From Debt Crisis to Drought, Beatrice Mutali’s four years in Zambia

Beatrice Mutali arrived in Zambia in May 2022 and just wrapped up four years that included a debt crisis, the tail end of COVID-19, a cholera outbreak, and what officials call the worst drought in decades. Government's verdict on how she handled it all, "collaborative" and "inclusive" leadership.

Her own verdict was less interested in the compliment. In her farewell meeting with Vice President Mutale Nalumango last month she said, "If there are moments when the United Nations could have listened more carefully, moved more quickly or responded more effectively, we welcome those reflections,"

Government credits her tenure with helping steer UN support through Zambia's debt restructuring, coordinating the cholera response, and, when El Niño-driven drought hit, developing a Multi-hazard Preparedness and Response Plan and pushing a real shift toward proactive ways of addressing disasters instead of simply reacting to them. "

As I am leaving, I am pleased to see that Government and all partners have taken this on board," she said at her final call on President Hichilema this week. "We see that as we anticipate the El Niño, there's already a plan in place."

She also aligned UN support with Zambia's own development plan through the 2023–2027 Cooperation Framework, covering everything from health and education to youth employment and gender equality, and her office launched the Zambia Chapter of the African Women Leaders Network, a milestone government named specifically.

Her career built toward exactly this kind of work, over 25 years in sexual and reproductive health, senior UN Population Fund roles across South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini and beyond, and earlier leadership roles with Merck and Planned Parenthood-affiliated organisations. She holds a bachelor's and master's in economics from Kurukshetra University in India.

In her final week, she reflected on it all with President Hichilema. "Over the last four years, I saw Zambia overcome a number of challenges... there was the cholera outbreak and the worst drought in 50 years as well as global uncertainty," she said, wishing his new term success.

Her successor inherits a real handover, a tested preparedness framework, an aligned development partnership, and a relationship government calls stronger than when she arrived. What she chose to leave alongside it wasn't a highlight reel, it was an open invitation to keep holding the UN accountable, long after she stopped being the one answering for it.