| Rt. Hon. Joyce Banda | |
|---|---|
| Vice-President of Malawi | |
| President | Bingu wa Mutharika |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Zomba, Malawi |
| Political party | UDF DPP (2004-2010 PP (2011 - Present) |
Joyce Hilda Banda (born 12th April, 1950) is a Malawian educator, grassroots gender rights activist turned politician who has been Vice-President of Malawi since May 2009. She is Malawi's first female vice president. She had previous posts as a Member of Parliament, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister for Gender, Children's Affairs and Community Services. Prior to an active career in politics she was the founder of the Joyce Banda Foundation, founder of the National Association of Business Women (NABW), Young Women Leaders Network and the Hunger Project.
She is currently the figurehead of the newly created People's Party and is likely to contest to become President of Malawi in the 2014 general election.[1]
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Banda comes from Malemia village in the Zomba district of Malawi. She has a Cambridge School Certificate.[2] She has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Early Child hood Education from Columbus University and a Diploma in Management, that she received in Italy.[3] By age 25, she had three children and was living in Nairobi, Kenya. In 1975, a growing women's movement in Kenya provided Banda the spirit she needed to take her children and leave an abusive marriage. Between 1985 and 1997 managed and established various businesses and organisations including Ndekani Garments, (1985), Akajuwe Enterprises (1992), and Kalingidza Bakery (1995).[4] Her success moved her to help other women achieve financial independence and break the cycles of abuse and poverty.[5]
She is sister to Anjimile Oponyo CEO of the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls founded by Madonna.[6]
She is married to Richard Banda, former Chief Justice of the Republic of Malawi.
Prior to becoming Malawi's first female Vice-President, she was a Member of Parliament for the Zomba-Malosa constituency. She was also Minister of Gender, Child Welfare and Community Services before being appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs by President Bingu wa Mutharika on 1 June 2006. As Minister of Gender, Child Welfare and Community Services she fought to enact the Domestic Violence Bill, which had failed for seven years previously. She designed the National Platform for Action on Orphans and Vulnerable Children and the Zero Tolerance Campaign Against Child Abuse.[7]
Banda ran as the vice-presidential candidate of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the May 2009 presidential election, running alongside Mutharika, the DPP presidential candidate.[8] She is currently serving as Malawis first female vice-president. In a surprise move by the DPP, Joyce Banda and second vice president Khumbo Kachali were fired as the vice Presidents of the DPP on 12 December 2010 for undefined 'anti-party' activities.[9]. In attempts to ostracize her, the president has continued to give roles that were previously held by her in her to Callista Mutharika who was included in the cabinet in September 2011. [10]The court has blocked attempts by Bingu wa Mutharika to fire her as Vice-President on constitutional grounds. This includes attempts to cease her official government vehicle and to block her from registering her new party.[11][12] On September 8, 2011, the role of Vice President was left out in a cabinet reshuffle. She is currently still the legal Vice-President of the country as mandated by the constitution. [13] She is being urged by the party's spokesman, Hetherwick Ntaba to resign as Vice-President.[14]
The relationship between her and the President of Malawi have become increasingly tense because of the President's attempts to position his own brother, Peter Mutharika as the successor of the party and as the next president of the country.[15] Although she was fired from the position as Vice President of the DPP together with second Vice President Khumbo Kachali, she continued to serve as Vice-President of Malawi as stipulated in the constituion of the Republic of Malawi.[16] This move has led to mass resignations in the DPP and the formation of networks that are supporting the vice-president in order to support her candicy to become President of Malawi in the 2014 general election.[17] The DPP denies that mass resignations have occurred and insists that they are only a few.[18]
Joyce Banda is the founder and leader of the People's Party, formed in 2011.[19]
Prior to becoming vice-president, she was the founder and CEO of the Joyce Banda foundation.[20] for better Education. A charitable foundation that assists Malawian children and orphans through education. It a complex of Primary and Secondary School situated in Chimwankhunda area of Blantyre. It includes an Orphan Care Center that consists of 6 centres and 600 children.[21] It also assists the surrounding villages by providing micro-credit to 40 women and 10 youth groups. Provided seeds to over 10,000 farmers, and has provided other donations. The foundation has also constructed 4 clinics in 4 of the 200 villages it assists. the foundation also assists in rural development.It has a partnership with the Jack Brewer Foundation, a global development foundation founded by NFL star, Jack Brewer.
She is the founder of the National Association of Business Women in Malawi that was established in 1990. It is a registered non-profit foundation in Malawi.[22] The association aims to lift women out of poverty by strengthening their capacity and empowering them economically.[23] This is a social network of 30,000 women, dedicated to supporting women's businesses and supporting women that want to participate in business. Its activities include business training, technical training, record keeping and management skills.[24] They work towards creating dialogue with the policy makers to make policys favorable to women business owners.[25] Its current director is Mary Malunga.[26] The foundation has a partnership with the Netherlands based Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation (Hivos) at The Hague since 2003.[27]
She has been involved with many grassroots projects with women since the age of 25 to bring about policy change, particularly in education. She founded the Joyce Banda Foundation for Better Education. She also founded the Young Women Leaders Network, National Association of Business Women and the Hunger Project in Malawi. She (jointly with President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique) was awarded the 1997 Africa Prize for Leadership for the Sustainable End of Hunger by the Hunger Project, a New York-based non-governmental organization. She used the prize money to fund the building of the Joyce Banda foundation for children [1]. In 2006, she recevied the International Award for the Health and Dignity of Women for her dedication to the rights of the women of Malawi by the Americans for United Nations Population Fund.[28]
She served as commissioner for "Bridging a World Divided" alongside personalities such as Bishop Desmond Tutu, and United Nations Human Rights Commissioner, Mary Robinson.[29] She was also member of the Advisory Board for Education in Washington DC, and on the advisory board for the Federation of World Peace and Love in Taiwan (China).[30]
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As of 2010, she became a member of the Members of the Global Leaders Council for Reproductive Health.[31] The Global Leaders Council for Reproductive Health is a group of sixteen sitting and former heads of state, high-level policymakers and other leaders committed to advancing reproductive health for lasting development and prosperity.[32] Chaired by former President of Ireland Mary Robinson, these leaders will mobilize the political will and financial resources necessary to achieve universal access to reproductive health by 2015 – a key target of the UN Millennium Development Goals.[33]
| Preceded by George Chaponda |
Foreign Minister of Malawi 2006-2009 |
Succeeded by Etta Banda |
| Preceded by Cassim Chilumpha |
Vice President of Malawi 2009- |
Succeeded by incumbent |