Mavuto Banda
Hull,East Yorkshire
Summary
Dynamic and innovative environment and development professional with 13+ years of invaluable experience working in Southern Africa on landscape restoration, natural resources management, nature-based enterprise development, climate change adaptation and resilience building, environmental rehabilitation, financial inclusion, and social justice. Strives to use scientific and local knowledge for inclusive and sustainable development .
Overview
13
13
years of professional experience
Work History
PhD Researcher
University of Hull
- Impact of global policies on local development trajectories with a focus on effects of child labour bans in Malawi's commercial tea and tobacco estates on lived experiences of children, families, and communities
- Conference paper presentation on Child labour bans in Malawi's commercial agriculture: Implications for future interventions: African Futures conference at the European Conference of African Studies, University of Cologne, : 31 May to 4 June 2023
- Teaching Foundation year and third-year geography and environmental sciences students as a Graduate Teaching Assistant.
Associate Fellow
Teaching
- And Learning (UK University Teaching Qualification)
- Development of teaching and learning materials for first year and third year environment and geography students (2022/2023 academic year)
- Designing, planning, and conducting qualitative and quantitative research
- Organising and facilitating seminars and conferences for research dissemination within the School of Environmental Sciences
- Analysing qualitative and quantitative data using NVivo, SPSS, Epi Info, and Excel, among others
- Questionnaire formulation and electronic data collection Open Data Kit (ODK) tools such as Kobo Collect
- Designing, planning, and implementation of policy analysis studies.
National (and Assistant Regional) Climate, Agriculture
- Coordinator-Concern Worldwide: 2011: Funded by Irish Aid and implemented by local partners
- Led a Climate Smart Agriculture Project where 8725 farmers in Lilongwe, Dowa and Nkhotakota districts in Malawi, Katete in Zambia and Gwanda in Zimbabwe adopted and are practicing climate-smart agriculture, with a 45% average increase in maize yield in the first year
- Sub granted and coordinated programme implementation with partners staff, 5 sub-granted partners engaged in implementation of climate smart agriculture programmes on the ground
- Developed and executed projects budgets, work plans and timelines
- Trained 48 partners staff on climate smart agriculture, agroforestry, and project management
- Monitored and evaluated projects, and reporting.
Intern
Malawi University of Science and Technology, MUST
01.2022 - 06.2022
- Developed the academic progress monitoring forms for postgraduate students
- Participated in the evaluation of postgraduate studentship applications
- Participated in the review of the postgraduate handbook-a guide for postgraduate studies at MUST.
and Business Support Coordinator
Natural Resources Management
01.2016 - 01.2020
- As part of Malawi Tea2020 consortium whose partners included Ethical Tea Partnership and its members, Tea Association of Malawi, GIZ, Fairtrade International, Rainforest Alliance, Global Living Wage Coalition, United Nations Global Compact, Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Labour, and Ministry of Trade, among others
- Led a team where 300,000+ tree seedlings of various species were raised and transplanted, with over 87% survival rate in tea farming communities
- 300+ farmers trained and equipped with beekeeping materials, including beehives, and the number of beehives (additional beehives purchased by farmers themselves using proceeds from sales of bee products) increased by 440% in 3 years
- Established ten clay fuel-efficient cookstove, predominantly women, production groups, trained and equipped with stove making and marketing skills, 9000+ stoves produced and sold to the tea farming community (these stoves reduce firewood use by between 40-60%)
- Initiated and led an off-grid electricity project: 4500+ tea farmers and commercial tea estates workers not connected to the national grid got access to solar home solutions providing electricity to around 27,000 people in the tea-growing communities
- I am a trained child labour auditor- trained in Northern Uganda (Nebbi District) Coffee plantations
- I have been a team member for a child labour project where 640 primary school pupils and twenty-two teachers trained and engaged in identifying/spotting characteristics of child labour in their peers
- Initiated and led a village savings and loans association programme where over 14,000 tea farmers and tea estate workers trained and engaged in village savings and could access loans from their group savings
- 1450+ small-scale businesses established and run by tea farming households
- Leading and managing partnerships in the Malawi Tea2020 Consortium on Energy efficiency, Environmental Sustainability and Financial Inclusion Pillars on behalf of Ethical Tea Partnership in Malawi, partners included Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), Oxfam, Rainforest Alliance, Tea Association of Malawi, GIZ, Malawi Government, and Smallholder Farmers Tea Associations, among others
- Up-scaled Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs) project in other tea sourcing countries namely, Kenya, Rwanda, India, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka
- Staff responsibility: supervising staff in the environmental management and business support units (62 staff members).
