Gloria Kamwi is an economist and social protection specialist with 16 years of experience spanning government and the United Nations system in Namibia. Since joining the World Food Programme Namibia Country Office in 2017, she has held several leadership roles, including Head of Programmes. She currently leads the School-Based Programmes, Nutrition and Resilience portfolio, with a focus on social protection policy and delivery systems.

Her work encompasses home-grown school feeding, early childhood development feeding, cash-based transfers, nutrition, resilience-building, and food systems programming. Before joining the World Food Programme, Ms. Kamwi served at Namibia’s National Planning Commission as an Economist and National Development Advisor, contributing to national development planning and policy formulation.

Ms. Kamwi has extensive expertise in social protection policy design, government coordination, cash transfer systems, and digital beneficiary and transfer management. She has supported social protection processes at Cabinet and national planning levels, led technical evaluations of payment service providers, and contributed to the transition from in-kind assistance to cash and voucher-based social protection interventions.

Her professional experience also includes emergency preparedness and response, disaster risk reduction, and resilience programming. Through South-South cooperation and international knowledge exchange, she has shared experience and lessons on school feeding, cash-based transfers, and resilience programming with stakeholders across Africa and Europe.

Drawing on her experience in both government and the United Nations system, Ms. Kamwi brings a practical understanding of how governments plan, finance, legislate, and implement social protection programmes. She also offers valuable insight into how international development partners can support nationally led social protection priorities within their respective mandates.

Ms. Kamwi holds a Master of Science in Public Policy and Management from the University of London and a Bachelor of Technology in Economics from the Polytechnic of Namibia.