
Ms Kyomugisha is one of 160 women engaged in a pilot program to address many of these issues, the Women's Employment Skills Pathway Program by Settlement Services International (SSI), which is funded by Minderoo.
The Australian-first initiative aims to address gendered barriers in the skills recognition system, by providing personalised support through navigator hubs.
SSI chief executive Violet Roumeliotis said Australia was not taking advantage of highly-skilled migrant women, who were trapped "behind a maze" of exorbitant fees, stretched out timelines and unclear systems.
"The skills qualification system is very flawed, very convoluted, complex, unfair, and expensive, and women are particularly disadvantaged," she said.
The program is based on a model from Germany, and offers support to migrant women as they navigate the skills and qualification system, to help re-enter their professions.
Ms Roumeliotis said she was speaking to federal and state employment ministers about rolling out the program more widely.
The initiative is building an evidence base about the barriers migrant and refugee women face, and the types of support that can be most effective, Minderoo said.
"Every woman, regardless of her background, should have a fair opportunity to participate in the economy, realise the value of her skills and qualifications, and pursue her career ambitions," Minderoo chief executive John Hartman said.
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