President Joyce Banda : First Female President of Malawi

8/11/2019 President Joyce Banda : First Female President of Malawi

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President Joyce Banda : First

Female President of Malawi

President Joyce Banda has been a panelist and motivationspeaker at a number of international conferences and

forums, including the International Conference on Womenin Beijing, the American and African Business Women's

Africa Conference in London and the Women DeliverConference in Washington, DC.


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An entrepreneur, activist, politician and a philanthropist, Her ExcellencyDr. Joyce Banda became president is Former President of the Republic of

Malawi having ruled Malawi from 2012 -2014. She is Malawis first female

president and Africas second. Voted as Africa's most powerful woman by

Forbes Magazine for two years running and voted as one of the most

powerful women in the world, Her Excellency Dr. Joyce Banda is a

champion for the rights of women, children, the disabled and othermarginalized groups.


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President Dr. Joyce Banda is credited for

turning round Malawis ailing economy which

was on the verge of collapse when she became

president in April 2012. She instituted anumber of economic reforms which did not

only bring the economy back on right truck but

also saw the economy growing from 1.8% in

2012 to over 6.2 % in 2014; improved the

operational in-+dustrial capacity from 35% in

2012 to 85% in July 2014; enhanced Malawisforeign exchange import cover from one week

in 2014 to three and half months in July 2014;

and also turned around Malawis fuel cover

from 1 day in 2014 to 15 days in 2014 at any

given time. In the areas of democracy, good

governance and rule of law President Banda

repealed a number of draconian laws that

infringed on peoples civil liberties, media

freedom and weakened institutions of good

governance and rule of law


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Dr. Joyce Bandas unwavering commitment to

promotion womens maternal health and

reproductive rights saw her establish

Presidential Initiative on Maternal Health and

Safe Motherhood, which spearheaded the

fight against high maternal mortality and

promotion of safe motherhood in Malawi.

Remarkably during the two year period of herpresidency, Malawi registered considerable

success in the areas of maternal and child

health and reproductive health in general as

the country reduced maternal mortality ratio

from 675 deaths per 100,000 live births to

460. The achievement is attributed to themodel which President Banda introduced,

which was a balanced act of both traditional

and technical dimensions and approaches.


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Staying fast to her humanitarian convictions,

President Banda sold the multi-million dollar

presidential jet and donated 30% of her salary

to Malawi Council for the handicapped

(MACOHA), an organization for people with

disabilities during her two year of presidency.

A recipient of more than 15 international

accolades including Hunger Project AfricaPrize for Leadership for the Sustainable End of

Hunger shared with President Joaquim

Chissano of Mozambique in 1997, President

Banda is a strong advocate for women and

girls emancipation and empowerment and a

prominent civil rights campaigner. Shefounded the Joyce Banda Foundation

International, which has guided projects from

empowering women, rural communities to

providing orphans education.


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Currently the Joyce Banda Foundation

International has benefitted over 1.3 million

people in Malawi through various programs

and interventions ranging from economic

empowerment, agriculture and food security,

education, water and sanitation, youthdevelopment just to mention a few. Among

many other organizations, she established the

National Association of Business Women,

which lends women start-up cash to build

small businesses, and the Young Women's

Leadership Network, which mentors femalestudents in schools.


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On the international scene, President Dr. Banda was

instrumental in formation of such organization is a African

Federation of Women Entrepreneurs (AFWE), currently

running in 41 countries in Africa, Council for the EconomicEmpowerment of Women in Africa (CEEWA) and

Americans & Africans Business Womens Alliance (AABWA)

of which she served as First President.

President Banda sits on a number international

organization bodies. These include Executive AdvisoryCommittee of UNIFEM, Global Leaders Council for

Reproductive Health and Scientific Advisory Board of the

Programs in Global health and Social change for Harvard

Medical School.

President Joyce Banda has been a panelist and motivation

speaker at a number of international conferences and

forums, including the International Conference on Women

in Beijing, the American and African Business Women's

Africa Conference in London and the Women Deliver

Conference in Washington, DC.


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President Joyce Banda : First Female President of Malawi