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Draft:Cynthia Chigwenya

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Cynthia Chigwenya
Cynthia Chigwenya briefing 9315th United Nation Security Council in 2023.
African Youth Ambassador for Peace (AYAP) for Southern Africa
In office
February 2022 – April 2024
Personal details
Born
Cynthia Chigwenya

1996 (age 28–29)
Kadoma
Nationality Zimbabwean
Occupation
  • Peace advocate
  • diplomat
  • speaker
Awards
  • 30 Inspirational African Youth Leaders 2023
  • Most Influential Persons of African Descent (MIPAD)


Cynthia Chigwenya (born. 1996) is a Zimbabwean political researcher and pracademic. She is one of five regional ambassadors appointed by the African Union as African Youth Ambassador for Peace (AYAP) for Southern Africa, under the Political Affairs, Peace and Security (PAPS) division in 2021.[1][2][3][4]

Background and education

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Cynthia Chigwenya was born in 1996 in Kadoma, Zimbabwe and she grew up in the city of Bulawayo. She holds a Bachelor of Social Sciences (B.Soc.Sci) in Criminology and International Studies from Monash University which she attained between 2015 and 2018. This was followed by a Bachelor of Arts (B.A) Honors in Development Studies, summa cum laude, from the University of Johannesburg in South Africa which she completed in 2019. She then pursued a Master of Arts (M.A) in Development Studies from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, graduating between 2020 and 2021. Additionally, she holds a Master of Philosophy (M.Phil) in Social Policy and Development, with distinction, from the University of Johannesburg, South Africa which she earned between 2020 and 2022. In 2021 she became a Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Scholar with the Witwatersrand University.[5][6]

Career

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Cynthia Chigwenya began her career in 2018 as a Graduate Researcher for the National Commission For The Fight Against Genocide in Kigali, Rwanda. She was also a contributor to the United Nations Convention on the Prevention of Genocides report. She then became a Research Scholar for the South African Institute of International Affairs in 2020 to 2021 where she worked under the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), the two houses of South Africa’s bicameral parliament.[7][8]

In 2019 Cynthia became a TEDx Speaker with TED Lyttleton Women in South Africa where she gave her debut TEDx presentation.[9][10] In 2022 she was appointed African Union’s Youth Ambassador for Southern Africa[11] under the Political Affairs, Peace and Security (PAPS) division to represent youth peacebuilders. In this role, she engaged government ministries and departments, advocating for and facilitating the adoption of National Action Plans (NAPs) on Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) in Africa and her term ended in April 2024. During her tenure, she briefed the AU’s Peace and Security Council (PSC) on quarterly meetings with the network then in 2023, she briefed the 9315th meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on future-proofing trust for peacebuilding.[12]

In 2023, Cynthia facilitated youth consultations in Burundi, which led to the endorsement and adoption of the Bujumbura Declaration on Youth, Peace and Security in Africa by AU member-states.

Cynthia was appointed programme coordinator at the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung through which she collaborated with several organisations promoting SDGs and the Agenda 2063 in Africa. In this position, she was the project coordinator for the Europe-Africa Parliamentary Conference, held in Namibia, facilitating exchange between parliamentarians on shared policy priorities, development and security in 2023. She previously held research positions in the South African Parliament and at the National Genocide Commission in Rwanda.

Academic lectures and talks

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  • Guest Lecturer – “A Shifting Global Policy Context: from American Dominance to a Multipolar World,” the Max Bell School of Public Policy, McGill University, Canada, (2024).
  • Keynote Speaker – The Cooper Series Symposium, Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania, (2024).
  • Guest Lecturer – Africa Regional Studies Course Lesson 10: “Regional Dynamics and the Africa of Tomorrow,” the United States Army and War College (USWAC), Carlisle, PA., (2024).
  • Guest Speaker and Discussant – Thought Leadership Chat on Women, Peace and Security, Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa, the London School of Economics and Politics (LSE), UK., (2024).
  • Guest Lecturer – “The Youth, Peace and Security Agenda,” ESSL Seminars, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS), National Defense University, Washington, D.C., (2023).
  • Briefer – “Futureproofing Trust for Peacebuilding,” 9315th Meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), United Nations, New York, May 2023.
  • Public Lecture on Governance by former Canadian Prime Minister Rt. Stephen Harper.

Publications

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  • Chigwenya, C., (2023). ‘Building Peace through the Cracks: Analysing Youth Participation in Formal Peacebuilding in Africa,’ ACCS, National Defense University.
  • Chigwenya, C., (2023). ‘Futureproofing Trust for Sustaining Peace,’ Security Council Report, United Nations: New York, Page 5 of 5[13]
  • Chigwenya, C., (2022). ‘Bandwagoning or Intended Action?’: Examining Zimbabwe’s Legal Framework on Peacebuilding’ In Mpofu, M. Eds., Memory and Erasure: Gukurahundi and the Culture of Violence in Zimbabwe.
  • Shipalana, P., and Chigwenya, C., (2020), ‘The Impact of Covid-19 on Green Development,’ South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), Johannesburg, South Africa.
  • Chigwenya, C., (2021). ‘Multilateral Cooperation? A Conundrum Amid the Covid-19 Pandemic’ in Adero,N, J., & Juma, Eds., The Future of Africa in the Post-COVID-19 World (pp. 137-148). Nairobi: Inter-Regional Economic Network (IREN)
  • Chigwenya., C., (2019), ‘Post-Conflict Identity.’ TEDx Talk. TED Lyttleton Women[14]

Recognition

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  • Certificate in Civic Leadership by the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), the United States Department of State 2018
  • Global Excellence and Stature (GES) Award Recipient, 2019
  • Dean’s List and Top Achievers Award Recipient, University of Johannesburg 2020
  • Common Purpose Global Citizenship Fellow, University of Birmingham 2021
  • Young Achiever of Year Award Nominee, Zimbabwe Achievers Awards (ZAA) 2022[15]
  • Most Influential Persons of African Descent (MIPAD) Global 100 under 40 Honoree, United Nations-affiliated 2022[16]
  • 30 Inspirational African Youth Leaders 2023[17]

References

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