Co-Founder, Trustee and Founding Vice Chancellor

Professor Emeritus Hope Cynthia Sadza holds a PhD in Public Administration from the University of Zimbabwe. The title of her thesis is Critical Organisational Problems of Administering and Managing Social Development in a Newly Independent Public Service: The Case of Zimbabwe.  She did her Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Public Administration at the University of Missouri in the United States of America.  Professor Sadza did her High School Education at Goromonzi High.  She trained and qualified as a school teacher at Waddilove Teacher’s College.

Her work experience commenced as a teacher in 1964.  At Independence in 1980, she became Registrar of the Apprenticeship Authority in the Ministry of Manpower Planning and Development.  She is one of the founding Directors of the Zimbabwe Institute of Public Administration. From 1987 to 1989 she was a member of the Public Service Review Commission responsible for setting up structures of the Civil Service Commission now known as the Public Service Commission.  She was a Public Service Commissioner from 1990 to 2000.  Professor Sadza served on Boards and Trusts that include;

• Women’s University in Africa (WUA) Board of Trustees and Vice Chancellor and Founder of the University;
• Patron, National Blood Service Zimbabwe;
• Board Chairperson, Woman Excel Development Bank;
• Board Member, Securico Security Services;
• Non-Executive Director, British American Tobacco Zimbabwe;
• Board Member, Centre for Peace Initiatives in Africa;
• Trustee, Professional Women Executives Business Association;
• Non-Executive Director, Delta Corporation Ltd;
• Board Member, Barclays Bank of Zimbabwe Limited;
• Administrative Board for the International Association of Universities;
• Council Member, University of Venda;
• Co – Chair of the All Stakeholders Conference responsible for writing of the new Constitution of Zimbabwe (2009 – 2012)
• Acting Vice Chairperson, Joshua M. N. Nkomo Scholarship Trust;
• Trustee and Chairperson of the Commander of the Air Force of Zimbabwe Charity Fund;
• Trustee, Thokozani Khupe Cancer Foundation; and
• Member of the United Nations Women Civil Society Advisory Group.
• Professor Sadza has published on issues affecting women and children and has been commissioned to research on critical developmental issues. Below are some of her scholarly works:
• Consultant in Management, Women of Eastern and Southern Africa, 1988;
• Consultant to ESAMI, Arusha, Tanzania;
• Consultant, Women in Management of the Sub-Region, ECA, Women’s Division, 1988;
• Consultant to Camp III – ESAMI Seminar on Management Workshops, ESAMI, Harare;
• Consultant to the Foundation of African Women Educationists FAWE Headquarters, Nairobi Kenya, 2000;
• Lead Expert, Consultancy on the World Food Programme’s Zero Hunger Campaign Commissioned by the United Nations Secretary General, 2015; and
• Other various short-term consultancies in Zimbabwe on public service reforms.
• She has been recognised locally, regionally and internationally. Some of the accolades are as follows:
• Outstanding Zimbabwean honoured during the 2021 Heroes Day being conferred with the Order of the Star of Zimbabwe Silver by the President of Zimbabwe;
• One of the 50 Most Inspirational Women driving Zimbabwe to prosperity, a prestigious recognition by the Women’s Corporate Directors Network 2020 to 2021;
• Continental Life time Achiever, conferred by South Africa’s CEO Global Media Company at its 2016 Africa’s Most Influential Women in Business and Government Awards;
• SADC North Region Lifetime Achiever in the Education and Training category, 2016, Africa’s most influential Women in Business and Government Awards held in Zambia;
• 2016 Megafest Inaugural Women in Education Award;
• Honorary Award in Women’s Philanthropy – Philanthropy Institute of Zimbabwe, April 2014;
• LASOF Leadership Legacy Builder Award in Recognition of Distinguished Leadership in the Education Sector, November 2013; and
• Fulbright Scholar for the academic year 2009-2010, tenable at a university in the United States. The topic of her research was “The University as an Innovation Driver and Knowledge Centre”;
• Professor Sadza was married to the late Dr Davison Sadza and blessed with two children Mationesa and Gift.

Dr Fay Chung

Founder of the Women’s University in Africa. Dr Fay King Chung is a Zimbabwean. She was educated at the University of Zimbabwe, where she received her first degree (1962), her postgraduate Certificate in Education (1965) and her Doctorate (1999).
She also studied at Leeds University, where she obtained her M. Phil. In English Literature (1971) and has undertaken research at St Antony’s College, Oxford (1995). She diversified into economics and completed a distance-education degree at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London in 2002. Following retirement she enrolled in an honours degree program in Economic at the University of Zimbabwe.
Dr Chung’s career has been almost exclusively in education. As an undergraduate she was involved in organising students to teach house servants and workers in the vicinity of the campus. One of the tasks was to eradicate illiteracy. She has always had a vision to provide leadership in Africa through access to relevant quality tertiary education.

