About Us: Board of Directors
Ambassador Inonge Mbikusita-Lewanika
(Honorary Chair)
Dr. Lewanika is currently Ambassador of the Republic of Zambia to the United
States of America. Before her appointment to Washington D.C. she was
Ambassador and Special Envoy to the Zambian President during his term as Chairman
of the African Union. Dr. Lewanika served as a Member of Parliament
in the Zambian Parliament from 1991 to 2001. She was the first Chairperson
of the Zambia All Party Women Parliamentarians Caucus and also founding Vice-chairperson
of the Southern, Eastern and Horn of Africa African Women Parliamentarian
Caucus. At a very critical time just before national elections in 2001,
Dr. Lewanika chaired the National Crisis Committee of the Alliance of Opposition
Political Parties. She is a former candidate for President of the Republic
of Zambia in the December 2001 Elections. She is an Educator by profession
and has worked in various levels of Education.
Prior to her involvement in politics, Dr. Lewanika worked with UNICEF in key
leadership roles in Africa overseeing more than twenty countries at a time.
Jim Grant, the former head of UNICEF once called her “the most knowledgeable
person about the children of Africa.” Dr. Lewanika was among five
women from various continents to brief members of the United Nations Security
Council on the first and unprecedented debate that resulted in UN Resolution
13 on WOMEN, PEACE and SECURITY in the year 2000. She was among sixteen
(16) eminent African Women Members of the Organisation of African Unity (now
African Union) Committee on Peace and Development, an Advisory Group to the
African Union.
She was President of Federation of African Women's Peace Networks (FERFAP)
from 1997 to 2002. As President of the Federation of African Women Peace
Networks (FEFAP) she contributed to mobilization of peace activities.
In that capacity, she was selected to be among ten prominent African Women
Peace Workers that visited Rwanda soon after the genocide. She later
led a United Nations delegation to Burundi and Rwanda to assess the effects
of the genocide on women and children and recommend intervention strategies.
She led the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa (EISA) Observer Mission
of 96 Southern African Academicians, Researchers and Members of Civil Society
to the Zimbabwean Presidential, Mayoral and Council Elections in 2002.
She was one of the International Youth Foundation’s founding board members.
Dr. Lewanika holds a Ph.D. in Early Childhood and Primary Education from New
York University. She is a mother of two grown daughters, a grandmother
to four boys and a grand daughter. She has lived in five countries and
speaks eight languages.
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