Author: Irene Umba Zalira
Irene Umba Zalira, is a savvy, thoughtful and well-spoken young leader with a passion for women’s rights and sexual and reproductive health. Umba is a 2014-2015 Global Health Corps alumna, where she served as the Partnership and Program Officer at the Malawi Ministry of Health. An avid blogger, Umba wrote about maternal health efforts in Malawi for GHC and also published a piece on street harassment in Malawi. Umba co-founded Growing Ambitions, a non-profit organization that provides career guidance and mentorship services to girls and young women in peri-urban areas. She is currently working with Theatre for A Change as the Community Monitoring Evaluation and Learning Manager and was recently selected as a Women Deliver Young Leader for the 2015-18 class. Umba is a highly networked young advocate; she’s a member of Rotaract Club of Lilongwe, the Young African Feminist Network, and the EmGENDER Network.