From 1963 to 1968 Dr Chung taught at high schools levels at Ascot and Harare High Schools in Zimbabwe. While studying for her M. Phil. Degree at Leeds University, she taught as a part-time lecturer at Leeds Polytechnic and at the Kitson College of Engineering from October 1968 to June 1970. She was a lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Zambia from 1971 to 1975. From 1975 to 1980 she worked fulltime for the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), in charge of teacher education and curriculum development for Zimbabwean refugees schools in Mozambique.
After Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, Dr Chung worked in various capacities in the Ministry of Education, including as the first acting director for the Zimbabwe Integrated National Teacher Education Course (ZINTEC), which was initiated at independence to train 9,000 primary teachers through a combination of face-to-face teaching and distance education; as head of educational planning in the ministry, with responsibility for planning the expansion for the primary, secondary and teacher training programs; as head of the curriculum development unit, tasked with transforming the curricula for primary and secondary schools; as deputy secretary in charge of school administration; and finally as minister of Education and Culture. She spent a total of 14 years in the government of Zimbabwe.

Dr Chung has been involved in a number of non-governmental organisations. She took part in the formation of the Zimbabwe Foundation for Education with Production (ZIMFEP), set up to provide education for war veterans and returning refugee children from Mozambique and Zambia. School leavers were assisted through placement in further training and in jobs, or through the establishment of cooperatives.
She has been a board member of the Zimbabwe Institute of Development Studies (ZIDS). She is a founder member of the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAEW), a network of education ministers, women university vice-chancellors and other women educational leaders in Africa, focused on strengthening the education of girls and women in Africa. Dr Chung is the founder member of the Association for Strengthening Higher Education for Women in Africa (ASHEWA).

Dr Chung’s work has an international dimension. She was a member of the Delors Commission Education and worked as the chief of the education cluster at UNICEF, New York (1993-98), then as the first director of the UNESCO International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA) in Addis Ababa (1998-2003). Between 1998 and 2003 she served as an honorary special advisor to the Organisation of African Union (OAU) and later to the African Union (AU).
Dr Chung is a member of the Zimbabwe National Education Advisory Board as of 18 March 2009.

Publications

Chung Fay, ‘Re-Living the Second Chimurenga: Memories from Zimbabwe’s Liberation Struggle,’ The Nordic Africa Institute, Weaver Press 2006

Dr Unesu Ushewokunze-Obatolu (BVM; MSc; MPVM; PhD)

Retired from the highest post in the public veterinary services, Dr Ushewokunze-Obatolu is a pathfinder woman veterinarian.  Born, raised and educated in Zimbabwe, she is the holder of a first university degree in Veterinary Medicine and a master’s in veterinary public health from Kenya, a Master’s degree in Veterinary Epidemiology from the United States of America and a doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from the University of Zimbabwe.

Her 40-year career beginning 1981 covered animal disease investigation, exploratory and descriptive animal health research, administration of public veterinary services involving animal disease surveillance, prevention and control, stakeholder advisory, technical capacity building, involvement in the development and oversight on the implementation of internationally compliant animal health standards, policies, regulations and strategies.

Dr Ushewokunze-Obatolu contributed to knowledge creation on various animal and zoonotic diseases of local importance evidenced through refereed original publications, conference papers and public awareness materials.  She was also instrumental in introducing and mainstreaming improved, contemporary technologies for the surveillance, diagnosis, prevention and control of animal and zoonotic diseases and pests, with broad aims to both enhance productivity, market competitiveness, public health and biodiversity conservation.  In addition, she produced. Animal health and production policy and strategy papers.

She was also active outside the animal health sphere, with outputs relevant to the educational system such as:

• an analytical report for the International Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR, The Hague, Netherlands, 1997) on the ‘Strengthening of the role of universities in the National Agricultural Research systems in Zimbabwe’ and
• an analysis of data on the participation of women and girls in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in Zimbabwe (UNESCO National Commission, 2004)
• She was a member of the founding committee of the Africa University’s Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources
• She was a member of the founding committee of the Mashonaland East University of Agriculture, Science and Technology

It was her personal experience, as a woman pathfinder which led her to explore gender aspects of women’s participation in the sciences. Between 2004 and 2013, she was co-opted as a board member of the International Network of Women in Engineering and Sciences (INWES), formed in 2003 with a vision of a better world through full and effective participation of women and girls in all aspects of STEM.  This would be achieved through influencing policies in STEM worldwide encouraging education, retention, support and advancement of professional women and students through international networking.

Dr Ushewokunze-Obatolu has at various periods served on statutory Boards of local public entities namely Tobacco Research Board, Cold Storage Company, the SIRDC, Pig Industry Board and the Agricultural Research Council of Zimbabwe.  She is a founding member of the Zimbabwe Academy of Sciences, the Biotechnology Trust of Zimbabwe and presently chairs the Board of Champion Farmer Seeds Company.

Presently, she is an expert certified and enlisted by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) for services in the evaluation of the performance of member country veterinary services.  Between 2020 and 2023, she served as one of six developing country advisors on capacity building, to the now gender-responsive Standards and Trade Development Facility of the World Trade Organisation. Further, she sits on the Technical and Scientific Committee of GALVmed an international NGO serving the veterinary medicinal interests of smallholder livestock producers in developing countries.

Dr Unesu Ushewokunze-Obatolu is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Women’s University in Africa beginning mid-2024.