We are pleased to announce the election of a new chair of the Board of Trustees, Farai Joice Samhungu who replaces Professor Lloyd Sachikonye who served for five years as the first and founding chair.

Ms. Samhungu brings outstanding expertise in communications and advocacy drawn from her extensive work for a variety of press and international non-governmental organisations.  Notably, she has served as the Regional Director of Inter Press Service (a news agency) for seven years and before that as a communication advocacy specialist for the United Nations Population Fund, as well as several other international NGOs.  Currently, she is the Director of CommsConsult, an international organisation that helps clients develop and execute sensible communication strategies in all aspects of their work.  Her consultancies provided analytical and training services in strategic planning, change management, media engagement, gender-targeted messaging almost all exclusively focused on using the media to advocate for improved development outcomes through their programming.  In addition, her training and mentoring expertise in helping sub-Saharan Africa think tanks effectively communicate their research findings and recommendations is particularly valuable to RAU.

Ms. Samhungu holds a Masters in Mass Communications (awarded with merit) from the University of Leicester, UK and has been a RAU Trustee since 2016.

The new chair is available for consultations and is interested in receiving feedback from stakeholders on how RAU can better use its trustworthy and independent research to achieve greater citizen engagement with government and its decision makers.  Please contact Mr. Shastry Njeru at +263 719151988 or email director@rau.co,zw  if you would like to arrange a meeting with Ms. Samhungu.