Mamello Makhele is a nurse-midwife with three years’ experience promoting maternal health in the rural areas of Lesotho. She has been a leader with She Decides, a movement demanding that women and girls have control over their own bodies, and has been a health focal point for the United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth. She is a co-founder of the Barali Foundation, which educates women about their sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR). She helped develop the Southern African Development Community 2019?2030 SRHR strategy, which envisions a region where all people can enjoy a healthy sexual life and access to and quality sexual and reproductive services. Mamello also provides capacity training to young people about SRHR and to the community about HIV-related stigma and discrimination. After completing the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders, Mamello plans to advocate for laws that eradicate gender inequalities and that end violence and discrimination against women within national development agendas and plans.
