Speakers

Dr Million Belay coordinates the Alliance for Food Sovereignty for Africa, a network of networks of major networks in Africa. He is a member of the International Panel of Experts on the Sustainable of Food Systems (IPES-Food). Million is a founder of MELCA – Ethiopia, an indigenous NGO working on issues of agro-ecology, intergenerational learning, advocacy and livelihood improvement of local and indigenous peoples. He has PhD in environmental learning and MsC in tourism and conservation and BsC in Biology

Mutizwa Mukute is an international environmental education specialist, transformative learning researcher, developmental evaluator, and organisational development facilitator. He is currently the Acting Chair of the Adaptation Fund Technical Evaluation Reference Group (AF-TERG), Senior Research Associate of Rhodes University Department of Education, and international development consultant. Highlights of his professional achievements include being awarded: (i) a Certificate of Outstanding Leadership by the Board of Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM) Association in 2005 (former employer), and (ii) a Certificate of Outstanding Contribution by the Eastern and Southern African Small-Scale Farmers’ Forum (ESAFF) in 2014, and (iii) serving as Visiting Scholar at Global Change Institute, Wits University in South Africa (2017-18). He holds a PhD and Masters in Environmental Education.

Ken joined UNESCO-UNEVOC in 2013 as a Programme Officer. She is responsible for assisting the Director in programme management and new project development, medium-term strategic planning and monitoring programmes. As of 2020, she leads and coordinates UNEVOC’s SDGs and Greening TVET programme, aimed at strengthening TVET institutional capacities; developing normative guidance, practical implementation tools and learning resources; and facilitating knowledge sharing and network exchange on the topic.

For the past 15 years, Ken has worked in the education and TVET sector, including in UNESCO’s Asia-Pacific Education for Innovation and Development (APEID) Programme at its Regional Bureau for Education in Bangkok, Thailand; Colombo Plan Staff College for Technician Education (CPSC) in Manila, Philippines; and the International Coral Reef Initiative Secretariat - Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Government of the Philippines. She holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration.

Dr Justin Lupele has 30 years work experience in education, environment and development. He specialises in project management; research; curriculum and programme development; climate change; water, sanitation and hygiene education; participatory educational materials development and institutional/organisational capacity building; and workshop/seminar facilitation. Dr. Lupele is a distinguished Rhodes and Commonwealth scholar with numerous publications to his credit, including regional and international peer reviewed journals and book chapters on education for sustainable development, environmental education, education leadership and management, climate change and WASH in Schools. He holds a PhD in Environmental Education from Rhodes University

Nikolas Bosscher (09/09/1977), married and having 3 children. MSc in Industrial Engineering and MSc in Physical Land Resources. Started an international carreer with the Belgian NGO Broederlijk delen in Uganda. Worked as a technical assistant for VVOB in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Joined the Government of Flanders in 2011 as deputy general representative and worker for 9 years in Malawi before coming to South Africa end August 2020.

Ms Vanwildemeersch career started in 2000 in the Ministry of Environment of Flanders, Belgium, as a focal point for the Biodiversity Convention and responsible for the follow-up of related issues in international for as the United Nations, the WTO, the EU-working groups. She currentky works as a policy advisor on the implementation of Education for Sustainable Development in, amongst others, teacher training.

Ms Mapula Tshangela is currently the Director of Climate Change Mitigation Sector Plan Implementation with the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA). Her responsibilities includes management of private sector greenhouse gas mitigation plan regulations and support to Provinces and Local Government on their climate change mitigation strategies and plans implementation. She supports education initiatives on climate change mitigation capacity building and training.

