EVENT Speakers

Her Excellency, Mrs. Monica Chakwera is the wife of Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, who was sworn in as the sixth President of the Republic of Malawi on the 28th of June, 2020.

Her Excellency is a Chartered Accountant and a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). She is also a qualified Social Worker with a Bachelor of Arts in Social Work Degree from the University of the North, in South Africa.

Prior to qualifying as a Chartered Accountant and as a qualified Social Worker, Her Excellency pursued her Studies with the University of Malawi, The Polytechnic, where she was awarded a Diploma in Business Studies. In a career spanning four decades, until her retirement in 2017, she worked with several international organizations such as the British Council, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Plan International, the Irish Embassy as well as the accounting firm, Deloitte.

For years, Her Excellency has been working on supporting the development of the village girl and street children, two causes she is passionate about. Her passion for the village girl is inspired by her own roots in the village where she was raised alongside her seven siblings. She faced a lot of struggles in paying school fees for her secondary school Education. ‘Save the Children’ came to her rescue in the final years of secondary school and enabled her to finish her studies. It is this experience that has made her an advocate of women and girl-child education and as such, she founded ‘Shaping Our Future Foundation’ in August 2020. 

Shaping Our Future Foundation is registered with relevant Government entities in Malawi. The Foundation has an independent Board of Directors with backgrounds in Finance, Legal, Development Management, Communications, among others. Among its work, the Foundation aims to expand educational opportunities for all, including society’s most vulnerable; to promote all-encompassing health and wellness amongst young people; to economically empower society’s disadvantaged groups including the youth; and to promote sustainable agricultural practices (Climate SMART Agriculture).

The Foundation has set an ambitious target to increase enrollment, retention and completion of secondary school education of 5,000 village girls by 31st December, 2026 in a country where 42% of girls below the age of 18 and 9% of girls below the age of 15 get married mainly due to harmful social cultural norms and practices. Her Excellency, Madame Monica Chakwera believes that, keeping girls in school is a vehicle towards enhancing women empowerment, women’s economic empowerment and ending violence against women and girls. In her own words, “a well-educated population leads to a well-educated and productive workforce, especially in today’s ‘knowledge-oriented’ economies”. Her Excellency, Madame Chakwera is an Ambassador and a Matron for several organization's dealing with issues that are very close to her heart including:

- Matron for Malawi Girl Guides   Association

- Ambassador for Menstrual Health Management in Malawi and across Africa with Days for Girls International

- Ambassador for Ending Violence Against Women and Girls with Oxfam

- Ambassador for Ending Child Marriages with Plan International Malawi

- Matron for the Association of the Persons with Albinism

- Eminent Ambassador for Early Childhood Development with the Early Childhood Development Coalition in Malawi

- Merck More Than A Mother Ambassador for Malawi with the Merck Foundation.

- Matron for the Malawi National Netball Team

 Her forty-three years of marriage to the Head of State is blessed with four children and thirteen grandchildren. She hails from Mwazisi in Rumphi District, Northern Malawi. 

Hon. Justice Florence Ikwuoma Duroha-Igwe is a well seasoned, retired Judge of the Imo State Judiciary, High Court of Justice, Nigeria, one of the finest of the bench.

She obtained a Bachelor of Law with honours (LL.B.Hons) from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus in 1976 and upon completion of the Nigeria Law School, Lagos (B. L. ) she was called to the Nigeria bar in 1977. She hails from Isuikwuato Local Government Area (L.G.A) of Abia State, South-East, Nigeria and she is the First Female Lawyer in her Local Government Area.

After being appointed a Magistrate in 1981 and rising through the ranks, she was appointed as a High Court Judge of the Imo State Judiciary in November 1998 and subsequently as an Administrative Judge in April 2015. His Lordship became the First Female Judge of the Local Government Area where she married into (Ideato North L.G.A, Imo State, Nigeria). 

His Lordships love for humanity and quest to give back to the vulnerable and less privileged of the society, birthed the Florence Duroha (FID) Foundation For The Needy in 2019, an NGO through which she has been conducting outreach to prisons and taking initiatives to work with women educational programs regarding women development especially in marginalized areas.

