On September 28^th 2015, Zambian AWARD Fellows, Mentors and Fellow mentees gathered at the Indaba Agricultural Policy Research Institute (IAPRI), in Lusaka, Zambia. The purpose of the meeting was to develop objectives and activities to be undertaken by ZaWARD, the Zambian country chapter of AWARD.

In his brief remarks, the AWARD Deputy Director, Raymond Brandes, noted that the meeting was organized for the Zambian AWARD alumni as an opportunity to develop strategies on how to engage as ZaWARD, and how AWARD would be able to support and work with the network, to accomplish common goals. IAPRI was proposed to be the host organization for ZaWARD, a proposal accepted by the IAPRI Executive Director, Mr. Chance Kabaghe. Kabaghe encouraged the women to pull others up, even as they work hard and excel. He also noted that the fellows were a dynamic and vibrant group that had everything set out for them and therefore had no reason to fail. He acknowledged Dr. Judith Lungu; the first woman to be appointed Dean in Zambia at the University of Zambia, and is currently serving as the Deputy Vice Chancellor at Mulungushi University, while also an AWARD Mentor, who was in attendance.

The fellows came up with a number of strategies, relating to the activities in which ZaWARD would like to be engaged in, for instance, starting with taking inventory of AWARD Fellowship participants from Zambia, their research areas and interests, creating a ZaWARD database.

At the meeting, an interim executive committee was selected from present participants to drive the network in its formative stage. The interim executive committee will be working towards developing a roadmap for the network, and operational objectives.

For more information on AWARD country chapters, kindly contact AWARD Deputy Director of Learning and Outreach, Raymond Brandes at award_ddlo@cgiar.org.

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