Mapula Makara is a registered Attorney and Notary Public with an LLB degree in International Law at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland) and an LLM (Environmental Law) from University of London. She has also completed a postgraduate course in Environmental Sociology from the University of the Witwatersrand. 

With over thirty years of experience in participation, legal practice and development facilitation, Mapula began her legal career at the first female owned law firm in Lesotho. She has also served on the board of directors of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. She has also worked for Sasol on environmental relations and communication and the Development Alternatives Incorporated (DAI) on a project assisting communities bordering the Kruger National Park in the Great Limpopo Trans-frontier Conservation Area to establish viable natural resource-based enterprises. Her previous international assignments were in donor and development organisations such as GTZ and SADC Water Sector.