Mr Kanthan Naidoo is currently the Chief Education Specialist for Life Sciences and Agriculture at the Department of Basic Education. He is the Chairman of the Life Sciences subject committee which oversees the development and support of all Life Sciences teachers nationally. Kanthan qualified as a Life Sciences teacher more than 25 years ago. He taught Biology at Nirvana Secondary school in Lenasia for than 8 years before being promoted. He has a BSc degree in Genetics (WITS) and has also served as a subject advisor and provincial coordinator for Life Sciences in the Gauteng Department of Education before joining the Department of Basic Education.. He has been involved in the development and finalisation of the Life Sciences CAPS curriculum. He also was the leader of the National Training Team for Life Sciences which orientated and trained subject advisors and teachers on the CAPS curriculum. He has been instrumental in mooting for Environment to be a knowledge strand in the Life Sciences Grades 10-12 curriculum. He is a passionate advocate for environmental sustainability.

Distinguished Professor Coleen Vogel is a climatologist by training and has undertaken research in climate change, climate vulnerability and adaptation, with a particular focus on disaster risk reduction and climate variability. She was one of the key contributors to the writing of the Green and White Papers on South African Disaster Management and was a major contributing author for the Disaster Management Act. She has received an international award, the Burtoni Award, for her work on climate change advocacy and science of climate change adaptation. Her current research interests include transformative education for global environment change and sustainability, climate change in its broader context and adaptation and disaster risk reduction focusing particularly on the interactions between physical and social dimensions shaping change

Associate Professor Ingrid Schudel is a senior lecturer at Rhodes University involved in pre-service and in-service courses at bachelors, certificate and honours levels with a focus on transformative learning, environmental education and Natural Science teaching in schools. She is also lecturer and co-ordinator of the Masters in Education (Environmental Education) which supports environmental education in school, higher education, community, NGO and government contexts. She has successfully supervised a number of master’s studies and is currently moving into doctoral supervision as well.

Loran Pieck is working as M&E and capacity development advisor with VVOB – education for development in South Africa. In this position, she aims to strengthen partnerships with the Department of Education to collectively strengthen the professional development of teachers and school leaders, with a strong focus on equity. She is currently involved in projects focusing on Teaching and Leadership for Diversity, Gender Responsive Pedagogy and Climate Change Education.

She started her career in Rwanda, supporting the Government to strengthen the capacity of the public sector in the country’s transition towards a knowledge-based middle-income country. She is now using that experience to strive towards inclusive and equitable quality education for all learners in South Africa.

Charles is coordinating the UNESCO Sustainability Starts with Teachers, a capacity building programme for ESD running in 11 SADC countries from 2019-2022. He holds a PhD in Education for Sustainable Development from Rhodes University. Charles has worked in teacher education for over 15 years in the SADC region. He also brings in some experience in working with UNESCO-led initiatives in ESD in various aspects of education especially in the context of teacher development in southern African countries with focus on ESD, Science and Culture. Previously he also worked in community contexts and with Institutions of Higher Learning across borders in Southern Africa, where the focus has been on social learning, climate change, biodiversity and water.

Dr David Monk is the Senior Researcher for the Uganda cases. He is based in Uganda at Gulu University. David is a community activist and lifelong Learner. David has experience in community university partnerships, community based research and experiential and non-formal learning. David is interested in empowering, transformative praxis embedded in deep ecological principles that challenge hegemonic power and includes action to address systemic social and ecological injustices. He is guided by the Earth Charter and the UNESCO principles of lifelong learning that centre learning “to be” and learning “to live together”. David is committed to decolonization and to creating a world that places love for people and the planet before profit and greed.

Ms Cloete grew an immense passion for Environmental Education within rural communities and to date has 6 years of experience in this sphere. It is her commitment to bridging the gap between our natural surroundings and everyday lives that encouraged her to enter the Civil Society platform. She Manages the three international Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) programmes WESSA implements across South Africa. These three programmes are the WESSA Eco-Schools Programme, the WESSA Learning About Forests/Biomes (LEAF) Programme and the WESSA Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE).

