Lindiwe Sibanda Majele (born 1963) is a Zimbabwean professor, scientist, policy advocate and influencer on food systems. She currently serves as director and chair of the ARUA Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Food Systems (ARUA-SFS) at the University of Pretoria in Pretoria, South Africa as well as founder and managing director of Linds Agricultural Services Pvt Ltd. in Harare, Zimbabwe. She is currently a board member of Nestlé where she is also a member of the Sustainability Committee.
Life Sibanda is a food systems scientist, policy advocate and an influencer on food systems. She has over 25 years of trans-disciplinary work experience in agriculture and rural development, public and private sector policy reforms and management, 15 of them having been at senior level in the academic, scientific, private and public institutions. Sibanda has served as trustee and adviser to numerous international food security related initiatives. She is a serving member of the SDG Target by 2030 Champions 12.3, co-chair of the Global Alliance of Climate-Smart Agriculture, member of the World Vegetable Board, and a commissioner for the EAT-Lancet report on Sustainable Healthy Food Systems. Previously, she has served as a member of the United Nations (UN) Committee for Policy Development (CDP), and the African Union Commission (AUC) Leadership Council; university professor in agriculture, animal sciences and veterinary sciences and is a regular guest lecturer at several universities. She is a recipient of numerous awards for her contribution towards agriculture and food security in Africa; including the, Science Diplomacy Award by the Government of South Africa (2015); FARA Award for Exemplary leadership (2014); and Yara 2013 Prize Laureate; (2013). She holds a BSc Degree Animal Production First Class Honours from the University of Alexandria in Egypt and MSc and PhD, University of Reading, UK. She is currently Director and chairwoman of the African Research Universities Alliance Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Food Systems (ARUA-SFS).
Awards Science Diplomacy Award by the Government of South Africa (2015); https://www.fanrpan.org/archive/documents/d01934/ Forum for FARA Award for Exemplary leadership (2014); https://www.weforum.org/people/lindiwe-majele-sibanda Yara 2013 Prize Laureate; (2013) https://www.weforum.org/people/lindiwe-majele-sibanda Food Tank recognition as one of the women working to change the food system in honor of International Women's day, https://champions123.org/person/lindiwemajele-sibanda Nominated as Global citizen (2012) Nominated as Global citizen https://www.fanrpan.org/archive/documents/d01426/
Mandates CGIAR System Board as a voting Board Member 3-year term (2021) Nestle Board of Directors (2021) Advisory Board Member of Infinite Foods. AGRA VP for Country Support, Policy and Delivery (2017)
Mandates: Not for profit World Vegetable Centre Board of Directors https://avrdc.org/new-members-appointed-in-2018-to-worldvegetable-center-board-of-directors/ ILRI board chair (2012) https://newsarchive.ilri.org/index.php/archives/9996 Board member and chair of the nominations committee, World Vegetable Board. Serving member, Champions UN-SDG 12.3, accelerating progress toward reducing food loss and waste towards achieving SDG Target 12.3 by 2030. Co-chair, UN-Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture (GACSA). Presidential advisory council member on Agriculture in Zimbabwe. Deputy Chair of Council for the National University of Science and Technology (NUST). Presidential advisory council member. She is currently serving as one of the presidential advisory council members on Agriculture in Zimbabwe International Advisory Panel Member, Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM). 2020 Food Planet Prize: Jury Member Cornell University–Nature Sustainability expert panel on "Innovations to build sustainable, equitable, inclusive food value chains", through Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability's food security working group, with the journal Nature Sustainability and its sister journal, Nature Food. Advisory board member of the ARUA UKRI GCRF- Partnership Programme for Capacity building in Food Security for Africa (CaBFoodS-Africa) hosted by the University of Pretoria, in collaboration with the University of Nairobi, and the University of Ghana, Legon. Deputy Chairperson of the Iam4Byo Fighting COVID-19 Trust responsible for communications, public relations and research coalition.
Publications 2020. Socio-technical Innovation Bundles for Agri-food Systems Transformation, Report of the International Expert Panel on Innovations to Build Sustainable, Equitable, Inclusive Food Value Chains. Barrett, Christopher B., Tim Benton, Jessica Fanzo, Mario Herrero, Rebecca J. Nelson, Elizabeth Bageant, Edward Buckler, Karen Cooper, Isabella Culotta, Shenggen Fan, Rikin Gandhi, Steven James, Mark Kahn, Laté Lawson-Lartego, Jiali Liu, Quinn Marshall, Daniel Mason-D'Croz, Alexander Mathys, Cynthia Mathys, Veronica Mazariegos-Anastassiou, Alesha (Black) Miller, Kamakhya Misra, Andrew G. Mude, Jianbo Shen, Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, Claire Song, Roy Steiner, Philip Thornton, and Stephen Wood. Ithaca, NY, and London: Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability and Springer Nature, 2020 2020. Men's nutrition knowledge is important for women's and children's nutrition in Ethiopia. Ambikapathi R, Passarelli S, Madzorera I, et al. Matern Child Nutr. 2021;17e13062. 2020. A Chicken Production Intervention and Additional Nutrition Behavior Change Component Increased Child Growth in Ethiopia: A Cluster-Randomized Trial Simone Passarelli, Ramya Ambikapathi, Nilupa S Gunaratna, Isabel Madzorera, Chelsey R Canavan, Abdallah R Noor, Amare Worku, Yemane Berhane, Semira Abdelmenan, Simbarashe Sibanda, Bertha Munthali, Tshilidzi Madzivhandila, Lindiwe M Sibanda, Kumlachew Geremew, Tadelle Dessie, Solomon Abegaz, Getnet Assefa, Christopher Sudfeld, Margaret McConnell, Kirsten Davison, Wafaie Fawzi The Journal of Nutrition, nxaa181. 