Biography
Joana Katanga is a young, passionate woman who holds a Bachelor’s degree in Development Economics from Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources. During her university time, she completed an internship at the Ministry of Finance in the Economic Planning and Development Department, where she gained practical experience in economic planning, policy analysis, and data collection. Through this role, she developed briefing notes that informed quarterly budget planning discussions and helped her team streamline data for decision-making.
She currently volunteers remotely as Secretary for New Dawn Foundation and as a Local Coordinator for Students For Liberty, where she coordinates activities, manages communication, and engages young people in leadership and civic initiatives. Through these roles, she has helped organize two community outreach events reaching over 120 youth and facilitated five virtual leadership training sessions focused on advocacy, public speaking, and project management.
She has also attended a number of virtual leadership training sessions, which have helped her grow both personally and professionally.
In her free time, she enjoys playing netball and teaching herself data analysis using YouTube. She is building skills in Excel and basic statistical tools to support evidence-based development work.
Joana sees her CorpsAfrica experience as an opportunity to gain first-hand experience working with rural communities and to better understand the challenges they face and how development interventions affect their livelihoods. This experience will complement her interest in economics and data science by helping her understand the real-world problems behind the data and the importance of using evidence to make better decisions. She hopes to apply what she learns in her future work and contribute to practical solutions for young people and communities in her hometown. She also looks forward to growing personally and professionally, while building meaningful relationships with people from different backgrounds.
