Sociologist / Social Work / Gender expert – Elita Chamdimba is a Research Fellow at the University of Malawi’s Centre for Social Research (CSR) since 2018. Currently, she  is pursuing her PhD in social work at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow Scotland.

Her research interests fall under CSRs thematic pillar of youth, gender and disability. In line with this Elita has conducted empirical studies on power dynamics, gender roles and norms, girls’ education, gender and youth. Elita’s key expertise is taking lead as expert sociologist in projects such as the Baseline Survey for Land Reform study for the Malawi Ministry of Lands; the IMAGINE 2019 study; the PPA (pregnant and parenting adolescents) 2021 study and formative and baseline studies in the focus area of violence against women and girls.

Recently, Elita was one of the research fellows under the Political Economy Analysis (PEA) of sub-national health management in eastern and southern Africa. Her roles involved producing a strong report for partners such as UNICEF-Malawi and disseminating findings among stakeholders in implementing districts.

Recent publications:

• Chamdimba. E. & Breimo. J, I, P. (2020). Negotiating Identities and Power: Adolescent Motherhood and Child Marriage in central Malawi. Accepted for December 2020 publication in Journal of comparative social work

• Hampshire, K; Mwase-Vuma, T; Abane, A, Alemu, K; Munthali, A; Mariwah, S; Awoke, T; Chamdimba, E; Owusu, S, A; Robson, E; Castelli, M; Shkedy, Z; Shawa, N; Abel, J; Kasim, A, S (2020). Informal Mhealth at Scale in Africa: Opportunities and Challenges. Accepted for publication in the World development journal. WD-15896R1.

International Conferences Where Papers Were Presented:

• Africanist Perspectives on Gender Justice and Equality, 21-22 March 2019

• 1st Kamuzu Central Hospital research symposium and national dissemination, 11-12 September 2019

• 8th African Population Conference, UAPS Uganda, 2019 – 18-22 November 2019

• Malawi College of Medicine 23rd Research dissemination conference 7-8 November 2019

• National Commission for Science and Technology (3^rd National research dissemination conference) to be presented on 18-20 November 2020