Catherine Mackenzie

Catherine is a multi-disciplinary development specialist, with degrees in social anthropology, forestry and zoology. She has over 35 years’ experience in rural development and natural resources management, particularly the social dimensions of forestry, biodiversity conservation, and climate change mitigation and adaptation.

The “development industry” threatens to turn Catherine into a grumpy old woman.  She has an aversion to quick fixes and box-tickers, and a specialty in telling people, especially managers, things they don’t want to hear.   But she remains highly committed to objectives of sustainable development and still seeks to inform and inspire her analysis through evidence from real field work, especially talking to people.  Her talents are best used in participatory and innovative planning and problem solving.  Some people do like working with her!

Her last major assignment before COVID-19 was with the EU’s Value Chain Analysis for Development https://europa.eu/capacity4dev/value-chain-analysis-for-development-vca4d. (VCA4D) study of palm oil in Indonesia.  As the sociologist on the team, she was responsible for examining issues of social sustainability (labour, land, gender, food and nutrition, living conditions and social capital), as well as contributing to stakeholder, governance and inclusivity analyses.  The study, which also examines economic and environmental sustainability,  aimed to help create a shared understanding between the EU and Indonesia on critical palm oil issues.

She also participated in the development of management plans for mangrove forest reserves in Guyana, under EU funding.

Since COVID, her only work has been with the UK’s Darwin Initiative, conducting a home-based mid-term review of a conservation project in Guinea Bissau, which included ecological and community-oriented interventions related to the recent discovery of leprosy in chimpanzees.

Prior to this, Catherine was involved on a part-time basis on two long-term German-funded (KfW) conservation projects in Indonesia:  Biodiversity Conservation and Climate Protection in the Gunung Leuser Ecosystem (Aceh, Sumatra) and Forest Programme III in Lore Lindu National Park (Central Sulawesi).

Other recent work has increasingly focused on climate change, including an analysis of the Theory of Change for REDD+ and Norway’s ICFI programme , the “real-time” evaluation of Norway’s ICFI country programme in Indonesia for Norad,  a review of  Social Standards and Safeguards for REDD+ http://www.fcmcglobal.org/documents/Safeguards_Paper.pdf for USAID, preparation of Vietnam’s REDD-Readiness PIN, planning for social dimensions of pioneering REDD+ projects, and backstopping CARE’s community-based adaptation programme in Mozambique.

Her participatory forest management inventory and planning work in Sierra Leone has resulted in the first two forest co-management agreements in that country. She has been involved in biodiversity conservation and protected areas management work for many years and in many countries: Ghana (bushmeat), Mongolia, Tibet, Guyana, Indonesia, Bolivia, Brazil, Tanzania, the Galapagos and the Caribbean. Her work on forest governance and illegal logging in Mozambique is well-known as the first study to document the role of the Chinese in exploiting Africa’s hardwoods.  She has worked on  FLEGT preparation projects for the EU in Indonesia (2003), and in Mozambique, Zambia and South Africa (2012).

In these assignments she applies core competencies in social/poverty/ policy/institutional analysis, conflict resolution, monitoring and evaluation, impact assessment, research and teaching. She has experience in all phases of the project management cycle (identification, preparation, appraisal, management, technical advice, monitoring, and evaluation), working with World Bank, ADB, FAO, GEF, EU, DFID, Norad, USAID, DGIS, IUCN, WWF, FFI, SNV, CARE and others. An enthusiastic team worker and effective communicator, she has been team leader on several long-term participatory forestry projects and research projects.  She is a skier and scuba-diver, plays tennis, rides motorcycles and bicycles, got her PPL, and speaks very good Indonesian and Portuguese and functional French and Spanish.

