Associate Consultant - Liason For South Africa

Dr Callista Kahonde has a background in Physiotherapy. She obtained her BSc Honours Physiotherapy degree from the University of Zimbabwe in 2004 and worked for one and a half years as a physiotherapist at Parirenyatwa Hospital. She then moved to South Africa as an accompanying spouse and latter obtained a master’s degree in Physiotherapy and PhD in Disability Studies from the University of the Western Cape and the University of Cape Town respectively. As a postgraduate student, she worked on part-time basis as a research assistant on several research projects and as a part-time lecturer. For the past five years, Dr Kahonde gained extensive experience in the disability sector through her work as a postdoctoral fellow at Stellenbosch University, Centre for Disability and Rehabilitation Studies and as a private consultant. As an academic, she is a passionate researcher with special interest in intellectual disabilities, family support, community living and sexuality and reproductive rights of people with disabilities. She enjoys mentoring postgraduate students (master’s and PhD) and has successfully supervised more than five postgraduate students in the past four years with a few more getting towards completion of their degrees. She has published more than ten peer reviewed journal articles, four book chapters, and informational resources and developed online learning materials for promoting the rights of persons with disabilities.

Dr Kahonde uses her research to advocate for persons with disabilities and their families through public engagements like writing for the media, training, and radio interviews. She has leadership responsibilities in the sector which include; associate editor for Africa’s main disability journal; the African Journal of Disability (AJOD), executive board member of the Profound Intellectual and Multiple Disabilities Special Interest Group of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Conference (IASSIDD), member of the governing board of the African Network for Evidence-to-Action in Disability (AfriNEAD) and member of the task team coordinating the Africa Intellectual and Developmental Disability Research Network. She reviews articles for both local and international academic journals and has been invited to review drafts of policies in Zimbabwe, South Africa, and the World Health Organisation (WHO).