Regional Development Officer/ Research Fellow
Malawi Renewable Energy Acceleration Programme
01.2012 - 01.2016
- Multi-stakeholder project implemented by the Malawi Polytechnic, Mzuzu University, Energy, , University of Strathclyde, United Purpose with funding from Scottish Government
- Connected 12 + public schools in rural southern Malawi with off-grid solar electricity to enhance educational outcomes for children in rural areas
- Connected 4 rural public health facilities in Southern Malawi with off-grid solar electricity and improving service delivery for rural populations
- Installed 8 rural public schools and health facilities with solar-powered water supply points to improve access to clean water and service delivery in rural communities
- Established and equipped seventeen cookstove production groups that produced and marketed 15,600 fuel efficient clay cookstoves
- Multi-stakeholder reporting and engagement of all project stakeholders, including the University of Malawi, the University of Strathclyde, the Malawi Government-Department of Energy Affairs, the Scottish Government, and United Purpose (formerly Concern Universal).
Projects Manager
Mwanza River Catchment, Wildlife and Environmental Society of Malawi, WESM
01.2009 - 01.2012
- Funded by World Bank through Christian Aid Malawi
- Trained 750 farmers who adopted and are practicing climate-smart agriculture; farmers reported crop resilience during dry spells and improved harvest
- Trained 900+ households equipped and engaged in nature-based enterprises using non-timber forest products (beekeeping, mushroom production, wild fruits winemaking)
- Raised 200,000+ tree seedlings which were planted by the communities in Mwanza River Catchment
- Established 28 wildlife clubs established and trained in the Mwanza River catchment, clubs engaged in various climate change adaptation and conservation initiatives in schools and surrounding communities
- I have supervised field implementation staff (16).
Education
PhD - Human Geography
University of Hull
2023
MA - Global Development and Social Justice
St. John's University
2019
BSc - Natural Resources Management
University of Malawi (Bunda College of Agriculture)
2008
Skills
- Data evaluation
- Administrative tasks
- Operations support
- Telephone etiquette
- Billing and coding
- Qualitative research
- Findings analysis
- Discussion facilitation
- Syllabus development
- Classroom management
- Child development
- Programme development and management
- Lecture planning
- Literature analysis
Accomplishments
- Consultancies conducted (Lead Consultant):
- Translation of Farmer Business School Manual from English to Chichewa on behalf of GIZ Malawi in 2017, which mainly covers value chains of tea and other crops cultivated by tea farmers in Malawi, such as maise, pigeon peas and pineapples-Individual consultant
- Improved Cook Stove Value Chain Mapping in Malawi for Area 55 Consulting Firm in 2014/15 across the country-Leading consultant
- Board Membership
- Served as a member of the National Clean Cooking Steering Committee (formerly of National Cookstove Steering Committee hosted by Energizing Development (EnDev-GIZ) from 2019-2020
- Main responsibilities included assessing national clean cookstove options and propose any changes to government
- Was part of the team that lobbied for changes in tax regime around cooking gas and stoves to improve access and affordability of the same for cleaner environment
- Motto design competition: Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA)-second prize out of 600 entrants
- Entered the competition with a motto, “Regulating energy for sustainable economic development.” I entered the competition in my final undergraduate year at Bunda College of Agriculture (University of Malawi), now a stand-alone Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, with an aim of contributing to sustainable development in Malawi through sustainable energy use.
Languages
Chichewa
Native language
English
Fluent
A1
Portuguese
Beginner
A1
Timeline
Intern
Malawi University of Science and Technology, MUST
01.2022 - 06.2022
and Business Support Coordinator
Natural Resources Management
01.2016 - 01.2020
Regional Development Officer/ Research Fellow
Malawi Renewable Energy Acceleration Programme
01.2012 - 01.2016
Projects Manager
Mwanza River Catchment, Wildlife and Environmental Society of Malawi, WESM
01.2009 - 01.2012
PhD Researcher
University of Hull
Associate Fellow
Teaching
National (and Assistant Regional) Climate, Agriculture
PhD - Human Geography
University of Hull
MA - Global Development and Social Justice
St. John's University
BSc - Natural Resources Management
University of Malawi (Bunda College of Agriculture)
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