Barbara Kalima-Phiri is currently the Chairperson of AFRODAD’s board of trustees. She is a passionate advocate for women’s and girls’ empowerment and brings deep expertise from working in the nonprofit international development. Through the years, she has been a highly regarded leader of gender, social inclusion, poverty reduction, and advocacy programs at the local, national, regional, and international levels—across sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, and South Asia and the Pacific.

She is also the Goodwill Ambassador for PUSH Women Network in Zambia, an organisation that is involved in building capacity and mentoring young girls to take up their rightful place in society against all odds.

Barbara was recently awarded a Thoughtsmith Certification as a Life and Leadership Coach, a role that has enabled her to support people to unlock their potential and agency in their leadership, lives and careers.

Barbara has a master’s degree in economics from the University of Botswana, specialising in policy analysis and corporate finance and investment. Among her publications is a paper on ending child marriage and economic empowerment of households in Africa. Her paper “Africa’s Debt and the Politics of Aid” appeared in the 2007 anthology Africa in Global Power Play, and she is the author of numerous other writings on the ramifications of global aid and debt relief in the twenty-first-century Africa.

She is the current Global Head of Racial Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for Amnesty International, where is leading the development of strategies and delivering initiatives that are driving organisational change for Amnesty to become a more inclusive, diverse and equitable organisation.

She is married to Colin and has three children: Taonga, 16; Tiniso, 13; and Kulumbanya, 9. In her personal time, she loves playing golf, reading books, gardening, listening to gospel music, and interior decorating.