Hon. Justice Florence .I. Duroha-Igwe, an epitome of integrity, believes that Justice should be dispensed without fear or favour. She always stands by the truth not minding whose ox is gored. To her, Justice is everything and in the course of promoting the rule of law in and outside the courts, she stepped on toes which brought along consequences, nevertheless, she has never been deterred as she always trusts in GOD to see her through any challenges. While growing up, it was always drummed into her ears that one should be steadfast in life, stand for the truth and accept the consequences of ones decisions. She believes that she will be required to give GOD account of her stewardship while on earth and thus, endeavours in all she does not to be found wanting on Judgement Day.

Continue Reading About Hon. Justice Florence .I. Duroha-Igwe👇🏽:

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(Information From the book, ‘Challenges of Law in Promotion of Justice: Essays in Honour of Honourable Justice Florence Ikwuoma Duroha-Igwe)

Dr Penelope Baaba Tettey Adinku has made history by becoming the First Female Cardiothoracic Surgeon in Ghana. She decided to go into the field because of the investment Dr Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng made in that sector and because of her love for children.

Dr Frimpong-Boateng, a Ghanaian physician and cardiothoracic surgeon, established the National Cardiothoracic Centre at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in the early 1990s to help patients with heart conditions.

Dr Adinku’s quest to find out more about the centre led her to pursue a career in that field.

“It is a male-dominated field and males are generally accepted to be the surgeons. For us as females, I think we have had to work harder to prove ourselves. The bias is there, and we have to work harder to make ourselves more visible,” Dr Adinku revealed during an interview.

Her accomplishment paves the way for women on a quest to become Cardiothoracic Surgeons in Ghana.

“Sometimes, when I’m walking with my husband, who is not a doctor, but I have a stethoscope around my neck, he’s referred to as the doctor and I’m just ignored. So the bias is out there. I’m hoping that with this barrier out of the way, more females will enter this space, and it will actually be a norm,” Dr Adinku said

Her Excellency,  Dr. Justina Mutale has been globally acclaimed as one of the most influential and inspirational African women. She is featured among Africa’s most respected names, well-known faces, and influential voices who inspire the future, motivate the young generation, and raise the profile to positively alter the perceptions of Africa and Africans around the world. In 2012, she was named

African ‘Woman of the Year,' sharing a platform with various African Heads of State and Heads of Government.

Dr. Mutale is Founder and President of the Justina Mutale Foundation and its Scholarship Programme for underprivileged African young women. Through her Foundation, she advocates for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in political leadership and economic empowerment by providing leadership and entrepreneurship, training, mentorship, and coaching. Her Foundation also advocates for the retention and completion of tertiary education for young women and girls from rural and disadvantaged communities in Africa by providing them with university scholarships to access tertiary education around the world.

Continue Reading About Dr. Justina Mutale👇🏽👇🏽:

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Miss Esha Mohammed Abdallah is from Mombasa, Kenya. She is a 25 years old lady who wears many hats. She has a degree in Education Arts and is the Executive Director and founder of Her Narrative, an organisation which advocates and creates awareness on Gender Based Violence, Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights, Youth Leadership and Governance (especially for young women) through story telling. She was appointed as one of the Board members of a government parastatal, The National Youth Council, under the Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs at the age of 24 as a result of the amazing work she has been doing in her community for young people. 

Her job includes advising the Council and approving their budget as well as work plan. Miss Esha Mohammed is very passionate about young girls like her self because she feels that the environment is not as conducive for them to thrive especially when they intend to take up leadership positions. She believes that Youth leadership especially for young women is vital as they then get to learn and expose themselves to understand the importance of holding such spaces. She is also very passionate about Girl Empowerment in regards to menstrual hygiene and goes to schools to speak to young girls about it as well as taking lead. Her passion for this cause has attracted donations of sanitary towels and other needed female items from well wishers which she in turn gives to young girls who aren’t privilege enough to afford them.

Being a Human Rights Defender, she has organized events relating to Gender Based violence in partnership with other organisations. Miss Esha Mohammed Abdallah is a literature teacher by profession and a community worker by practice.