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
  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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An entrepreneur, activist, politician and a
philanthropist, Her Excellency Dr. 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 other marginalized groups.
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Before becoming President of Malawi, Dr. Joyce
Banda served as a Member of Parliament Minister
of Gender and Child Welfare Foreign Minister and
Vice President of the Republic of Malawi. While
serving as Minister of Gender and Child Welfare,
Dr. Joyce Banda championed the enactment of the
Prevention of Domestic Violence Bill in 2006,
which provides a legal framework and instrument
for elimination and Prevention of all forms of
Violence against Women and Girls. .
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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 a number 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 Malawis
foreign 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of law President Banda repealed a number of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 her presidency, 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
the model 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 Africa Prize 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. She founded 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, youth development 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 female students
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 Economic
Empowerment 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 Advisory Committee 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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