Academia Profiles
Agnes Wizi- Kambala
Agnes is a quick-witted, energetic and dynamic woman coming from a versatile career background as a passionate and experienced educator, qualitative social researcher and social worker. She holds a Master of Arts in Social Work Studies as well as a Bachelor of Education (Humanities) degree.
Agnes has ten years of experience in the tertiary education sector supplemented with extensive academicc background in Social Work and Education, particularly in the fields of Child Protection, Early Childhood Development, Disability Studies, Youth Work, Social Research, and Participatory (Action) Research Framework.
Agnes’ experience in research and consultancy includes analyzing the status of child protection in the Catholic Church, evaluating Malawi early learning and development standards, reviewing literature on female teacher role modelling, examining the experiences of women and children with disabilities in Malawi as well as analyzing data on nutrition sensitive agriculture in Malawi.
Agnes is the current Head of the Social Work department at the Catholic University of Malawi where she teaches among other courses: Child protection, Disability Studies, Social Welfare Policy and Community Work. Agnes is also the department’s research coordinator.
Agnes is additionally the founder of Klesis Educational Initiative, a not-for-profit mentorship organisation that offers academic counselling to secondary school graduates in Malawi and prepares them for transitioning to higher education. Focusing on academically talented but low income students, Klesis has mentored over 350 secondary school students, many of whom are attending universities both locally and overseas.
- Gilly Chikondi Safiyana is a Malawian born in 1969 and has been teaching since 1993.
- Gilly has a Masters of Education in Leadership and Management (Mzuzu University -2022), Bachelor of Education Humanities majoring in Geography (UNIMA- Chancellor College -2008) Diploma in Education – Domasi College- 2001), T2 teaching certificate (Kasungu TTC- 1993). Certificate in Management- Staff Development Institute (Mpemba in Blantyre- 2013)
- Apart from teaching Gilly has also held leadership positions as a Head of Humanities department- Stella Maris Secondary School- 2004-2006) Head of Languages department at Stella Maris- 2009- 2015) Head of Languages department Manja CDSS-2015-2016) Acting headteacher at Manja and Deputy Headteacher at Manja CDSS- 2016-2021.
- Gilly has also worked with MANEB as a Life skills examiner since 2011
- Gilly was also engaged by Bookland International Limited, a publishing company as an editor of senior secondary school Human Geography book written by Misheck Yagontha Munthali.
- She was also engaged by CRECCOM in translating manuscripts from English to Chichewa in 2014.
Born in Lilongwe Malawi, Anabel Kaitano is a 24 year old social scientist who possesses a bachelor’s degree in Social work and an MBA with a focus on Human Resource. She is currently working as an Associate lecturer with Millennium University.
Anabel also volunteers at WINCO Malawi; a microfinance whose vision is to financially empower women in rural and urban poor areas of Malawi. So far, she has helped form 3 young mothers aged between 18 and 22 with the aim of giving them a better life through access to loans, financial literacy and business management.
Anabel has also worked with Girl Effect Malawi and Youth Net and Counselling on projects aimed at ending child marriages, educating the youth and communities of their rights and also where they can get assistance if faced with any forms of abuse and danger. She is passionate about helping people through counselling, tackling issues of mental health, empowerment and advocacy.
With the complexity that exists in the community of women and children who are differently abled and impaired, she went a step further and decided to master sign language that has assisted her to break the barrier in communication when working with differently abled people. In her free time she enjoys travelling, listening to music and interacting with people.
Chikondi Mpokosa is an Educationalist with over 25 years of experience in international development in progressively more leadership roles. Chikondi brings real experience in the gender sector having been an advocate of women’s inclusion in globally. Chikondi brings a wealth of experience managing programmes across multi-countries and within a large variety of organisations in international development in a variety of programme areas, including gender, education, child rights, human rights, humanitarian, and capacity-building. Most recently she was Country Education Manager at UNICEF Nigeria and Programme Director for Women and Girls at Opportunity International responsible for setting strategies that better serve the needs of women and girls living in challenging circumstances. She worked with teams to understand the unique needs and risks facing women and girls and aided knowledge sharing and fundraising activities. She developed programmes, products and tools to serve identified needs and aligned the gender strategy with Opportunity’s broader global goals.
Worked around the world to encourage and empower girls to complete 12 years of free, safe, quality primary and secondary education, achieve their potential and be agents of positive change in their communities. She developed innovative programmes to address and eliminate gender inequalities in education.
Chikondi Mpokosa is a Board Member of the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), Hope and Homes for Children (HHC), and Global Girls Scholarship Foundation (GGSF). She co-founded the Civil Society Coalition for Quality Education network in Malawi and has done advocacy work on Education for All and Women Empowerment. She has chaired the UK Global Campaign for Education (GCE) policy group. She holds has a Doctorate in Education and International Development, MA in Education, Gender, and International Development.
