Irish Rule of Law International has appointed Lindiwe Sibande as Country Director in Malawi, succeeding Susie Kiely, who has led IRLI's work in the country for the past several years.
Former IRLI Malawi Country Director Susie Kiely, with Lindiwe Sibande, Country Director of IRLI Malawi.
A Malawian lawyer and long-standing member of IRLI's team, Lindiwe takes up the role at an important point in the development of IRLI's work in Malawi.
Her appointment reflects a wider commitment to locally led development — ensuring that the knowledge, expertise and leadership needed to shape sustainable justice reform increasingly sit within the countries and communities in which IRLI works.
The majority of IRLI's team in Malawi is already Malawian. As IRLI enters its next phase of work in the country, the organisation wants to build on that foundation by investing further in Malawian leadership and expertise, and supporting justice reforms that are locally shaped, responsive to the communities they serve and capable of being sustained over the long term.
Lindiwe's appointment also builds on the work undertaken under outgoing Country Director Susie Kiely, whose leadership has helped strengthen IRLI's programmes, partnerships and team in Malawi.
Localisation is increasingly recognised across international development as being about more than where programmes are delivered. It is about who has the authority to shape them, whose expertise informs them and who is positioned to sustain progress over time.
For IRLI, that means continuing to move towards approaches in which local justice actors and institutions are not simply participants in reform, but leaders in determining how that reform develops.
As Lindiwe takes the helm, her appointment represents both continuity and change: building on IRLI's established work in Malawi while placing Malawian leadership firmly at the centre of its future.
IRLI's work in Malawi is supported by Irish Aid, The Law Society of Ireland, The Bar of Ireland, The Law Society of Northern Ireland, and the Bar of Northern Ireland.