Director of Programs at the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center for Women and Development, Liberia

Rumbidzai is the Director of Programs at the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center for Women and Development (EJS Center). In this role, she leads the Amujae Initiative, the EJS Center’s flagship program, which prepares women to unapologetically take up roles in the highest echelons of public leadership.  

She is one of 12 globally identified civic innovators who were part of the inaugural class of Obama Foundation Scholars (2018 -2019). She completed a leadership development residency at Columbia University in New York City as an Obama Scholar. Prior to that, she was a Program Manager at the Mandela Institute for Development Studies (MINDS), a pan-African think tank that advocates for the adoption of Afrocentric approaches in addressing the continent’s socioeconomic development challenges. Ms. Chisenga was instrumental in setting up the MINDS Scholarship Program for Leadership Development, developing the program’s operational processes at inception. She was also in charge of the MINDS Youth Program on Elections and Governance, a civic education initiative that equips African youth for meaningful participation in governance. Under this program, Ms. Chisenga coordinated an alumni network spread across 53 African countries. 

Ms. Chisenga worked in the private sector as a cross-sectoral management consultant for over seven years and has previously founded a social enterprise. 

She received a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce (Economics and Accounting) from Rhodes University in South Africa and a Master’s degree in Management (Entrepreneurship) from Wits Business School in South Africa.