Amanda Khozi Mukwashi is to step down as chief executive of Christian Aid to take up a new role at the United Nations.
Khozi Mukwashi, who joined Christian Aid in April 2018, said she would leave the charity at the end of the year to take up her new position in early 2022. Further details about that role are yet to be announced.
She spent five years as chief of volunteer knowledge and innovation for the United Nations Volunteer Programme before taking up the post at Christian Aid.
She was last month named chief executive of the year in the over £5m income bracket at the Third Sector Awards for bringing positive change to the charity and for the significant contribution she had made to the international development sector.
She has led the creation of a new strategy, pioneered an organisational transformation programme and identified steps to tackle issues of institutional racism.
Born in the UK and of Zambian heritage, Khozi Mukwashi is the first person of African descent to have been appointed chief executive of Christian Aid.
She said: “I am so sad to be leaving Christian Aid – an organisation that I love. It has been one of the honours of my life to lead this great organisation for three-and-a-half of its 76 years and play my part – alongside some of the most passionate and dedicated people I have ever met – in standing for the dignity, equality and justice of all.
“Though I will no longer be leading Christian Aid, I am confident that I leave a strong organisation that is well-placed to tackle poverty, and the injustices that perpetuate it.
“We have a team well-placed to have a real impact on issues of climate change, debt, [and] economic, gender and racial inequality.”
Rowan Williams, chair of the charity, said: “Though we are saddened that Amanda will be leaving Christian Aid, we are immensely grateful for her leadership of this great organisation.
“She has made a transformational impact on both the organisation and the wider sector, being a passionate, eloquent and effective advocate for the people we serve.
“In a short time, Amanda has wrought hugely positive change to Christian Aid and made a significant contribution to the sector and British public life.
“Amanda is in every way an amazing chief executive, an amazing leader, inspiring a collaborative movement for change in her determination to eradicate the scandal and injustice of poverty.
“She will be sorely missed, but we pray that this next step will continue to see her leadership utilised effectively.”