Wezi Mvalo

Wezi Mvalo is the Director of Research Business Development, where she leads three focus areas of prospecting and identification of new business development, bid and proposal development, and post-submission reviews. Wezi is a senior fundraising and partnerships leader with extensive experience designing and delivering organisation-wide fundraising strategies for international development, mobilising multi-million pounds portfolios from governments, bi-/multi-lateral, private, academic, and non-governmental organisational partners, with extensive experience in politically sensitive, multi-country environments.

Prior to joining RUSI Wezi spent two decades working in international development at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), where she remains an Honorary Associate, most recently in the role of Head of Fundraising and Development, where she led the strategic identification of and securing multi-year research grants from a variety of donors including, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Ford Foundation, Wellcome Trust, CIFF, UKRI, NORAD, Swedish Sida, SDC, FCDO, MacArthur Foundation, the European Commission, to name a few.

Wezi holds a PhD in International Education and Development from the University of Sussex. Wezi’s research interest lies on the political economy of education systems, including teacher wellbeing in crisis contexts in the Global South, with particular emphasis on pedagogical practices and the intersections of education, gender and development.