Expert Council

Joan Chirwa is a journalist with over two decades of experience, a lawyer, and advocate of the High Court of Zambia. She worked as a reporter and later Managing Editor of Zambia’s biggest newspaper, The Post (liquidated) before moving on to become Chief Executive Officer and Editor-in-Chief of The Mast newspaper, the Post's successor, from November 2016 to November 2018.

In 2018, Joan, a press freedom advocate, founded the Zambia Free Press Initiative, a non-profit organisation focused on ensuring excellence in journalism, press freedom, good governance and respect for human rights.

Joan is also Southern Africa correspondent for the Committee to Protect journalists (CPJ) and senior copy editor of the African Union/United Nations Information Support Team in Somalia. She is a member of WANIFRA’s World Editors Forum and Zambia Media Freedom Committee. Joan also served on the advisory board of veteran journalists and editors constituted to provide expert advice during the formulation of the global Certified Journalist Safety Training Course developed by WANIFRA and Acos Alliance.

Joan is also a member of the Program Council of the Forum 2000 Foundation, an international civil society organisation which supports the values of democracy and respect for human rights.