Remmy Shawa has over 8 years experience in the field of gender and HIV. Remmy is also a member of the High Level Group on the commitment to Youth Sexuality in Eastern and Southern Africa. An initiative being spearheaded by UNESCO, UNAIDS and UNFPA. He also serves on the Africa Regional Youth Steering Committee for ICPD beyond 2014 Review. Remmy is a member of the Inter-Agency Task Team on Young People (IATT) of the United Nations and board member of the HIV Young Leaders Fund. Prior to joining Sonke, Remmy served as Global Youth Campaigns Coordinator at the World AIDS Campaign (WAC) in Cape Town. Before joining WAC, he was at UNAIDS secretariat in Geneva and also worked at the country office in Lusaka. He then joined UNHCR as National HIV and AIDS Project Coordinator in Lusaka. Remmy is a strong youth leader and provides technical assistance to regional and global youth initiatives.
Remmy is a Masters in Public Health candidate at University of Cape Town with a BA in Sociology and Psychology from the University of Zambia. He also possesses a Diploma in Project Management and another in Human Resource Management. He worked as a Programme Officer at the University of Zambia HIV Response Programme while coordinating a project he co-founded called Men ‘n Gender. At the university of Zambia, Remmy was honored with the Vice Chancellor’s Award for his contributions to the HIV response. His work in HIV/AIDS commenced in rural Zambia as a peer educator for Restless Development and Community Youth Mobilisation. He moved to Sonke earlier last year and manages a project funded by Sida to strengthen work with men and boys for gender equality in the region. He also provides technical support to more than 15 MenEngage country networks in Africa.
His key areas of interest are: Youth Leadership, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, HIV, Gender Equality and Child’s Rights
