Finalist — Individual Award: Dorothy Ngoma
In 2002 Dorothy Ngoma, a lecturer at Kamuzu College of Nursing in Blantyre, set out to rescue the Malawi nurses’ union. It meant leaving her family behind and moving to Lilongwe, the capital, but it was necessary.
The organisation was losing numbers rapidly — by then there were fewer than 50 nurses and midwives as members — and it was failing to make an impact in the labour sector. The National Organisation of Nurses and Midwives of Malawi had a crucial role to play.
Founded in 1979, its aims included safeguarding nurses’ and midwives’ professional, organisational and socioeconomic interests and influencing nursing education and practice. It was the first of its kind in the country.
In the eight years since — Ngoma was elected its director in 2006 — she has transformed what was an association into a union that is registered under the Labour Relations Act of Malawi.
Today it boasts more than 6 500 members. It was just one of the projects this global anti-poverty campaigner and women’s rights activist has taken on in her career. But nursing has always come first.
Growing up in a village drew her to the profession. “As a young girl the women who motivated me were the nurses, the way they dressed and the care they gave. I looked up to them and I’ve never looked back,” she says.
Ngoma studied at the Blantyre School of Nursing. Concerned about sexual and reproductive health issues and while she was still a university lecturer, she took up the challenge in 1995 to revive Banja La Mtsogolo, a reproductive health NGO whose name means “Family of the Future”.
“I managed to revamp it from three clinics to 26 health centres across the country, including the rural areas, providing both oral contraceptives and surgeries. It took me five years and it was the first of its kind,” she says.
She faced a number of challenges, because raising issues about reproductive health were still taboo in rural Malawi at the time. “We had to be very creative. Our first campaign was Children by Choice, not by Chance. This was going against the culture as the people believed that children are God-given.”
Ngoma regards reviving Banja La Mtsogolo as her biggest achievement. “I’m very proud of it. It is still the largest organisation on reproductive health in the country.”
She is also the ambassador for the Malawi chapter of the Global Call to Action against Poverty, acting as a torchbearer and champion for an acceleration to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
“When I speak, people listen,” she says matter-of-factly. This keeps her going and motivates her to speak for the voiceless. “The fact that I am able to carry these burdens for a weaker part of society, I am able to speak on their behalf and get a reaction. That gives me the impetus to keep pushing.”
The vision of Malawi that she holds dear is to see an adequate number of midwives and nurses to help reduce the maternal mortality rate. “Currently we have 9 000 field nurses and midwives. I’m hoping in my lifetime that that number will triple. Then I can say we’ve fought a good battle,” she says.
Through her work Ngoma aims to show that women can achieve outstanding performance and inspire the world. “I feel very strongly that where women lead, you see the fruit. Their actions always produce positive outcomes.
“They are more grounded and concerned with social issues and things that are crucial for survival,” she says. “And it’s those things that we are grappling with as a developing country.”
The judges recognised Ngoma as a driver of change for inspiring other women to achieve outstanding results by influencing the decisions of leaders to take the poor and marginalised into account.