Sarai Chisala-Tempelhoff
Sarai Chisala-Tempelhoff is a human rights lawyer who founded The Gender and Justice Unit, an organization that utilizes legal empowerment as a catalyst for gender equality and social and environmental justice in Malawi. Her leadership has pioneered approaches to making justice more accessible, particularly for women. A prolific writer, Sarai’s work includes groundbreaking legal research on technology-facilitated violence in Sub-Saharan Africa, traditional healing practices, and the rights of nature; she has also contributed to seminal works on rape law reform in South Africa. Named among Apolitical’s 100 Most Influential People in Gender Policy in 2021, Sarai dedicates her time to mentoring emerging lawyers and advancing both feminist leadership and environmental justice initiatives – all while reimagining approaches to legal empowerment. After earning her law degree from the University of Malawi, Sarai pursued an LLM in human rights and democratization at the University of Pretoria, followed by a specialization in women’s and gender studies at the University of Memphis.