{"id":5967,"date":"2023-06-30T06:00:06","date_gmt":"2023-06-30T06:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gracamacheltrust.org\/?p=5967"},"modified":"2026-01-22T22:59:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T20:59:23","slug":"leadership-transition-at-the-graca-machel-trust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/featured\/leadership-transition-at-the-graca-machel-trust\/","title":{"rendered":"Leadership transition at the Gra\u00e7a Machel Trust"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Board of the Grac\u0327a Machel Trust wishes to announce the resignation of our much-respected CEO, Melizsa Mugyenyi, who came on board in 2021 to lead the Grac\u0327a Machel Trust (GMT) and drove its turnaround process following the challenging COVID period.<\/p>\n<p>In her two years at the Trust, Melizsa has achieved a phenomenal amount, including a remarkable increase in the organization\u2019s annual budget and bringing on new partners and donors, securing a strategic and multi-year new grant with the Mastercard Foundation. Melizsa also spearheaded an extensive and rigorous consultation process that has resulted in a new Strategic Plan (2023- 2027) as well as leading the work to consolidate and make more efficient internal GMT operational processes.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload size-full wp-image-11544 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-28-at-13.46.18.png\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-28-at-13.46.18.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1182\" height=\"1158\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271182%27%20height%3D%271158%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%201182%201158%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%271182%27%20height%3D%271158%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-28-at-13.46.18-66x66.png 66w, https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-28-at-13.46.18-200x196.png 200w, https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-28-at-13.46.18-300x294.png 300w, https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-28-at-13.46.18-400x392.png 400w, https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-28-at-13.46.18-500x490.png 500w, https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-28-at-13.46.18-600x588.png 600w, https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-28-at-13.46.18-700x686.png 700w, https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-28-at-13.46.18-768x752.png 768w, https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-28-at-13.46.18-800x784.png 800w, https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-28-at-13.46.18-1024x1003.png 1024w, https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-28-at-13.46.18.png 1182w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 1182px) 100vw, 1182px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>While we are sad to see her go, we are grateful to Melizsa for her sterling leadership during a globally challenging period for not-for-profit organisations and for the Trust. Her safe and trusted hands have served GMT well, and we wish her all the best as she undertakes her new career journey.<\/p>\n<p>Our focus for the coming months will be to finalise arrangements for a leader who can work closely with the Trustees to implement the new Strategic Plan. The recruitment process is led by the Trustees, while our longstanding Board member, Ms Theo Sowa, will step in as interim CEO from July 2023 to oversee the work of GMT\u2019s seasoned senior leadership team. Theo is a widely-respected institution builder and leader who has worked to advance women\u2019s rights, children\u2019s rights, and issues of social justice for over three decades.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload size-full wp-image-11545 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Theo-Sowa-e1631083347444.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Theo-Sowa-e1631083347444.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"977\" height=\"1047\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27977%27%20height%3D%271047%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20977%201047%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27977%27%20height%3D%271047%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Theo-Sowa-e1631083347444-200x214.jpg 200w, https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Theo-Sowa-e1631083347444-280x300.jpg 280w, https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Theo-Sowa-e1631083347444-400x429.jpg 400w, https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Theo-Sowa-e1631083347444-500x536.jpg 500w, https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Theo-Sowa-e1631083347444-600x643.jpg 600w, https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Theo-Sowa-e1631083347444-700x750.jpg 700w, https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Theo-Sowa-e1631083347444-768x823.jpg 768w, https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Theo-Sowa-e1631083347444-800x857.jpg 800w, https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Theo-Sowa-e1631083347444-956x1024.jpg 956w, https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Theo-Sowa-e1631083347444.jpg 977w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 977px) 100vw, 977px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As we continue to climb to new heights, we thank Melizsa for her leadership, and we look forward to informing you of our continued efforts to advance women\u2019s economic agendas and amplify the voices of African women and girls.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Board of the Grac\u0327a Machel Trust wishes to announce  [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5973,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_rtcl_gb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,81,90,741],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-highlight","category-media","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}