Meet the Team
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Laura Conde (Regional Manager) My primary function is to successfully grow the region in accordance with WESSA’s mission and values. Responsibilities: Implement WESSA national strategy. Ensure that employees and partners have a clear idea of what we are working for. Build a successful, financially-healthy regional office with a strong foundation of teamwork and management processes that support collaboration. Manage the Regional Programmes (Education, Training and Capacity Building/ Environmental Management & Sustainable Living/ Natural Resource Management and Utilization/ Communication, Fundraising and Marketing). Agree on objectives, timelines and budgets and review outcomes with coordinators on a quarterly basis. Coordinate the Eco-Schools Programme in the Eastern Cape with about 100 schools currently enrolled. Co-funder of the Eastern Cape Forum for Environmental Education and Sustainability. Secretariat from its establishment to date. Also coordinating the Forum’s Human Capacity Development Programme. The platform provides the means to strengthen capacity and partnerships with individuals, institutions and organisations. Grow WESSA‘s membership (including Branches and Friends groups). Manage the Accounts and Admin section. Work constructively and closely with the Regional Committee to further WESSA’s mission and values. Ensure that good governance is maintained. Manage specific projects as required by regional and/or national demands. Pet Project: Sustainable Livelihoods in the Port St Johns area. Involved for the past seven years. Some projects implemented in the area: Rain Water Harvesting and Sustainable Food production. |
| Phillip Wilkinson (Project Manager) Successful musician, farm owner and soon to be horse breeder, Phillip is WESSA BK’s longest standing staff member whose drive and enthusiasm for WESSA’s core principles, along with his great sense of humour, are willingly shared in the workplace. Phillip concentrates his work on sustainability and energy efficiency projects in the region. The ESKOM Energy and Sustainability Programme is primarily implemented under his guidance where he received national recognition when one of the schools with whom he works won the ETA Awards earlier this year. His efforts further concentrate on integrating EE into grades 10, 11 & 12 Geography curriculum. Phillip represents WESSA on a number of monitoring committees in the Border Kei region. And beyond this he is involved in a support capacity to municipal efforts that include capacity development, partnerships and environmental strategies.
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Phikisile Zondani (EE Coordinator) Phiks is married to Nomelikhaya with 3 children, he is passionate about the environment and especially when working on the plants. Role and Responsibilities: To support schools and school communities members on Sustainable Livelihoods Education program. This is run through organising environmental related workshops on various themes, such as health and sanitation, permaculture food gardens development and nutrition, water conservation and management and leadership skills. Phiks focuses on teacher support and the integration of environmental related topics into the curriculum. “Thus, to work at WESSA, I have acquired and transferred some outputs/achievements, such as environmental management at home and schools, the teaching and learning support materials development, interpersonal and communication skills, networking with government departments, municipality officials, NGO's, teachers, learners and community members. My interest now, is to study towards the Community Development Diploma with the Fort Hare University.” |
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Catherine Andersson (Project Manager - Environmental Education) Catherine recently relocated from Pietermaritzburg to EL to take on the position of Eco-schools Node coordinator for PSJ, Engcobo and Mthatha. Catherine is a keen hiker and runner and is proving to be a valuable asset to WESSA with her professional standards and quality delivery. Over the past year she has rapidly grown in her responsibilities and is actively coordinating at a regional level alongside Laura. As a coordinator she conducts teacher workshops to assists teachers to better integrate environmental education into their classroom teaching and realise environmental change projects in their schools. Catherine is frequently on the road and covers the entire region as she provides individual schools with EE support.
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Melikaya Buti (Project Manager) Meli facilitates Environmental Education and Training programmes which involve: working with schools, government agencies and other role players in running education programmes/projects intended at implementing environmental management initiatives. He also develops community training programmes, teaching and learning materials development and works with other partners/networks in advancing WESSA’s good work of Caring for our Mother Earth. Other responsibilities includes the coordination of the Swedish-funded, International Training Programme on Education for Sustainable Development in Formal Education. This area includes working with participating Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) countries whose institutions includes government ministries, NGO’s, Teacher-Education colleges, UN Agencies, schools and universities. The year-long programme requires travelling to the participating countries, learning about institutional work in Environmental Education/Education for Sustainable Development (EE/ESD), learning about country national policies relevant to EE/ESD and various initiatives pertaining to EE/ESD. Central to the programme, is to support participating institutions in formulating, developing and implementing the concept of ‘Change Projects’. These highlight what the participants wish to use in strengthening their professional work. “I consider myself very fortunate to be working for WESSA as I have learnt and continue to learn many aspects of environmental management.” |
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Taruna Sutherland (Office Administrator) Taruna is married to Gerry and they have one daughter, Kira, age 9. Taruna ensures that the office is running smoothly with regards to supplies, stationery, teas, coffee and a labyrinth of back end management systems. These include assisting with travel arrangements & bookings where necessary, finances, ensuring that expenses and claims are paid, invoicing and that we always have money in the bank account. She is responsible for reconciling payments and invoicing as well as staff petty cash. “I am basically a jack of all trades, but master of none.” |
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Ntosh Tsheyi (Education Outreach Officer) Ntosh joined WESSA BK in 2011 as the Education Outreach Officer for the newly launched WESSA/EC Parks and Tourism Agency Schools Programme. Originally from Coffee Bay, Ntosh is not new to conservation. She has worked on the WWF/WSU/DEAT Mussel Rehabilitation project in Coffee Bay, 2007, and provided the link between the project and the WESSA/WWF Eco-Schools Programme. |
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Lucie Chuchmakova (Project Assistant) Lucie is from Prague in the Czech Republic and is undertaking a foreign volunteer placement as Project Assistant to the WESSA/ECParks and Tourism Agency Schools Programme. She has a Bachelor in Natural Resource Management and Social Pedagogy and a Masters in Environmental Science. |
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Thandi (Housekeeper) The engine room watching the backs of our committed team at the office. Thandi supports venue management and catering at the Enviro Centre where WESSA BK hold functions and workshops.
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