ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳

Elizabeth Nyamayaro knows her ducks and, especially, her mission. Her intel on ducks comes from southern Egypt, where a ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ (WFP) project built resilience and women¡¯s empowerment in a deeply conservative community.

Her mission was forged from battling extreme hunger as a child in rural Zimbabwe. That¡¯s where a chance encounter with a United Nations worker landed Nyamayaro, decades later, into her role as a ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳special adviser, a position she held between 2021 and July of this year.

¡°I can¡¯t think of any greater or more noble cause than to fight to end global hunger,¡± says Nyamayaro, an award-winning humanitarian, author and development leader and author. ¡°As someone from the global south, I feel have a personal responsibility to advocate for supporting communities like mine that are on the frontlines of global hunger.¡± 

Today, Nyamayaro has literally begun a new chapter in her humanitarian career. She¡¯s working on two books, one fiction and the other nonfiction, which explore gender and other global inequalities, and how to build inclusive communities and workplaces. 

¡°Stories are a powerful way to create empathy,¡± she says. ¡°That¡¯s why in my next phase, I really wanted to focus on telling stories of communities ¨C and humanizing stories of people from other cultures who might otherwise be viewed as ¡®the Other¡¯. 

With a Masters¡¯ from the London School of Economics and two decades working in top global development posts ¨C many of them at UN agencies like ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳¨C Nyamayaro has the academic and hands-on credentials to buttress her narratives.

In 2014, as a senior adviser to UN Women, she launched the groundbreaking HeForShe movement, inviting men and boys to board a global drive for gender equality. It became one of the UN¡¯s most successful social movements, generating 1.2 billion online conversations by men within its first five days. 

In 2021, Nyamayaro was appointed ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳special adviser, travelling to some of the planet¡¯s most fragile communities. She used her online and offline platforms to amplify their difficult and sometimes uplifting stories, along with WFP¡¯s impact in changing their lives.

But it is Nyamayaro¡¯s childhood, growing up in an impoverished village in Zimbabwe, that serves as her lodestar ¨C one she describes in her 2021 book, I Am a Girl from Africa.

¡°I was raised by my gogo, my grandmother, in a small agro-community,¡± Nyamayaro says. ¡°We grew our crops together, we harvested together. There was abundance, because the food was shared by everyone.¡± 

Then came a crippling drought, drying out water and also food supplies. It left Nyamayaro and other villagers on the edge of starvation. The arrival of a UNICEF worker helped to save them. 

¡°That experience sparked my dream to become a humanitarian,¡± Nyamayaro says, adding, ¡°I¡¯m now on the other side ¨C living that dream.¡±

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Her work as ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳special adviser took Nyamayaro to many other poor villages around the world, often visiting projects that are empowering women and girls. 

In Zambia, she saw how a ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳initiative giving tens of thousands of women farmers drought-resistant seeds and training on climate-smart practices is transforming agriculture and lives. 

¡°They¡¯re able to grow other types of food beyond corn,¡± the country¡¯s staple crop that is vulnerable to climate extremes, she says, and send their children to school.

In the traditional Aswan region of southern Egypt, Nyamayaro saw a rare upside to the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to a ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳income-generating project targeting women. 

With coronavirus restrictions keeping male farmers from their fields, the women became family breadwinners for the first time, rearing and selling ducks bought with ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳loans. 

¡°When lockdown ended, pretty much every husband whose wife had received a ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳loan said, ¡®I think you should keep on working¡¯,¡± Nyamayaro recalls. ¡°It was such a simple but powerful way to empower women.¡±

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Studies show that investing in women¡¯s and girls¡¯ nutrition is essential to sustainable development: one reason why ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳reached more than nine million pregnant and breastfeeding women and girls last year with malnutrition prevention and treatment.  

¡°We are realizing that to get to zero hunger, food is not enough ¨C we need to make sure people are consuming the right nutrition at the right time to save and change lives,¡± Nyamayaro says. 

¡°I¡¯m not speaking in an abstract way,¡± she adds. ¡°I¡¯m speaking from my own experience in Zimbabwe and visiting other communities on the frontlines of hunger. Women and girls tend to eat least, and to eat last.¡±

Now, she will be communicating these messages in her writing. 

¡°Once a humanitarian, always a humanitarian,¡± Nyamayaro says. ¡°My goal is really to explore what that means. Being on the frontlines, but also using stories, which are the universal language of connection. That¡¯s what I hope to achieve.¡±

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