Dr Mandikonza is an enthusiastic educator who finds interest in all learners, and particularly in how to enable their better learning, particularly learning how to learn. His interest in mediation of learning makes me both an avid everyday educator and an educational researcher. Caleb started as a lecturere in 1997 at Mutare Teachers' College for 10 years and then moving to a leacturer at Rhodes University. Dr Mandikonza is currently teaches Life Sciences Education to undergraduate teachers at the University of Witwatersrand.

A pioneer in EdTech, Mike endeavors to connect students to nature from sea to space through narrative and an array of digital experiences. He completed a Masters in the Faculty of Education, Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Victoria (2015). Mike made history by successfully defending his thesis live from underwater, his defense can be seen on YouTube titled: “Beneath The Waves”. In 2016, Fish Eye Project’s ‘Live Dives’ made cinematic history as being the first to introduce real-time interactions between audiences and divers in giant screen theaters. Mike has a diverse range of experiences in cinema, public speaking, remote web broadcasting and audio visual work. In 2010, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, Mike became a diver and an advocate for ocean literacy. By 2011, He began assembling the tools and framework for live underwater shows or ‘Live Dives’ with Maeva Gauthier that naturally lead to the founding of Fish Eye Project. Fish Eye has now evolved into a new brand called Live It, which connects students to experts in the field in real-time from sea to space

Preven Chetty has been working in the field of environmental education, school based education,outdoor education and teacher education for more than 15 years. He has worked with/for the Outward Bound, Ethekwini Municipality, Department Of Education, WESSA, DUCT, Greenpeace Africa, UKZN, UNISA, Earthwatch, Rhodes University and other EE initiatives throughout this time. In 2012 together with a small group of ecowarriors from the Duzi Umgeni Conservation Trust they walked the entire length of the Umgeni River monitoring water quality and engaging in EE activities along its banks with school learners. This led to further explorations and EE work along the catchment throughout the decade. Currently he is completing his doctoral study at Rhodes University on resonance building praxis and enabling ecologically literate learners through practical fieldwork activities in riparian systems.

Dr. Shepherd Urenje is a Programme Specialist in Education with the Swedish International Centre of Education for Sustainable Development. His current work supports teaching and learning for the future (within and among countries) in Scandinavia, Africa and Asia. His expertise includes facilitating strategies of learning for change that develop in learners, 21st century skills for a changing world. Dr. Shepherd Urenje studied Developmental Education at the University of London, United Kingdom. His professional background includes teaching environmental science and development education in Zimbabwe, Regional Programme Manager for Education and Training at SADC REEP and Principal Examiner of Environmental Science in the UK.

Overson Shumba is a professor of science education in the School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the Copperbelt University in Zambia. He is acting Director for the Centre for Academic Development and advises the African Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Mining. Prof. Shumba is a Reference Group Member for the UNESCO-ROSA ‘Sustainability Starts With Teachers Capacity Building Programme For Teacher Educators On Education For Sustainable Development (CAP ESD)’. During the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development he served as a member of the UNESCO Monitoring and Evaluation Expert Group.

Kgomotso Thomas is a project coordinator for a Fundisa for Change project called Keep It Cool-Climate Change Education, which aims to address climate change mitigation and adaptation in South Africa through the education system. She previously worked as a high school teacher, teaching Natural Sciences and Physical Sciences. Kgomotso has also worked as a biodiversity junior researcher at The Association for Water and Rural Development for the RESLIM-O (Resilience in the Olifants River Basin) project. She holds a Master’s degree in environmental education from Rhodes University, where her research focus was on teacher professional development in environment and sustainability education through professional learning communities.

Rob O’Donoghue is Professor Emeritus in the Environmental Learning Research Centre at Rhodes University. He has worked on action learning and social learning in environment and sustainability education as evaluative processes of co-engaged learning in school and community contexts across southern Africa. The much of his current research is on Hand-print CARE and the inclusion of indigenous knowledge practices and ethics in nexus learning in relation to new environmental knowledge, climate change education and the challenges of future sustainability.