Tomaida Banda

Program Officer

As a Program Officer, Tomaida manages Firelight’s child marriage and girls’ empowerment initiatives in Tanzania, Malawi, and Rwanda.

Tomaida is a social worker by profession and holds a Masters Degree in Social Work from the University of Zimbabwe. She has 18 years of experience in child protection and development work, as well as in capacity building of community-based organizations. She has worked with both government and civil society. She joined Firelight from Child Protection Society (CPS), a former Firelight grantee-partner in Zimbabwe, where she served as the Executive Director.  CPS is a child rights organization that works with communities to bring about change in the lives of vulnerable children and their families and focuses mainly on the reintegration of children outside family care, community-based care of children, girls empowerment, early childhood stimulation, and access to early education and development for vulnerable children.

From to 2015 to 2018, she also served as the Chairperson of the Child Welfare Council of Zimbabwe, which advises the Minister of Social Services on matters relating to the welfare and well-being of children and monitors the overall situation of vulnerable children in the country.