Isaiah Zimba Chabala

BRIEF RESUME: ISAIAH Z. CHABALA

Isaiah Zimba Chabala is the Founder and President of Visionary Consulting Associates, an international development consulting group that provides planning and resource development services for international organisations, national governments and development agencies. The consulting group specializes in international relations, human rights, finance and development, sustainable development, community-based and grassroots development, poverty alleviation, gender eguality, empowerment of women and girls, and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

A career foreign service officer and senior government official for many years, Ambassador Chabala served as Under-Secretary for Budget and Economic Affairs, Director of Economic and Technical Cooperation, Deputy Permanent Secretary (Economics and Finance) and Speech Writer to the Prime Minister, among other senior government appointments.

He is the former Ambassador of Zambia to the United Nations and International Organizations in New York and Geneva, the European Union and, concurrently, to Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. He also served as: Alternate Representative to the United Nations Security Council; Representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Council; and  Representative to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, among other United Nations bodies and agencies.

He is Strategic Partner with Pickering & Associates and InternetSpeech, and Senior Advisor with DaMina Advisors, LLP. He serves on the boards of non-governmental organizations in special consultative status with the United Nations, including the Global Alliance for Women's Health, Innovation: Africa and Cubraiti, Inc. He also serves on the Advisory Board of the Educational Initiative of The National Arts Club’s Archeology Committee. He is international consultant with the Starkey Hearing Foundation, the largest provider of free hearing aids to poor children in the world.

He is the Founder and President of Visionary Empowerment, Inc, a nonprofit corporation that has established a women empowerment organization in Zambia, providing sustainable business skills and life-skills training for women and girls, including HIV/AIDS orphans and widows, particularly in rural and under-served communities. He is also the Trustee of The Hidden Voice Center for children with disabilities in Zambia.

Ambassador Chabala is a graduate of the University of Zambia (Economics and French); St. Peter's College, Oxford University (Foreign Service); University of Bath (Fiscal Studies); and holds a Master's degree in International Affairs from Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs. He is widowed with two adult children and resides in Manhattan, New York City.