Academia Profiles

Besai possesses a Master of Arts in Education from Unicaf University earned in 2020. She also has a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Management from University of Livingstonia earned in 2016 and is currently studying for a Master of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communication with Amity University. 

Besai is a Project management professional with 5 plus years of experience in project implementation, planning, budget tracking, M&E, accountability, learning, capacity strengthening, research, and design thinking. She has experience mainly in non-profit health, SRHR, GBV and education projects with a career objective to achieve best practices in social justice and health equity.

In 2010, because of her passion for mental health related issues and working with children, Besai volunteered at Mzuzu University Children’s Library. She later volunteered for Plan International Malawi which nurtured her passion for people into a career in the non-profit sector. Over the years, Besai has worked with Livingstonia Synod AIDS Programme, Give Directly, Catholic Relief Services and Reedsy.

A feminist and human rights advocate, who is extremely passionate about equality, Besai founded Nguvu Foundation, an initiative aimed at addressing mental health, gender equality, education access and inclusive societies. In her spare time, she volunteers with Voice of Livingstonia radio as a reporter and radio presenter on a youth Sexual and Reproductive Health program and with Unveiling Diamonds Foundation as an Ambassador.

Besai is an alumna of YALI, the African Change Makers fellowship and a Knowles Educational and Charitable Trust for International Leadership (KECTIL).

Ms. Cresensia Kansale

Ms Cresensia Kansale is an education and TVET skills development specialist for welthungerhilfe Malawi, responsible for strengthening capacities of Welthungerhilfe’s local partners in the designing and implementation of Education and Skills development projects; and advocacy in line with Welthungerhilfe Malawi’s programming and guiding national; and international policies. Previously, she has worked as a National Education Programs coordinator for four years under the Catholic Secretariat in Malawi and as a Technical and Science Secondary School teacher up to Grade H under the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology for eight years. She is result oriented and well known for hard work, high integrity and professionalism. She has practical expertise in Education Planning, Programming, Leadership and quality control, provision of advisory and technical services on education/training systems and guiding policies, assessment of education outcomes, curricular development and review, targeted global and contextualized program design and implementation, at all levels; in Malawi and across the world, educational research, Portfolio Management, Donor and partner relations, Budget oversight and monitoring; and advocacy, with regards to formal, informal and non-formal education (including TEVET, adult, and complementary education) Cresensia has a strong desire to actively engage in relevant work, learn more and contribute towards the achievement of Education and TEVET development goals in Malawi. She is very passionate and innovative about seeing all forms of education being accessible, relevant, equitable, of high quality and well developed for all to ensure that females and the most vulnerable groups are not left behind.. Cresensia holds a master’s degree in Educational Leadership and Policy (Comparative Education) from the Beijing Normal University of China, Bachelor of Science in Technical Education from University of Malawi and the Malawi School Certificate of Education from St. Mary’s Secondary School.

Mercy Ching'ani Phiri

Mercy Ching’ani Phiri is an Education Practitioner and Gender Activist. She had worked for 18 years in an education institution where she was involved in curriculum development and teacher in-service education. Later, she joined a Non-Governmental Organisation where she worked as a technical adviser in a project called “keeping girls in school” for two years, and was later an Education Specialist on the “Let girls learn” project for five years.

Mercy acquired her Master of Education at Manchester University in the United Kingdom in Education Leadership and school Improvement in the year 2002.  She went on to acquire her Post Graduate Diploma in Early Childhood Development, Gender and Youth Development from Victoria University- in Canada (March, 2009-March, 2010).  In addition, Esnart holds a Bachelor’s degree in Education from Brandon University, Canada (1993 -1995). Fundamentals of Politics was an integral part of her studies.

Modester Makowa Banda-Nkhoma

Modester Makowa Banda-Nkhoma is an educationist with twelve years’ experience currently working with the Ministry of Education as a secondary school teacher at Dzenza Secondary School.

Modester specializes in Teacher Education, Instructional Design and Technology, Psychology, Curriculum Design and Research. She is responsible for coaching, training and mentoring teachers and would be teachers in various settings as well as other professionals. She also has over 13 years’ experience teaching French to beginners and intermediaries.

Modester is also an experienced facilitator having worked with FAWEMA, USAID and SDS. Apart from that, she is an award winning writer since 2004, registered with the Malawi Union of Academic and Non-Fiction authors (MUANA) with experience working with MIE and Cambridge University Press in textbook writing.

Modester has experience in both the public and private sector having worked with Mzuzu University, University of Lilongwe and Lake Malawi Anglican University in several fields of her expertise. She also offers consultancy services in Education and Entrepreneurship and counseling.

