Innocent Magambi

Early life

Innocent Magambi was born in 1972 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Burundian parents who had fled violence. He spent the first 27 years of his life in five refugee camps across four countries. Dzaleka was the last of those camps.

While living in Malawi, Magambi received a scholarship for college education. He has described that opportunity as a turning point that allowed him to move from dependence on emergency assistance toward organising long-term support for other refugees and surrounding communities.

There Is Hope

In 2006, while he was in college, Magambi began the project that became There Is Hope. The organisation developed education, livelihoods, and community programmes serving both refugees in Dzaleka and Malawian host communities.

Advocacy

Magambi later founded Inua Advocacy, building on his experience as a refugee and organisational leader. His public work focuses on refugee rights, policy, self-reliance, and the gap between humanitarian protection and the ability to build an independent life.