Mentorship and Climate Change with Ms. Musonda Chikwanda from Zambia

 Ms. Chikwanda has 6 years of experience in the non-profit sector focusing on community development, conservation, climate change, public health, and is very passionate about gender equality, social justice, and youth empowerment issues. Ms. Musonda has a master’s degree in Public Health and has a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Education.  Additionally, she has worked on targeted water, sanitation, and hygiene programs in Southern Africa while serving as a fellow on the prestigious Global Health Corps Fellowship program. Ms. Musonda also worked at the Africa Union Commission in Ethiopia on the Campaign on Accelerated Reduction on Maternal Mortality in Africa (CARMMA) and focused on advocating for better health outcomes and expanding understanding of ending maternal mortality in 52 member states in Africa.  In her early career, she worked on access to quality education programs with the United States Department at the U.S Embassy in Zambia under the EducationUSA program, where she helped high school students prepare successful applications to U.S universities and colleges. She later interned at the Clinton Foundation In New York, on a renewable energy project and facilitated an outreach Environmental Club program to promote sustainable development. For the past three years, she has been working as Regional Manager for Africa with the United Nation Foundation under an initiative called Girl Up, she mentors and provides training on leadership to youths from different African countries and coordinates advocacy programs on gender equality lead by adolescents’ girls to help bridge the gap in access to education and stimulate/engage girls to take up careers in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Ms. Musonda continues to promote the importance of investing in girls' education and ending harmful traditional practices (Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), child/early marriage, etc.  Musonda enjoys traveling, trying out new food, and learning French.