Rachel Kumwenda: Named champion of diversity, equity, inclusion

The 29-year-old Rachel Kumwenda Kaunda has been named one of the women champions in diversity, equity, and inclusion by the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) alongside six other women from Sri Lanka, Germany, Zimbabwe and New Zealand among others in this category.

The women have been recognised for their strong advocacy in diverse representation, inclusion, and building safe spaces in the humanitarian open mapping.

Women across the globe have been honoured in other categories, too, including women in open mapping mappers of the year; women-focused projects of the year and women in open mapping leadership.

“I was voted as a woman who strongly advocated for diverse representation, inclusion, and building safe spaces in the humanitarian open mapping and OSM community.

“The HOT team was trying to recognise women’s efforts and leadership in humanitarian open mapping for the different categories,” said Kumwenda Kaunda, the last born of five children in her family who likes playing a guitar, basketball, and reading.

This award,  being an international one, has made me feel that the work I do is valuable and has encouraged me to push and reach out to more in my community and beyond.She is a drone pilot, founder and manager of Drone Link who led her team in developing creative solutions to address distinct social issues.

In 2022, the young woman was selected as one of the four entrepreneurs to represent Malawi at YouthConnekt Africa summit in Rwanda supported by UNDP and UNFPA.

“This was a huge opportunity that helped to spotlight my business and opened me up to international networks. I was later supported by the African Union to participate as an African regional entrepreneur in a geospatial business meeting in Rwanda later in the year. I was also selected as one of the 15 start-ups in Africa to participate in a start-up development program in Ivory Coast at the NewSpace in Africa conference,” she explains.

Despite the lack of role models in the science and technology field when growing up, she got interested in the field at Chancellor College where she was introduced to geospatial science.

She explains: “Growing up, I did not have a lot of role models in the science and technology field. When I got selected to pursue science at Chancellor College and was introduced to geospatial science, I got interested in it and used it for a project where I developed a model for earthquake prone areas in Karonga.

“After graduation, I enrolled for a course at African Drone and Data Academy where I got my certificate in drone and data technology. It was then that I decided to register my business in 2021 to solve challenges in Malawi.”

Drone Link provides mining, environment, agriculture, construction, health, and other development operators with cost-effective mapping and imaging solutions utilising drones and digital technology to aid in planning and informed decision making.

Through Drone Link, she is also providing employment opportunities to young people.

Apart from this, she mentors and motivates young women and men in science and technology, and has reached out to youths in schools; young women studying Information Technology through Plan International Malawi; and Airtel Malawi professional women through mHub.

She also runs an internship programme under Drone Link, training young people in drones and data technology.

Among other achievements, Drone Link has developed geospatial solutions with mines in Balaka and Lilongwe and they were also contracted by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) /GLOBHE as one of the local drone companies to respond to mapping of Cyclone Freddy, which devastated Malawi, displacing over 18,650 families and killing 225 people.

Together with other partners, they also assisted humanitarian organizations resource allocation, by mapping accessibility to places using drones, damage assessment, and camp conditions, among other things.

Additionally, engineers have also utilised the data to aid in the restoration of damaged roads and bridges.

Now she plans to upscale drone technology and diversify its applications and offer more employment opportunities to young people in Malawi to help in economic development.

She longs for the day when she will see a lot of young people coming up with innovations to help and solve the many challenges that the country is facing.

“With the coming of the internet and digitalisation, we can easily find books, learn from other people worldwide which gives us an advantage than years back, and digital innovations are borderless, meaning that it really doesn’t matter where you are but the solution you have offered,” she explains.

Encouraging younger girls, she says: “Innovations require a mind and not gender. I encourage young girls to take lead positions and be bold. Even if something did not go the way you planned, you should become adaptive to situations.”

Married to Gift Kaunda in 2021, Rachel obtained her bachelor’s degree in Earth Sciences from the University of Malawi, Chancellor College in 2019 and a certificate in Drone and Data Technology from the African Drone and Data Academy.

Citing the lack of role models in science as one of her biggest challenges which got her confined to only a few careers until she was in college, she highlights that this challenge made her realise the need for mentorship and motivation to young people from as early as primary schools.