Sylvia Namakhwa, One of the Directors and Chief Operations Officer for FOL is a committed and impassioned Malawian dedicated to serving vulnerable groups of people. Her turning point in finding her passion in life was her involvement in a research, “Family Matters: The Care and Protection of Children affected by HIV/AIDS in Malawi,” a project commissioned by the Save the Children Alliance in 2002. She interacted with so many children; girls and boys in rural and urban areas who had lost their parents or their parents were ill not knowing the findings would help her find her sense of purpose in life. Since then she has continued to work with children and families who are experiencing challenging circumstances in life such as HIV/AIDS, poverty, sexual abuse, divorce, death of parents/spouse/children, early marriages, gender based violence, negative cultural practices in different settings; communities, schools, families, orphanages, juvenile prisons and rehabilitation centers.

Born and raised in Malawi, she is a graduate of the University of Malawi and a Registered Counselor with the Malawi Association of Counselors. Over the years she has gained valuable experience in capacity-building, Assessment, training and mentoring community-based organizations on issues of Vulnerable Children’s care and management. She has also provided support to government and local and international organizations in designing programs that provide holistic support for vulnerable groups of people. She has participated in the development and adaptation of training manuals and documents such as: The Journey of Life Series, Community Psycho Social Support guide, Minimum Service Standards for Quality Improvement orphan and Vulnerable Children Programs in Malawi, Children’s Corner Training Manual., Training manual on Child Protection and Case Management, Handbook for Psycho-social Support for Home based Care Providers. Guidelines for mainstreaming Psycho Social Support, Sexual reproductive health, HIV/AIDS management and Gender in Home Based Care,  ‘Umunthu’ a Social Emotional Learning curriculum, Training Manual for Health Workers on Stress Management, Self-care and Client care and Psycho-social support in emergencies 

Sylvia is a qualified national trainer on Journey of Life series, Children’s corner, Psycho-social support, Memory work and a Country Facilitator for the Regional Psycho-social support Initiative (REPSSI).Sylvia is also one of the Founders for Trust Psycho-social Support, a Local NGO that provides a platform for people in distress to express their feelings, emotions and learn skills to deal with every day challenges in life.