2018 EAT Lancet report with Johan Rockström and Walter Willett. Healthy diets from sustainable food systems. Food in the Anthropocene. Willett W, Rockström J, Loken B, Springmann M, Lang T, Vermeulen S, Garnett T, Tilman D, DeClerck F, Wood A, Jonell M, Clark M, Gordon LJ, Fanzo J, Hawkes C, Zurayk R, Rivera JA, De Vries W, Majele Sibanda L, Afshin A, Chaudhary A, Herrero M, Agustina R, Branca F, Lartey A, Fan S, Crona B, Fox E, Bignet V, Troell M, Lindahl T, Singh S, Cornell SE, Srinath Reddy K, Narain S, Nishtar S, Murray CJL. Lancet. PMID 30660336. 2018. Sustainable and Equitable Increases in Fruit and Vegetable Productivity and Consumption are Needed to Achieve Global Nutrition Security. Position Paper resulting from a workshop organized by the Aspen Global Change Institute and hosted at the Keystone Policy Center July 30 – August 3, 2018 https://www.agci.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/lib/publications/AGCI-FV-Position-Paper.pdf Sibanda, L. M and Mwamakamba, S.N. (2016) Africa's Rainbow Revolution: Feeding a Continent and the World in a Changing Climate. Solutions, May–June 2016 in press. https://thesolutionsjournal.com/2016/06/17/africas-rainbow-revolution-feeding-continent-world-changing-climate/ Johan Rockstro ̈m, John Williams, Gretchen Daily, Andrew Noble, Nathanial Matthews, Line Gordon, Hanna Wetterstrand, Fabrice DeClerck, Mihir Shah, Pasquale Steduto, Charlotte de Fraiture, Nuhu Hatibu, Olcay Unver, Jeremy Bird, Lindiwe Sibanda, Jimmy Smith. 2016 .Sustainable intensification of agriculture for human prosperity and global sustainability. Springerlink.com Editor in Chief for FANRPAN's AgriDeal Magazine (2015). Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA). Vol 3, ISSN 2304-8824 Douglas J. Merrey and Lindiwe Sibanda. 2014. Options for Policy Reforms to Enhance the Development Impact of Public and Private Investments in Smallholder Agricultural Water Management. FANRPAN Zinyengere N., Crespo O., Hachigonta S. Sibanda L. (2013). Climate Change Adaptation in Southern Africa: Linking science studies and policy decisions to drive evidence-based action. FANRPAN Policy Brief Issue 1 Volume XIII February 2013. Hachigonta, S; Nelson, G.C; Thomas, T.S; Sibanda, L.M (2013) Southern African Agriculture and Climate Change, A comprehensive analysis. Published by International Food Policy Research Institute. ISBN 978-0-89629-208-6 Hachigonta, Sepo; Nelson, Gerald C.; Thomas, Timothy S. and Sibanda, Lindiwe M. 2013. Overview. In Southern African Agriculture and Climate Change: A comprehensive analysis. Chapter 1 pp. 1–23. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). http://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/127787 Mugabe, Francis T.; Thomas, Timothy S.; Hachigonta, Sepo and Sibanda, Lindiwe M. 2013. Zimbabwe. In Southern African Agriculture and Climate Change: A comprehensive analysis. Chapter 10 pp. 289–323. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) http://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/127792 Manyatsi, Absalom M.; Thomas, Timothy S.; Masarirambi, Michael T.; Hachigonta, Sepo and Sibanda, Lindiwe M. 2013. Swaziland. In Southern African Agriculture and Climate Change: A comprehensive analysis. Chapter 8 pp. 213–253. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) http://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/127793 Johnston, Peter; Thomas, Timothy S.; Hachigonta, Sepo and Sibanda, Lindiwe M. 2013. South Africa. In Southern African Agriculture and Climate Change: A comprehensive analysis. Chapter 7 pp. 175–212. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). http://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/127786 Maure, Genito A.; Thomas, Timothy S.; Hachigonta, Sepo and Sibanda, Lindiwe M. 2013. Mozambique. In Southern African Agriculture and Climate Change: A comprehensive analysis. Chapter 6 pp. 147–173. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). http://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/127789 Kanyanga, Joseph; Thomas, Timothy S.; Hachigonta, Sepo and Sibanda, Lindiwe M. 2013. Zambia. In Southern African Agriculture and Climate Change: A comprehensive analysis. Chapter 9 pp. 255–287. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). http://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/127790 Saka, John D.K.; Sibale, Pickford; Thomas, Timothy S.; Hachigonta, Sepo and Sibanda, Lindiwe M. 2013. Malawi. In Southern African Agriculture and Climate Change: A comprehensive analysis. Chapter 5 pp. 111–146. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) http://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/127791 Gwimbi, Patrick; Thomas, Timothy S.; Hachigonta, Sepo and Sibanda, Lindiwe M. 2013. Lesotho. In Southern African Agriculture and Climate Change: A comprehensive analysis. Chapter 4 pp. 71–109. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). http://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/127788 Zhou, Peter P.; Simbini, Tichakunda; Ramokgotlwane, Gorata; Thomas, Timothy S.; Hachigonta, Sepo and Sibanda, Lindiwe M. 2013. Botswana. In Southern African Agriculture and Climate Change: A comprehensive analysis. Chapter 3 pp. 41–70. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). http://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/127785 Editor in Chief for FANRPAN's AgriDeal Magazine (2013). The River between. Vol 2, ISSN 2304-8824 Zinyengere, N Crespo, O, Hachigonta, S and Sibanda, L.M (2013). Climate Change Adaptation in Southern Africa: Linking science studies and policy decisions to drive evidence-based action. FANRPAN Policy Brief, Issue no. 1: Volume XIII