CAMFED Malawi Board – Chair
Mr. McKnight Synos H.Kalanda is an accomplished educator who holds a Master of Arts in Educational Leadership and Management (MA ELM) degree from the Institute of Education, University of London, United Kingdom. He has been in the employment of the Government of Malawi from 20th October 1986 to 28th October 2022. As somebody with a passion for working for and with children, he is a patient, caring and seasoned Professional with 36 years’ experience in providing outstanding leadership, management and administrative and personal support to various teams including Principal Secretaries in the implementation of government policies on children and education.
He has acquired 22 (twenty-two) years of experience in senior management and implementation of large-scale education, child development and protection projects and programmes in Malawi. His expertise includes primary education and early childhood development programs management, research, planning, delivery of in-service training, school monitoring and support systems for quality assurance, monitoring and evaluation, organizational development, educational leadership, management and governance.
He has served in various capacities as a secondary school administrator/Head teacher for five different secondary schools, assistant director for education methods and advisory services (mathematics and science), Deputy Director for Basic Education in the Ministry of Education in Malawi between the years 2000 and 2007 and Director for Basic Education from July 2007 to January 2013. From January 2013 to October 2022 he is served as the Director for Child Affairs in the Ministry responsible for children. He has contributed a lot to programmes on child development, studies and efforts on elimination of violence against children in Malawi, including the Violence against Children (VACS) study conducted in 2014 in Malawi, and other child development and protection issues.