Enia Sitole

Enia Sitole is a researcher from Mozambique, currently pursuing an MSc in African Studies at the University of Oxford. She is a Mastercard Foundation AfOx Scholar and a member of St Cross College. Enia is dedicated to studying the social determinants of health among African populations in the continent and the diaspora and to advancing education that is sustainable, inclusive, and accessible for women in rural communities.

Enia graduated from the University of British Columbia with a degree in Political Science and Philosophy and holds wide-ranging research experience in education and global health. She studied the impact of COVID-19 on education in Guatemala with Food for the Hungry Canada and its partner foundation, assessed HIV treatment facilities in Mozambique with ICAP at Columbia University, and worked in Canada with the Office of Regional and International Community Engagement on the ethics of international development. In Uganda, Enia helped launch a safe water venture with International Teams. Alongside her academic work, Enia is launching a waste collection and recycling initiative in Mozambique, aiming to address environmental challenges through social enterprise. As a visual storyteller, she illustrates children’s books that explore literacy and belonging through faith-based narratives. Enia is also an EducationUSA and Zawadi Africa Alumna. In her free time, she volunteers by mentoring students from both programs.

After completing her MSc, Enia plans to pursue a PhD and develop a framework for translating development policies into local African dialects, both in written and oral form. She also hopes to conduct a study that will introduce community services in rural areas across Africa that are similar to the services available to rural communities in Western advanced economies and researching whether having certain social determinants of health in some communities help mitigate extreme poverty along x number of years. She hopes this work will help ensure that development initiatives reach communities that are often excluded due to illiteracy or language barriers, supporting more inclusive and equitable policy implementation.