She is a holder of a Master of Education-Teacher Education and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Education-French and English both attained at Mzuzu University, Malawi.

Prisca Msiska

Prisca Msiska is currently serving in the Ministry of Education in Malawi, as a Senior Secondary School Teacher in the Languages Department. Prior to this, she was a Primary School Teacher in Government rural schools of Rumphi District.

After re-sitting for her Malawi School Certificate of Education examinations in 2005, she further studied at the University of Livingstonia where she received her Bachelor of Education (Arts) in 2010. She later, in 2019, received her Master of Education in Sociology at the University of Malawi, Chancellor College.

Her primary research interests are in the field of culture and concern towards the less privileged youth in the society. Specifically, she is interested in the acknowledgements of diverse cultures and how they attach themselves to a peaceful existence and recognition of a unified society.

Prisca was born on 25th July, 1964 and hails from Lumbwezi Village of Traditional Authority Kachulu of Rumphi District. She currently resides with her family in Mzuzu City in the Northern part of Malawi. In her free time, she composes songs and encourage the less privileged girl child to work hard in school for an improved future.

Chisomo Veronica Ekesi-Chiutsa

Chisomo Veronica Ekesi-Chiutsi is a holder of a University of Malawi, Chancellor College degree. She additionally holds a University Certificate of Education (UCE 2012) and Masters of Education in Educational Psychology obtained in 2019.

Her essential disciplines included: Education, Theology, Philosophy, and English. Currently, she is a Teacher Educator at Domasi College under the Ministry of Education.  Her role involves training secondary school teachers at different levels (over 1000 in college) and (250 in service) with best knowledge, skills and competencies to teach in secondary schools.  She also works with Educational organizations for example; UNESCO, UNESCO-Malawi, Edukans and EEDF, in improving qualifications, knowledge and best practices in education provision.

She previously worked a Secondary School Teacher. Throughout the years, she worked with fellow teachers, and educational stakeholders in providing quality, equal and relevant education to secondary school students- boys and girls.

Dorothy Anna Banda (Mrs. Masudi) born on 20th September, 1964 hails from Gonkhowe Village, Traditional Authority Kafuzila in Nkhotakota District, Malawi.
Dorothy is a Secondary School Head teacher since 2009. The following are some of the schools she has managed as the Head Teacher: Chankhanga, Chayamba, Chipoka, and currently Kasungu Secondary School. Academically, she has attained several certificates with Master of Education in Curriculum and Teaching Studies as the highest. Her professional achievements started as a Primary school teacher then later Secondary school teacher where she served as Head of Department before being promoted to the present post of Head teacher 1, the position of chief Education Officer.
On the international scene, Dorothy presented a paper on Secondary School libraries in Malawi, at the Library International Conference in Pretoria, South Africa in June 2009. Furthermore, she was interviewed by BBC in Shropshire, United Kingdom in June 2013 on the Impact of Medic Malawi in the areas of Education and Health to the people of Mtunthama and surrounding areas. In the Anglican Diocese of Lake Malawi, Dorothy is a Board member of Bishop Mtekateka Secondary School, coordinator of Speak One Voice (a faith based organization) founded by Anglican women in the Province of Central Africa whose aim is to fight violence against women and children. Dorothy has a passion for girl child education and as a female manager has always had an obligation of encouraging girls to work hard in school.

Tsogololathu Angel Itaye is an accomplished social worker, social development and policy specialist and consultant. She currently works as a Lecturer in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Malawi, lecturing in child and social protection, HIV and AIDS and Community Health and Nutrition. She is also the founder of Thuso-Malawi Consultancy. She has worked as a Medical Social Worker for over 5 years in the HIV Adolescent and Mental Health field where she has extensive work experience providing social interventions to children and adolescents, and their families living and affected with HIV and Kaposi Sarcoma. She has published and presented her studies on social determinants of health in children and adolescents living with HIV at both national and international conferences. She also has expertise in critically analyzing and developing social policies to address the needs of children and adolescents. Tsogolo is passionate about investing in the social development of the girl-child. She also mentors secondary school and out-of-school students on career options and links the students to relevant partners and stakeholders for tuition sponsorships. Tsogolo was awarded a Master’s Degree in Social Work, specializing in Social Development and Policy at the University of Pretoria. She also has an Honours Degree in Social Work from the University of Namibia.

Rosa Ashley Mwangonde

Rosa Ashley Mwangonde has a Master`s Degree in Comparative education from Zhejiang Normal University, as well as a Bachelor degree in Special Needs Education from Catholic University of Malawi.

