Media Profiles

Lincy Msuku Gondwe

Lincy Msuku Gondwe is a Journalist, currently working with the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC). She has vast skills in research and communicating information messages across various groups of people. She has a deeper understanding of developments in political, economic and socio-cultural affairs. Lincy is fluent in English, Tumbuka and Chichewa.     

Lincy has a Master of Arts in International Communication and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Journalism. Additionally, she has a Certificate in Teaching.

Mphatso C.M Chidothe

Mphatso C.M Chidothe is a creative consultant, cultural custodian, community mobilizer children/youth activist, talent/artist manager, events manager, child evangelist and child evangelism trainer. Her life objective is to contribute to efforts of improving socioeconomic development of mankind especially in the fields of community mobilization, children/youth and women empowerment, career guidance, counselling, education, health, social justice and other social issues as appropriate through ministry, leadership, theatre, fine art, media, and culture.

As an artist who studied drama and minored in fine art at University of Malawi, Chancellor College in 2007 she possesses skills on creative writing, community mobilization, theatre, and film and media production. Through her theatrical studies and theatre for development experience with different organizations, she had the opportunity to travel across Malawi and study different cultural practices and expressions from different tribes within a period of 4 years (2003-2007).

Soon after graduating in 2007, she worked as a script writer for an International organization called Education Development Center that was implementing an interactive radio instructions program for lower primary school in Malawi called Tikwere. After working for two years she became a producer and was digitally recording and editing these radio programs that aired every school day all year round for 3 years. Whilst working on this project she was doing consultancy with other organizations such as Pakachere Institute for Health and Development where she co-authored the After the Honeymoon short film under “One Love” project, after being trained in film making by Pakachere Institute for Health through Soul City in South Africa. She also worked as a resident playwright for Nanzikambe Art Development for a year and she adapted Ngugi Wa Thiongo’s I will Marry When I want, a play that toured in Europe (2010).

In 2010 she was invited at the Department of Fine and Performing Arts at University of Malawi, Chancellor College to be a part time lecture in drama. August 2012 saw her shifting her career to fulltime ministry as she quit her job at Tikwere to go to Bible School and simultaneously volunteer for Royal Rangers, a Christian based children and youth empowerment initiative. After graduating from Bible school and attaining a credential license as a minister, she became bi-vocational: fulltime minister and working in a professional job.

In an effort to deepen her understanding on social issues affecting societies so as to effectively contribute towards community initiatives by addressing such issues, she pursued a Masters of Arts in Community Psychology (2014) from Malawi Assemblies of God University. She worked as a Station Manager for a local TV and Radio media house called Channels for all Nations (CAN) from March 2014 to March 2016, where apart from leading the administrative aspect of the organization, she presented and produced programs.  She also worked as a creative consultant for Zathu project by Girl Effect for from September 2016 to February 2018, where she was part of the talent search and talk show production crew. Her passion for arts and culture pushed her to pursue more training in art and cultural management with Music Crossroads on Event and Cultural Management through its Creative Training Campuses in Malawi and Zimbabwe in 2016, 2017 and 2019. This compelled her to attend one semester of Music School at Music Crossroad Academy Malawi.

In her desire to influence the next generation toward the Malawian indigenous culture appreciation she has attended ethno workshops in Malawi in 2018 and 2019 to deepen her understanding of Malawian Culture. She is currently managing the first ever female band in Malawi called The Daughters Band. She is also a collector of different ethno instruments from Malawi and the different countries she gets to visit. She has a total of 10 different instruments form Middle East, Western, Eastern and Central Africa.

April 2020 saw her embark on an intensive 3 months children music project where she recruited 12 children between the ages of 9 to 17 (3 girls and 9 boys) who had no prior knowledge of music as a way of keeping them engaged and focused during the Covid 19 Pandemic that forced a closure of schools. By the end of those 3 months the children had not only learnt how to play musical instruments, but they learnt basic music theory such as music reading, music composition and choir. These children formed 3 bands that performed on different stages and are still performing to date. This music education and practice journey led her to become a TIVETA’s Trade Advisory Committee member for Music and Dance.

Currently, she is the General Manager for Assemblies of God Press, a printing house that was established in 1948 which she joined in December 2019. She is still serving as an ordained pastor in the Malawi Assemblies of God and has served as a children pastor in 4 different Malawi Assemblies of God local churches. She is also serving as the Camp Coordinator for Tiwale Camp, a non-profit organization that provides safe spaces for fun, adventure and life skills for children and youth through over-night camps, retreats, family camping, fun fairs, and picnics.

