Joy Hayley Munthali
Founder, Green Girls Platform
she, her, hers
“With boldness, empathy, and collective action, I believe we can create a world with true equity.”
Joy Hayley Munthali is an environmental educator and activist based in Malawi. She is the founder of Green Girls Platform, a nonprofit that encourages women and girls to become more involved in climate change solutions and advocacy. The organization leads educational programs about sustainable adaptation and climate change mitigation options, such as reducing plastic waste, and promotes involvement in climate programs in and related to Malawi’s government.
Green Girls Platform is a founding organization of We Trust You(th), a global initiative that challenges youth-focused donors and nonprofits to partner with and fund young people more intentionally and equitably. Joy is also an advisor to the Global Resilience Fund and the Global Environmental Education Partnership, as well as a member of the Youth Sounding Board for the EU delegation in Malawi and the Africa Climate Justice Movement committee. She is the managing director of Tawonga Cooking Oil Enterprise, a company that supports women farmers in Embangweni, Malawi. She was named a top 100 young African conservationist by the Africa Alliance of YMCAs, World Organization of the Scout Movement, African Wildlife Foundation, and the World Wildlife Foundation; she is also a young negotiator for Malawi on climate adaptation in the UN Climate Change Negotiations, as well as served as Malawi’s youth delegate to Youth4Climate: Driving Ambition (2021, 2022) and a youth delegate to the 13th UNESCO Youth Forum (2023), the 12th World Environment Education Congress (2024), and the World Economic Forum (WEF25).
Joy is passionate about working with youth—particularly girls and young women—to ensure their rights are fully realized. She believes that by creating solutions with the people most affected by climate change, it is possible for girls in Malawi to grow up with fewer limitations—to simply be girls, free and happy, living and dreaming as everyone else, with no boundaries on their dreams and visions for the future.