In her home country of Zambia, Mwape Kumwenda has a reputation for not giving up a good story, even if that means facing charges of treason, arrest, or staring down a crowd of angry thugs crashing through the door of a funeral home.In Zambia, a country in southern Africa, Kumwenda said that widespread corruption has led to poverty and inequality. According to Transparency International , 42% of Zambians reported paying a bribe in 2010 and more than two thirds of people believe corruption has gotten worse."As it stands, the executive branch has the power to manipulate almost anything. The principle of the separation of power... it doesn’t work, because judges are appointed by the president," Kumwenda told Refinery29.But that hasn't stopped Kumwenda and her team from Muvi Television from questioning officials at the highest level — including the president himself — about government-sanctioned murders, illegal evictions of thousands of people, and the forced marriages of young girls."My father once said, 'My daughter, you are so powerful. You stop a president, and you ask the president a question, and the president stands and answers you. You are so powerful!’” said Kumwenda proudly.It's also made the mother of two the target of intimidation and threats."Sometimes, I go to an official function and I see the thugs there, ready to beat. They will be looking around for me and asking, ‘Where is this person... She is ridiculing the government.' But I tell them, 'You have to pay a price when you get into public office, because you are managing public affairs and public resources — and everyone wants to hold you accountable to that,'" Kumwenda said.We talked to Kumwenda in New York, after she won the 2015 Courage in Journalism Award from the International Women's Media Foundation.

My move to get into journalism was that I would use the field to transform the lives of people. For me, getting into the career of journalism was more of a service to vulnerable communities. So most of my stories have been about human rights, community development and advocating for poverty eradication; as well as good health, good nutrition, and good education for the people.There is so much insecurity. There is so much speculation and there is so much fear in the lives of many Zambians that more will lose employment, and this might widen the poverty levels in our country. It’s a hard time as we speak, and mostly when you look at certain things happening in this way, you tend to realise that the most affected are the girls and the women, because they make up the majority and they are managers of our houses.Traditionally, a woman is considered to be the manager of the house, because probably a man is going to be going out and looking for food and resources to keep the family. So when the man loses employment, the one who is more affected is the woman and the girl child. So this makes women and girls very vulnerable to all sorts of injustice.The other issue I think that is also of great concern is the high teenage pregnancy rate... More than 40% of the girls who enrol for education are not completing school because they are falling pregnant. Others are being married off at a tender age.