She has experience in Marketing as well as Teaching English as a second Language, which she obtained while working as an expatriate in china. She has also worked as a Clinic Administrator at Mapale Medical Center, a community based organization centered on helping women with their reproductive health. In both of these roles, Rosa was in Leadership roles in both of these jobs, which equipped her with the intellectual capacity to fill in any gap pertaining to Women, Children with disabilities, who are place at a disadvantage in social services.

Though women have made major strides in education they still lag behind men in the labor force participation, this is why she has dedicated her time in volunteering at CBO’s in Mzuzu to advocate for women’s right and girl education in my free time.

Change remains the core of every society, and Rosa is devoted to being an architect of change, in woman rights and inclusion, and creating an environment for this to take place.

Rose Cynthia Gumbo Kanyinji

Rose was born, raised and educated in Malawi. She is a founding partner of Emmanuel Chatika Foundation based in TA Njewa in Lilongwe, 8 years’ experience in lecturing and once a facilitator for Malawi organisation for the rights of girls (MORG) in 2004.
Rose is able to work under pressing circumstances and enjoys problem solving and seeing results. She is further able to work independently under minimum supervision, but also enjoys group work and receiving instructions. Rose holds Master of Science in Agriculture Education from Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources in 2020, Bachelor of Education (Primary Education) Majoring in Applied Science from Domasi College of Education in 2011, Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) and T2 Teaching Certificate from Lilongwe Teacher Training College in 1990.
Rose wrote a Paper titled “Investigating the role of educational leadership in flood prone Primary Schools”: The Case of Selected Schools in Nsanje District (2020) and a CO- Publisher of a journal article titled “An Exploration of Primary Teachers’

Alice Lungu is an education professional and activist, championing education as a way to empower women and girls in rural parts of South- eastern Malawi. An Experienced and qualified secondary teacher, Alice is currently a headmistress at Chisambe Secondary School, Mulanje, Malawi.

Over the years, Alice has worked with parents to make them aware of the importance of education in their children’s lives and to eliminate gender biases, and has connected hundreds of underprivileged girls in the area who are out of school with scholarships, mentoring about 30 girls into University.
A Global Schools Partnership Ambassador, Alice facilitated the partnering of Muloza Secondary school with Kingusie High of Scotland, a partnership that has seen several students exchange visits as well as benefited the schools with modern books, science apparatus and computers.
Alice holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biblical Studies, majoring in Education from African Bible College, a University Certificate in Education from Mzuzu University and a Master in Education, Policy Planning and Leadership from University of Malawi, Chancellor College

Dolica Chiyembekeza is a Malawian born in 1987. She is a secondary school teacher and has been teaching since 2012.

Dolica holds a Masters of Education in Curriculum and Teaching Studies (Language Education)- [UNIMA- Chancellor College; 2019] and Bachelor of Education Humanities majoring in English Language – [UNIMA – Chancellor College – 2011]

Apart from teaching Dolica has a passion for research work. Over the years, she has been involved in over 15 fieldwork research with reputable research institution, notable ones include University of Malawi Centre for Social Research (CSR), Chancellor College Consultancy Bureau, Catholic Relief Service, Malaw Institute of Education, CRECCOM, Research Triangle Institute.

She has knowledge in the use of computerised research tools like ODK, Survey ToGo, KoboCollect. Dolica has also worked as a temporary facilitator and monitor for CRECCOM under the project

EVERY GIRL IN SCHOOL CAMPAING in 2017and Malawi Institute of Education under ASPIRE project.

Dolica was also engaged by Malawi Institute of Education as a temporary Book Evaluator in 2019 to assess textbooks for the new Secondary School Curriculum (SSCAR).

Dolica aspires to plough back to the nation by being an agent of change in social- economic spheres of people with a leaning towards girls and women empowerment through education. Forget not that this is possible with God and so I believe.

Uchizi Khoswe holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Education Humanities with English as a major subject and Geography as a minor subject. Her Master’s Degree was in Sociology of Education. She is currently working as an associate lecturer at Malamulo College of Health Sciences under the Basic Science Department. She teaches English and Communication Studies, Sociology and Psychology to undergraduate students. Uchizi has been teaching for six years. In those years she has taught in a Malawian Secondary School and an International High School. She has taught learners with Special Needs in Education learn and develop self-reliant skills useful to live an independent life at home and in school. Her interest is in education studies and teaching.

Tawonga Mkandawire Salanje

Tawonga currently teaches English language and Bible knowledge at Zingwangwa Secondary School. She obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Education (Magna cum-laude) from the University of Eastern Africa Baraton and her Master’s degree in Policy Planning and Leadership from the University of Malawi. Tawonga has been teaching for Nine years. The first two years were spent teaching students at an International High School; the last seven years have been spent teaching secondary school students in two Malawi Government schools. Her professional passion is inspiring and empowering school girls to work hard in order to achieve their goals.