Tawanda is a globally respected executive, human rights leader, and philanthropic strategist with three decades of senior leadership experience across complex, mission-driven international organizations.
Tawanda is the President and CEO of American Jewish World Service (AJWS). He most recently served as Vice President of Global Partnerships & Impact (GPI) at Oxfam America, with responsibility for overall strategic and operational leadership of Oxfam America’s GPI division. In this role, Tawanda was responsible 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. Tawanda led global thematic programs spanning climate justice, food systems and land justice, gender justice, natural resources justice, and humanitarian law and action. He was a lead spokesperson for Oxfam’s work and a key contributor to fundraising and impact storytelling, translating complex global justice issues into compelling narratives for institutional donors and philanthropic partners. Tawanda introduced the organization’s innovation portfolio, and chaired the Forum of Vice Presidents and Directors of Global Programs across the global Oxfam confederation.
Previously, Tawanda served on the senior executive team at Amnesty International as Senior Director for International Law and Policy. In this role, he provided global leadership across Amnesty’s full human rights agenda, including civil and political rights, economic and social rights, climate and environmental justice, gender and racial justice, and humanitarian law. He acted as a senior convenor and spokesperson at the United Nations in New York and Geneva and played a meaningful role in donor engagement and fundraising storytelling, helping funders understand the organization’s priorities and impact. He also partnered closely with Amnesty’s international governance bodies, gaining extensive experience working with boards within a complex global movement.
Earlier, Tawanda held one of the most senior leadership roles at Open Society Foundations, serving as Global Director of Programs and Vice President. At the time, Open Society distributed approximately $1 billion annually in grants, and Tawanda had executive responsibility for roughly half of that portfolio –overseeing 26 international programs with combined annual budgets of $400–500 million. He led large, multidisciplinary teams across multiple continents, balancing innovation with stewardship and donor intent. He also mobilized resources from bilateral donors and peer foundations, strengthening collaborative funding models and expanding impact at scale.
He received his masters in management degree from the University of the Witwatersrand, his LLB (Hons) from the University of Zimbabwe, his LLM from Harvard Law School, and his JSD from New York University Law School.