Memory Banda

Let Girls Lead Representative, Girls Empowerment Network

Biography

Memory Banda has been instrumental in mobilizing support and at forefront in organizing advocacy activities at local level in Malawi, and she has also participated in national advocacy and policy dialogue on issues affecting adolescent girls. Memory is 18 years old and is motivated to advocate for girls because her younger sister got married when she was 11 years old, and has two children. As a survivor of gender-based violence, Memory resolved to finish school before getting married, and is now a student at Chancellor College.

Memory has worked with GENET (Girls Empowerment Network) in Malawi since 2011, when she started volunteering to mobilize girls to stand up against harmful traditional practices and early marriages. She serves on GENET’s Adolescent Girls’ Advisory Board.