Chikondi Chabvuta is a climate justice and women’s rights advocate from Malawi.
She is an
AWARD fellow.
Education
Chabvuta was part of the
Young African Leaders Initiative
The Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) is an initiative of the United States Department of State. It was begun in 2010 by President Barack Obama. YALI is a programme aimed at educating and networking young African leaders with activities inc ...
(YALI) in its early years. She was recognised as a young African woman for leadership development by the Moremi Initiative Leadership Empowerment and Development (Milead).
Career
Chabvuta is the Southern Africa Region Advocacy Advisor at
CARE International
CARE (Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere, formerly Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe) is a major international humanitarian agency delivering emergency relief and long-term international development projects. Founded i ...
. Prior to this she has worked on gender justice and climate change for
ActionAid and the
Farmers Union of Malawi.
She has spoken out about climate justice and gender issues
including at the
2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference
The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, more commonly referred to as COP26, was the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference, held at the SEC Centre in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, from 31 October to 13 November 2021. The ...
(COP26) in Glasgow,
where she shared her experiences of working with smallholder women farmers in Malawi who are facing a range of extreme weather events that are impacting on their livelihoods. Before she went to COP26 she was in Zimbabwe observing how
Cyclone Idai had killed about 1,300 people.
In 2022 she was reporting on floods in her home country that had killed 80 caused by
Tropical Storm Ana
The name Ana has been used for eleven tropical cyclones worldwide: eight in the Atlantic Ocean, one in the Central Pacific Ocean, one in the South Pacific, and one in the South-West Indian Ocean. It has also been used for two extratropical Europea ...
noting that people were still recovering from the cyclone Idai.
She is a spokesperson on climate issues consulted by
The Guardian,
The Washington Post and inews.
The
New Statesman quoted her frustration at the end of COP26 when she found that nation's were trying to weaken the final agreed text to minimise the mitigation of climate change.
She has attended several fellowships, mentorship assignments and programmes, and is an AWARD fellow for the
African Women in Agricultural Research and Development.
Personal life
Chabvuta lives in Malawi and is married with three children.
References
{{Reflist
Climate activists
21st-century Malawian women
University of Malawi alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people