Inonge Lewanika

Ambassador Lewanika "was born in west Zambia and is Zambia’s Ambassador to the United States. From 1980 to 1990, she worked with UNICEF in key leadership roles in Africa. Then, in Zambia, she became one of the few female founding members of the movement for Multiparty Democracy in 1991 but later resigned and was elected as the founding president of the National Party. In 1995, she led a United Nations delegation to Burundi and Rwanda to assess the effects of the genocide. Lewanika holds a doctorate in early childhood and primary education from New York University. She was a founding board member of the International Youth Foundation." 

" 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."


 * Honorary Chair, Friends of Zambia
 * Director, ImagineNations Group