Gabriella Chiutsi-Phiri, is a Senior Lecturer in the faculty of Life Sciences and Natural Resources (LSNR) at the Natural Resources College (NRC) a constituent college of the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR). She has a PhD in Rural Development and Extension, Msc. in Nutrition, Health and Environmental Sciences and a Bsc. in Nutrition and Food Sciences.
Dr. Chiutsi-Phiri is a nutrition education specialist with vast experience in community nutrition and behavior change. Dr. Chiutsi-Phiri worked as head of departments as well as Dean of the faculty of Natural Resources and Life Sciences. Dr. Chiutsi-Phiri has also worked as a researcher and consultant on projects funded by UNICEF, FAO, Kfw, GIZ, Government of Malawi and other organizations.
She is a member of the National Infant and Young Child Feeding Technical Working Group under ministry of health and the Nutrition Policy Advisory committee for the Department of Nutrition and HIV and AIDS (DNHA). Dr Chiutsi Phiri a member of the African Nutrition Society (ANS) and the Nutrition Society (NS).
Dr. Maggie Madimbo, is currently the Vice Chancellor for African Bible College in Lilongwe, Malawi. She did PhD in Organizational Leadership and Concentration Higher Education from Eastern University, and Philadelphia, USA.
She is passionate about developing Christian leaders. She rejoices in witnessing the transformation of communities as such she invests in leadership studies.
She has published a book on Women leaders in Malawi and has written several book chapters and journal articles. She believes Christian education with good leadership is key to bringing transformation in Malawi and beyond. She loves to mentor and inspire young people to dream big and think outside the box in order for them to bring transformational change in their communities.
She has been instrumental in starting several associations including association of Private Universities in Malawi (APUMA). At APUMA she served as the first elected chair. She now seats on the steering committee for the development of Universities and Colleges Association in Malawi (UCAM).
Elizabeth Nkhonjera is currently a lecturer at Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR), in the Faculty of Food and Human Science, lecturing in gender studies, youth, HIV and AIDS programs. She has a Master Degree in Human Rights and Development, Bachelors in Counselling Psychology and a Diploma in Institutional Management with a multicultural background from East and Southern Africa.
She has over 30 years of experience in various capacities, that all involve working with multiple social issues. In addition, she is currently the Dean of students at (LUANAR), where she oversees the welfare of students in their social and academic life. Furthermore, she is now pursuing a PhD with The Open University of Tanzania (OUT) by research. Her current research topic looks at Covid-19 and its Impact on the livelihood, mental health, and education of university youth in Malawi.
Her previous professional experience includes working with NAPHAM, where she worked as a program coordinator for HIV prevention, treatment, care and psychosocial support for people living with HIV and AIDS, raising awareness, advocacy and lobbying on issues affecting people living with HIV and vulnerable groups; providing social guidance to groups and individuals to realize their rights and potential and facilitating capacity building interpersonal skills. Again, she provided counselling and psychosocial support to people living with HIV and AIDS and mental issues; which she currently still does during her free time. Equally important to note is that she has 10 years’ experience in managing hospitality institutions in food management and nutrition.
Having lived in Mozambique and Uganda helped her learn several languages amongst which are: Portuguese, Swahili and Luganda; which enhanced her ability to be able to multitask in different setups. She is a team player who pays attention to gender equity and has a high sense of responsibility and determination to face new challenges.
Jessica Kampanje-Phiri (PhD) is a social anthropologist specialized in understanding the social cultural dimension of food systems in Malawi and beyond. Her specific areas of academic and research expertise include: sustainable agriculture intensification, land management, gender, food and nutrition policy analysis, the natural, social, political, institutional, economic, cultural, and technological aspects of food, poverty and livelihood security, power and gender relations, social-cultural inequalities, humanitarian interventions and development assistance. Jessica Kampanje-Phiri is currently a Senior Lecturer of Social Work at the department of Human Ecology of the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) and has extensive experience in long and short term research, teaching and outreach initiatives.
Dr. Tomoka is a philosopher by training, and the first female philosopher in the
Department of Philosophy at Chancellor College (now we have the second female, and still counting). She has 15+ years of experience in teaching and research in Philosophy. She has taught and supervised students’ work in
critical thinking and reasoning skills, epistemology (theory of knowledge), general ethics, environmental ethics, business ethics, and political philosophy. Her research focus is the intersection between ethics and politics and its implications on the questions of justice, punishment, human rights, governance, and political theory. Her other interests include the problem of evil and human suffering, moral status, and moral considerability. Apart from academic work, Dr. Tomoka is interested in economic empowerment through education and small business opportunities for women (and girls). She is also interested in the protection and justice of marginalized and vulnerable population groups, especially women, girls, and children.
Dr. Bakuwa is an academic researcher and leader. She has conducted several
management-related research projects, carried out management-related consultancies, facilitated management-related seminars and workshops for government, non-governmental and private sector institutions. She’s also has the opportunity to mentor young faculty in the area of building research skills.
She has been involved in assessing the performance of public sector institutions in Malawi. Dr. Bakuwa’s current research interests are in management in general and human resource management in particular, Organizational Development and Leadership.