Augusta de Fátima Charifo Maíta was born on 24 March 1980, in the city of Beira, capital of Sofala province. She is the daughter of Domingos Mutizo António Maíta, a police officer, and Maria de Fátima Charifo Maíta, a treasurer.
Augusta Maíta pursued her education in Maputo, where she completed her primary education at Escola Primária 24 de Julho and her secondary education at Josina Machel Secondary School, graduating in 2000. In 2006, she earned a Bachelor’s degree in History from Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM), where she later obtained a Master’s degree in Rural Sociology in 2011.
She served as a university lecturer at UEM from 2006 to 2011, before being appointed Deputy National Director for Studies at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, a position she held from 2011 to 2016. From 2016 to 2017, she chaired the Board of Directors of the National Sustainable Development Fund (FNDS). Between 2017 and 2018, she was Provincial Permanent Secretary in Sofala, and from 2018 to 2020, she served as Director-General of the National Institute for Disaster Management (INGC).
During her time as Deputy Director for Studies, Augusta Maíta was a member of the University Council at the Pedagogical University (2013–2015), while simultaneously serving as an alternate member of the Higher Council for Statistics. She was involved in the drafting of the National Development Strategy and in the proposal for the National Population Policy.
Between 2017 and 2018, she also served as Non-Executive Chairperson of the Board of Directors of FNDS. In recognition of her leadership in responding to cyclones Idai and Kenneth in 2019, she was honoured by the United Nations Secretary-General under the initiative “To Humanitarian Women”.
She has completed short-term courses in Microeconomics and Macroeconomics at the London School of Economics; a module on Decentralised Management of Regional Development at Humboldt University in Berlin; and a course on Employment Policies offered by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Turin.
Maíta is a member of the Frelimo Party, under which she was head of the candidate list for the 2018 Municipal Elections in the city of Beira. She is a practising Christian, affiliated with the Catholic Church.
