Dr. Tawanda Mutasah
Vice President of Global Partnerships & Impact
“Across the world, I have seen with my own eyes the power of solidarity, opportunity, and protection of individuals and communities against vulnerability. I joined Oxfam America precisely because the struggle for justice and inclusion for all––and against the indignity of poverty––is even more urgent today, and my own sensibilities will always bestride the highways I have traversed as a man and the rough streets that reared me as a boy.”
Dr. Tawanda Mutasah is Vice President of Global Partnerships and Impact (GPI), with responsibility for overall strategic and operational leadership of Oxfam America’s GPI division, and for identifying, nurturing, and maintaining a wide range of strategic partnerships within and outside the Oxfam International confederation on all matters related to programmatic impact and global networks. Mutasah joined Oxfam America in 2021, bringing over 25 years of international nonprofit management and program leadership and innovation in a vast range of areas from humanitarian response to advocacy and long-term development. He was the Senior Director of International Law and Policy at Amnesty International where, among other things, he established and operationalized the global human rights movement’s Sustainable Development Goals engagement and partnerships.
Before that, Mutasah served as the Global Director of Programs at the Open Society Foundations (OSF), where he stewarded a $400M budget. He had previously held a variety of other positions in the global OSF complex, including Executive Director of the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa. Mutasah also previously worked for Oxfam Great Britain. And he has served on governing and advisory boards for global institutions that include the Center for Civilians in Conflict, Open Society Justice Initiative, and Rutgers University’s Center for Women’s Global Leadership; as well as African entities that include Trust Africa, and the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa. Among other initiatives credited to his leadership over the years, Mutasah founded the Southern Africa Resource Watch, which researches and advocates on extractive industries.
A graduate of Harvard Law School, New York University Law School, the Graduate School of Public & Development Management at the University of the Witwatersrand, and the University of Zimbabwe, Mutasah has taught at the Paris School of International Affairs on international humanitarian law and human rights laws.