Dorothée Aimée Malenzapa

Born in 1951, Malenzapa worked as Professor of African Literature at Ecole Normale Supérieure de Bangui (Higher Teacher Training College of Bangui).^[1][2] From 1993 to 1998, she served as an Ambassador to the Francophonie in Paris.^[1] While serving as an ambassador, she founded the Association of Women Educators for Development in the Central African Republic (AFEDEC) in 1994.^[3] In 1998, she attended the 48th session of the Conference of Education Ministers of Countries Using French as a Common Language (CONFEMEN) in Yamoussoukro from 26 to 30 October 1998 as an observer.^[4] She also founded an NGO named Educational Relief in the Central African Republic (SECA) in an unknown year.^[5]

Before becoming minister, Malenzapa worked at the OIF.^[3] She joined Kwa Na Kwa in an unknown year.^[6] Touadéra appointed her as Minister of International Cooperation, Regional Integration and Francophonie on 22 April 2011.^[7] On 3 February 2013, she became Minister of Rural Development, replacing Fidèle Gouandjika.^[6][8] She stepped down as Minister of Rural Development on 31 March 2013 after Tiangaye reshuffled his cabinet and Jérémie Tchimanguere replaced her position.^[9]

After resigning from a ministerial position, Malenzapa founded two NGOs, which were the Network for Supporting Political Leadership of Central African Women (RESOLEP-FC) (2015) and the Collective of Women of Central African Civil Society (2016). Within the RESOLEP-FC, she served as its coordinator until her death.^[3] While serving as RESOLEP-FC coordinator, she became a speaker at the Capacity Building Technical Workshop held in Brazzaville on 14–15 November 2016, where she delivered an assessment on policies implementation in the Central Africa region.^[10] She also a member of The Francophone Network for Gender Equality (RF-EFH), representing AFEDEC.^[11] She became a speaker at the RF-EFH panel held in March 2024 where she delivered strategies to bolster women empowerment to combat the feminization of poverty.^[12]

Malenzapa died on 23 December 2025. Her funeral was held on 17 January 2026 and Touadera attended it.^[13]