Biography
Prince Baleke Kagunda is a humanitarian and community engagement specialist, refugee community leader, and youth advocate with over seven years of experience working in displacement and community development settings in Malawi. His work focuses on humanitarian coordination, community engagement, refugee advocacy, youth empowerment, stakeholder engagement, leadership, and inclusive development.
Prince is pursuing a Bachelor of Social Science in Community Development at Sky Way University in Lilongwe and holds a Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE). He has also completed professional training in Community Development, Leadership and Management, Life Skills, and Child Protection and Safeguarding.
He began his professional career with FocalTech Limited-Malawi as a Regional Sales and Marketing Representative Assistant, where he gained experience in client engagement, communication, marketing, and coordination. He later served with Refugee Youth for Self Assistance (RYSA) as a Public Relations and Communication Officer and a Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, supporting community engagement, communication, data collection, programme monitoring, and youth empowerment initiatives.
From May 2022 to May 2026, Prince served as Programme Manager and Head of Office at the Refugee-Led Organization Network–Malawi (RELON-Malawi), where he coordinated community engagement, partnerships, humanitarian programmes, field activities, and stakeholder relations. He represented refugee-led organisations in engagements with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Department of Refugees, humanitarian partners, and community stakeholders while advocating for refugee-led initiatives and youth empowerment. He also volunteered with UNHCR in Dzaleka Refugee Camp from 2023 to 2025, supporting community engagement, participatory assessments, data collection, community consultations, and initiatives involving refugee and host communities.
Throughout his career, Prince has contributed to strengthening collaboration among refugee-led organisations and supporting humanitarian and community-based initiatives that benefit refugees and host communities. Fluent in English, Swahili, and Chichewa, he is passionate about education, youth development, leadership, refugee participation, and creating practical pathways towards resilience, self-reliance, and sustainable livelihoods. His work is driven by the belief that communities, particularly young people, should not only be beneficiaries of development but also active participants and leaders in shaping their own futures.
Prince is excited to be part of the CorpsAfrica/Malawi Cohort 10 because it offers him an opportunity to learn, serve, and grow alongside communities while gaining deeper experience in community-led development. He looks forward to listening to communities, learning from their experiences, working collaboratively to identify local solutions, and contributing his knowledge and lived experience. He sees the CorpsAfrica journey as an important opportunity to strengthen his leadership and practical development skills while making a meaningful contribution to sustainable community change.
