Joana Domingos dos Santos Filipe Tomás Martins (born 1969) is an Angolan journalist who has served as secretary general of the

Organization of Angolan Women The Organization of Angolan Women (Portuguese: Organização Mulher Angolana (OMA)) is a political organisation in Angola, which was founded in 1962 to target women to support the MPLA, People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola. It was co-fou ...

since 2021.

Early life and education

Joana Tomás was born in 1969 in

Calandula Calandula (pre-1975: ''Duque de Bragança''), also spelled ''Kalandula'' is a town and Municipalities of Angola, municipality in Malanje Province in Angola. The municipality had a population of 80,415 in 2014. See also *Kalandula Falls Refere ...

Malanje province Malanje is a Provinces of Angola, province of Angola. It has an area of 97,602 km2 and a 2014 census population of 986,363. Malanje is the provincial capital. Geography The Malanje Province is located in the north of Angola, the provincial ...

. She became involved in activism at a young age in the 1980s, joining the Agostinho Neto Pioneer Organization. Pursuing further education, she moved with her family to Brazil, where she continued to engage in youth activism. There, she studied communications at the Methodist University of São Paulo, graduating in 1993.

Career

In 1995, Tomás returned to Angola and began working as a journalist at the public broadcaster

Televisão Pública de Angola Televisão Pública de Angola E.P. (Public Television of Angola) or TPA is the national broadcaster of the Southern African state of Angola. It operates two generalist television channels (TPA 1 and TPA 2) and a news channel (TPA Notícias). TPA ...

in 1995. She rose to lead the TV broadcaster's coverage in Cuando Cubango province and eventually direct TPA International. For her work, she won the Prémios Maboque (2004) and National Journalism Prize (2008). Tomás also continued to engage politically, joining the

MPLA The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (, abbr. MPLA), from 1977–1990 called the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola – Labour Party (), is an Angolan social democratic political party. The MPLA fought against the P ...

party, working on various communications and campaign projects. In 2019, she was elected to the Political Bureau of the MPLA Central Committee. She also, on her return to Angola, joined the

(OMA), an MPLA-affiliated national political group that fights gender discrimination. In 2005, Tomás was elected to the OMA's National Committee. Then, in March 2021, she was elected to a five-year term as secretary general of the OMA. She succeeded the organization's longtime leader

Luzia Inglês Van-Dúnem Luzia Pereira de Sousa Inglês Van-Dúnem (born 11 January 1948) is an Angolan politician, feminist and expert in military telecommunications. She is a member of the Angolan National Assembly, as a member of the Popular Movement for the Liber ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tomas, Joana 1969 births People from Malanje Province Methodist University of São Paulo alumni Angolan women journalists Angolan women activists MPLA politicians Living people