Our Team

Executive Director – Constance Mugari:  Constance is the founder and Executive Director of the Wo men Advocacy Project Trust. In 2010 She graduated with a Diploma in Business Leadership (EDBL) at the Zimbabwe Institute of Management “an autonomous, non-profit making, membership-based organisation founded in 1957 with the objective to promote and develop best practices in management and leadership. She is currently working to end child marriage by improve living conditions of most vulnerable and underprivileged groups of women and girls in communities of Harare.

Program Manager – Akenga Dickson Mnyaci: Mr. Mnyaci is the deputy Director of the Women Advocacy Project. Before he joined WAP in 2012, Akenga spent 3 years working as a volunteer assistant field officer with the Women’s Self Promotion Movement in Harare. At WSPM he was responsible for assisting in different phases of designing, developing, and implementing the program activities, he made inquiries and campaigned on a variety of women and girls’ rights subjects including child marriage and gender-based violence in his assigned community areas including Mbare, Glen-view, and Kwadzana in Harare. He is a holder of an Advanced Diploma in Business Management, an advanced certificate in community and social service, and a certificate in computer studies “Speciss College Harare”. Dickson has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Media Studies student at Zimbabwe Open University.

Club Coordinator – Sister Moleen Marufu: Moleen has been overseeing our girls ‘clubs activities in Chitungwiza, Hopely, Mbare, Waterfalls and Epworth.  She previously worked for 12 years serving at Chicken Licken in Pretoria, republic of South Africa. She served 2 years as Boarding Matron at Riversidale in Chivu, Zimbabwe. She has a Diploma and Certificate in leadership, Certificate in Christian leadership. Moleen possess good communication and team building skills; she is hard working, self-motivated, honest and loyal.

Girls Ambassador Epworth – Trish Makanhiwa: Trish is currently leading our girl club in Epworth. Trish was recruited in 2018 together with other four intelligent and tough-minded girls who received training in child marriage, child rights, reproductive health, and mentoring. She completed her secondary education and acquired good results at ordinary and advanced level exams. She is a very disciplined girl with good quality of leadership, self-motivated, hardworking, loyal and a good communicator. When Trish was younger, she lived in a rural village and had a boyfriend. She says: “When I moved here, my Auntie grabbed me by the ears and warned me off boys saying, ‘this is Harare.’ Now I have no boyfriend.”  Read Trish’s blog

Girls Ambassador Choitungwiza – Evelyn Kuzivakwashe Sachiti: Evelyn is currently leading our club in Chitungwiza. Evelyn, 21, completed her Ordinary Level Exam but did not get the degree certificate because she could not afford the $295 fee. Evelyn was studying Shona, Literature, and History and hopes to one day study sociology at University. Evelyn has supported WAP since the start. She attended WAP’s “Stand Up, Speak Out” anti-child marriage trainings and has also participated in WAP’s recent “Give Us Books, Not Husbands” March. Evelyn was one of the first girl ambassadors and says that she now talks to her friends about the dangers associated with early marriage. Evelyn also has a strong vision for her own future: “I’ll only get married when I have completed university and I have worked. I want to be independent first.”  Evelyn starred in the video ‘The Soap Makers of Chitungwiza.’

2018 Peace Fellow – Alex Kotowski: Alex was studying for an MA in Public Administration at the School of International & Public Affairs, Columbia University. when she was selected to serve as the first AP Peace Fellow to work at WAP in 2018. Alex holds an undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University, where she wrote her honors thesis about Roma political mobilization and the far right in Europe. She has also interned at Amnesty International, the Legal Aid Society of New York, and the Romedia Foundation. Before coming to Columbia, Alex spent five years at Human Rights Watch where she supported research and advocacy on a range of women’s rights issues, including gender-based violence, reproductive and maternal health, women and girls in humanitarian emergencies, the rights of indigenous women, and child marriage. Alex also conducted field research on the water crisis on First Nation reservations in Canada. While as SIPA, Alex was a graduate research intern with UNICEF and worked on the intersection of child protection and gender-based violence prevention in humanitarian emergencies. Read Alex’s blogs about her work at WAP. View Alex’s photos of WAP’s work.

2019 Peace Fellow – McLane Harrington: McLane was the second Peace Fellow to serve at WAP, in 2019. At the time she was a student at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy pursuing a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy. Her studies at Fletcher centered on human security, community-driven development and international power asymmetries. She also served as co-editor in chief of Fletcher’s human security journal. Before the Fletcher School, McLane graduated from college with a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Music Performance. and she worked at a classical music radio station. She also had the opportunity to work for two international organizations –MercyCorps and World Affairs Council. Read McLane’s blogs about her experience at WAP. View McLane’s photos of WAP’s work.

AP Zimbabwe Program Assistant – Malien Tingpalpong: Malien supports WAP’s program from The Advocacy Project in Washington. She is a freshman at American University, planning to major in journalism and political science. She is a part of the Mentorship Program DC. She is deeply committed to helping marginalized communities tell their stories.

AP Website Assistant – Abby Hack: Abby helps WAP through the management of their website. She is a senior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is majoring in global studies and history, with a concentration on human rights. She is very passionate about helping communities tackle human rights issues with their own initiative and is very grateful to have been able to help WAP in achieve their goals.