The Chairperson for the African Union has appointed Chido Cleo Mpemba from Zimbabwe as the next African Union Youth Envoy.
Chido Cleopatra Melba is taking over from Aya Chebbi from Tunisia.
Mpemba was born and bred in Zimbabwe.
She is an award-winning Pan-African youth activist who is on the mission to use her strengths, influence and voice to lead work that changes the lives of young people in communities across Africa.
She attended Girls College in Bulawayo Zimbabwe where she attained her GCSE Cambridge A-Level Business Studies between 2001-2006.
Chido then continued to the University of Cape Town, South Africa. There, she obtained a Bachelor of Social Science with majors in Human Resource, Organisational Psychology, Labour Law, Training. In 2016, Chido obtained an MBA from THe Midlands State University (MSU) in Zimbabwe.
Chido began her career as a banker and has since worked with several institutions across the globe to coordinate and manage youth-focused initiatives.
Many of her projects have focused on social equity, policy advocacy and climate change.
Chido has demonstrated a passion for unlocking the potential for the socio-economic benefit of young people and women. She is one of the pioneers behind the first-ever Youth Presidential Town Hall Meeting, a historical moment in Africa as it was the first time young people initiated and led discussions between young citizens in dialogue with Head of State and Government Ministers to promote inter-generational leadership, policy dialogue, action and change.
Chido has been featured in the book of Top 100 Founding Go-Getter Millennials and the Women Excel book of Successful Zimbabwean Women. She was a 2016 Mandela Washington fellow (YALI) at Dartmouth College, Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and Social Sciences.
