{{Short description|South African women's activist (born 1933)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}} {{Use South African English|date=October 2013}} {{Infobox person | name = Brigalia Bam | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Brigalia Ntombemhlope Bam | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1933}} | birth_place = Transkei, Eastern Cape, South Africa | death_date = | death_place = | nationality = | other_names = | alma_mater = University of Chicago | occupation = Social activist and writer. | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = }} '''Brigalia Ntombemhlope Bam''' (born 1933) is an Anglican women's and social activist and writer.
==Personal life== Brigalia Ntombemhlope Bam was born in 1933 in the former Transkei, in the Eastern Cape. Although Bam trained and worked as a teacher, she received further training in South Africa and abroad in the fields of social work, communication, and management. She is a qualified social worker with a post-graduate degree from the University of Chicago.<ref name="Baobab">{{Cite web|url=http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/pebble.asp?relid=7559|title=The Order of the Baobab in Silver|accessdate=2013-09-28|publisher=The Presidency, Republic of South Africa|year=2009|author=Anon|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019045045/http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/pebble.asp?relid=7559|archivedate=19 October 2013}}</ref>
==Professional life== Bam has held various posts throughout the world. She was the Africa Regional Secretary and Co-ordinator of the Women’s Workers' Programme for the International Food and Allied Workers Association based in Geneva. She has co-ordinated the World Young Men’s Christian Association's International Training Institute and Programme, as well as its affiliate, the Development for Human Rights. She was also Executive Programme Secretary for the Women’s Department of the World Council of Churches. Between 1997 and 1998, Bam served as General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches from 1994 to 1999.<ref name="Baobab" />
In South Africa, she was a founding member of the Women’s Development Foundation and became the Foundation’s President in 1998. She has been a board member of the Matla Trust as well as the South African Broadcasting Corporation. Since 1999, Brigalia Bam has become a familiar personality to South Africans as the Chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa. From 2007, she was on the Panel of the Wise.<ref name="PoW">{{Cite web|url=http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/where/acp/regional-cooperation/peace/capacity_building/panel_of_the_wise_en.htm|title=Panel of the Wise|accessdate=2013-09-28|publisher=The European Commission|year=2012|author=Anon|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140722142610/http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/where/acp/regional-cooperation/peace/capacity_building/panel_of_the_wise_en.htm|archive-date=22 July 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>
She is the chancellor of the Walter Sisulu University.<ref name="WSU">{{Cite web|url=http://www.wsu.ac.za/about_us/aboutus.php?id=leadership|title=THE CHANCELLOR|accessdate=2013-09-28|publisher=Walter Sisulu University|year=2013|author=Anon|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002033810/http://www.wsu.ac.za/about_us/aboutus.php?id=leadership|archive-date=2 October 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> She is currently a member of the International Elections Advisory Council.
==Awards== * In 1999 the Order of Simon of Cyrene{{citation needed|date=September 2013}} * The Order of the Baobab in Silver<ref name="Baobab" /> * In 2000 The SAWW Award<ref name="SAWW">{{Cite web|url=http://pages.interlog.com/~saww/awards2000.html|title=4th Annual SAWW Awards|accessdate=2013-09-28|publisher=SAWW|year=2000|author=Anon}}</ref> *The 2011 Shoprite Checkers Women of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award<ref>{{Cite web|title=Shoprite Holdings {{!}} Women of the Year 2011 winners announced!|url=https://www.shopriteholdings.co.za/articles/Newsroom/2011/women-of-the-year-2011-winners-announced-.html|access-date=2021-01-03|website=www.shopriteholdings.co.za}}</ref> * Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Peace and Reconciliation 2013<ref name="ET2013">{{Cite web|url=http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-08-27/news/41499270_1_gandhi-peace-award-durban-city-hall-satyagraha|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130901003242/http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-08-27/news/41499270_1_gandhi-peace-award-durban-city-hall-satyagraha|url-status=dead|archive-date=1 September 2013|title=South Africa's former election head receives Gandhi Peace Award|accessdate=2013-10-11|publisher=Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.|year=2013|author=Anon|work=The Economic Times}}</ref> *Honorary Doctorate in Literature, March 2019, University of the Witwatersrand<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wits.ac.za/news/latest-news/graduations/2019/writers-poets-and-activists-to-be-honoured-by-wits.html|title=2019 - Writers, poets and activists to be honoured by Wits - Wits University}}</ref>
==Publications== *1971: ''What is Ordination Coming To?''<ref name="Bam1971">{{cite book|author=Brigalia Bam|title=What is Ordination Coming To? Report of a Consultation on the Ordination of Women Held in Cartigny, Geneva, Switzerland 21st-26th September, 1970. Ed. by Brigalia Bam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rVVUtwAACAAJ|year=1971}}</ref> *1979: ''New Perspectives for Third World Women''<ref name="BamSarkar1979">{{cite book|author1=Brigalia H. Bam|author2=Lotika Sarkar|title=New Perspectives for Third World Women|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sSQtAAAAIAAJ|year=1979|publisher=Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society}}</ref> *1994: ''Women Voices Worldwide''<ref name="Bam1994">{{cite book|author=Brigalia Bam|title=Women Voices Worldwide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uuRrPgAACAAJ|year=1994|publisher=IDOC internazionale}}</ref> *1998: ''All about Eve: women of Africa'' in Anglicanism: A Global Communion<ref name="WingatePemberton1998">{{cite book|author1=Andrew Wingate|author2=Carrie Pemberton|title=Anglicanism: A Global Communion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NVwxJh33ptQC&pg=PA347|year=1998|publisher=Church Publishing, Inc.|isbn=978-0-89869-304-1|page=347}}</ref> *1986: ''Priorities for Women in South Africa'' in Speaking of faith: cross-cultural perspectives on women, religion and social change<ref name="EckJain1986">{{cite book|author1=Diana L. Eck|author2=Devaki Jain|title=Speaking of faith: cross-cultural perspectives on women, religion and social change|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jx0pAAAAYAAJ|year=1986|publisher=Women's Press|isbn=9780704340169}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bam, Brigalia}} Category:1933 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century non-fiction writers Category:20th-century South African women writers Category:20th-century South African writers Category:People from the Eastern Cape Category:Recipients of the Order of the Baobab Category:South African religious writers Category:University of Chicago alumni Category:YMCA leaders