As a child evangelist she was the National Children Ministry Director for the Malawi Assemblies of God from May 2014 to September 2020. She has been serving as the Royal Ranger Africa Secretary from April 2015 up to date and she has been a Royal Rangers international trainer since 2010. She has been a volunteer of Operation Christmas Child since 2016 both in the region leadership and the strategic regional leadership teams. She attended Child Evangelism Fellowship’s Children Ministry Institute in Zambia in 2019 where she was certified to train children ministry workers from different denominations. She has been a lead trainer for World Relief’s Church Network Sunday School Teacher across the nation. She has also been trained with World Vison locally and internationally to train on different initiatives such as Celebrating Families, Channel of Hope-Gender and Action for Youth and Adolescent. She has served in children committee for Love Malawi Festival 2016 and SOS Adventure through Evangelical Association of Malawi. She is currently co-chairing in the Children’s Committee for Love Malawi Festival 2021.

Tiwonge Kampondeni

A focused Communications Strategist and qualified multimedia journalist with an extensive background in many facets of journalism: text, photo, audio, video with over 22 years of continuous media profession experience in different news outlets. The professional experience and integrity as a journalist and communication expert, combined with theoretical knowledge in Mass Communication, Communication for Development, and her passion to tell stories is what has been her assert in this field of communication. 

A holder of an MA in Media Practice for Development and Social Change and a BSc in Mass Communication, Tiwonge has worked in busy Malawian newsrooms at The Daily Times and Malawi News as a reporter and has won several media awards. She has also extensively contributed to international media and non-governmental organisations, and some of her works have been featured in The Irish Times and Self-Help Africa website.

For seven years, she worked for Galaxy Media Consultants as a Communications Consultant where her main responsibilities included the production of communication strategies, documentation of success stories from donor partners like USAID, Christian Aid, and DFID projects, and event management. 

She also worked as a Communications Officer for Farmers Union of Malawi (FUM) and We Effect where she provided communication expertise towards increasing visibility and bridging the audience to Malawi Lake Basin Programme (MLBP), a project FUM alongside consortium members; We Effect, Association of Smallholder Farmers in Malawi (NASFAM), Malawi Union of Savings and Credit Cooperatives (MUSCCO) and Vi Agroforestry implemented.

From February 2020, she has been working as Dean of Media Studies at Pentecostal Life University (PLU), one of the outstanding private institutions of higher education in Malawi. Working with PLU has exposed her to academic experience in management, curriculum review, lecturing, policy drafting and implementation.

She also is an editor at AfricaBrief.

Upile Faith Muhariwa

Upile Faith Muhariwa is a Development Communication expert with over ten years to her experience.  Married with two gorgeous daughters, she has worked as an Agriculture Communications Officer for eight years at the Agriculture Communications Branch in the Ministry of Agriculture.  For five years she taught English at the Polytechnic’s Continuing Education Centre in Lilongwe.  In 2011, 2018, 2020 and 2021 Upile served on the panel of judges for the MISA awards. Currently, she works as Knowledge Management and Communication Specialist (KMC) for the Sustainable Agriculture Production Programme in the Ministry of Agriculture.  Upile holds a bachelor’s degree in Media for Development from the University of Malawi, Chancellor College and a Master’s degree in Media studies from University of Oslo.

Theresa Kasawala-Chapulapula

Theresa is a multi-award-winning communications professional with over 15 years of experience in communication and a proven track record of working with print and electronic media, as well as the NGO sector. She was named the best journalist in 2012 by the Media Institute of Southern Africa-Malawi Chapter, among other accolades. Theresa has extensive experience in public relations, strategic planning, message development, social and behavioral change communication, project management, content development for multimedia platforms, stakeholder management, and report writing.

Theresa has worked for organizations such as Dignitas International, Capital Radio, The Times Group, UNESCO, and the Mail & Guardian (RSA). She is currently working as a Communications Officer for the International Fund for Animal Welfare responsible for Malawi and Zambia.

Her academic credentials include an MA in Health and Behavioural Change Communication from the University of Malawi-The Polytechnic. She also has a bachelor’s degree in mass communication from ShareWorld Open University.

Millie Kafuka Kasunda

An enthusiastic, ambitious person who has developed a mature and responsible approach to tasks undertaken. Experienced in designing, Planning, implementing, managing, reporting, and evaluating programs as well as conducting research, producing media content, developing strategies and skilled in contributing to strategic thinking and planning. 

My career started as a journalist having worked on the position of news reporter and producer for a private radio station before moving on to work for the public broadcaster the Malawi Broadcasting corporation. After that, I worked as a news reporter for a print media house. I then moved to communications for development when I worked for two non-profit organisations implementing projects using the communications and media approach to enhance human rights and development. I then took up a senior position as Head of Radio/Projects for the Times Group responsible for the designing and implementation of radio programs and concepts. I then took up another senior level position with the Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry as Head of Communications responsible for the development and implementation of communications and membership and policy research and advocacy. I hold a bachelor’s degree in Business Communications from the University of Malawi, and I have just graduated with a master’s degree in Public Policy and Management from Murdoch University, Perth, Australia.