Email:  Cathy.Mackenzie@theNRgroup.net

CVMackenzie EU CV 2019 Mackenzie ADB CV Feb 17

Country Experience:   Indonesia (including Sulawesi, Sumatera, Kalimantan (E,W, S), Moluccas, W Papua), Malaysia, Sri Lanka, India (including Sikkim, Kerala, Karnataka), Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, China (including Tibetan Areas of Qinghai and Sichuan, Guizhou, Hainan, Shanghai), Vietnam, Cambodia,  Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador (incl. Galapagos),  Guyana, Honduras, Belize, Mexico, Panama, Jamaica, Montserrat, Turks and Caicos, Barbados, St Lucia, Dominican Republic, Haiti.

Availability Catherine is currently UK-based and available for both short and long-term assignments.  

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Martin Stewart

Martin StewartMartin is a multi-skilled Senior Manager and Teamleader with an MBA and 40 years experience of rural development, governance, watershed management, forestry and livelihoods projects and programmes in Africa and South Asia. Martin has expertise in managing multi-disciplinary teams and programmes delivering institutional development, organisational change and capacity building; he has proven skills in Monitoring & Evaluation, and in training. 

Working primarily on long-term multi-year postings, Martin has worked in Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Malawi, Nepal, Nigeria, and Pakistan as well as the UK. He is now Chief Technical Adviser working with the Ministry of Agriculture in Ethiopia on a large multi-state watershed development project (Sustainable Land Management-Phase III), funded by KfW, ‘The German Development Bank’. Employed by GITEC Consult GmbH he is helping the Ministry to manage regional and national technical consultancy teams, and a Euro ‘Disposition Fund’ account.


Emailmartin.stewart1@ thenrgroup.net

CVStewart CV

Country Experience:  Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Malawi, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, UK.

Hugh Gibbon

A Natural Resource Management Specialist and project manager with over 30 years international experience in natural resource and collaborative community projects. He has focused on: agri-business, organisational change, partnership development and evaluations. Hugh demonstrates individual initiative, sensitive negotiation skills, leadership, excellent communication and international languages. He is a specialist in PA methods including: participatory monitoring and evaluation, community empowerment and participatory planning (PRA), community-based natural resource management, agri-business, team building and training. He designs and is experienced in senior level multi media presentations and electronic material preparation. Currently based in Kenya.


EmailHugh.Gibbon@theNRgroup.net 

CVGibbon CV

Country Experience:  TBC

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Elizabeth Kiff

Liz Kiff

Elizabeth Kiff is a trained agriculturalist, natural resource manager and environmentalist, with over 30 years practical engagement at project and programme level. She has experience at all stages of programme formulation, implementation and monitoring and evaluation with specific inputs to project design, proposal preparation, programme implementation and results-based management. This has been with a range of clients including government, international donor organisations, NGOs, private consulting firms and research institutions. Experience with funders includes ADB, CONCERN, DfID, EU, FAO, FINNIDA, IFAD, OXFAM, UNDP, UNEP, WFP. Long-term assignments include agricultural extension in community development programmes, implementation of sustainable farming systems in watershed management project, research programme management, and the communication of outputs and training.  Recent assignments include integrating climate change mitigation priorities within agriculture and forestry projects, under GEF funding. With long-term overseas experience in the Philippines, Nepal, India and Ghana, she has particular experience of issues relating to climate change adaptation, livelihood enhancement, farm intensification, crop-livestock interactions, nutrient management, crop diversification and the farm-forest interface.

Email:   elizabeth.kiff@thenrgroup.net  

CV:        http://CVLiz_Kiff2020.pdf   http://EU_CVLiz Kiff2020.pdf

Country Experience:  Bhutan, Botswana, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Myanmar, North Korea, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tajikistan, Vietnam, Zambia,  Zimbabwe

Availability: Please enquire

Nienke Eernisse

Nienke Eernisse GIS SpecialistNienke is a Geographic Information Systems specialist with over 16 years experience of applying GIS to environmental, land and water management. She has worked on a diverse range of projects both in the private and public sector, involving (geo) database development, spatial analyses, web-mapping, map production and GIS support and training.
Nienke was contracted by Kent County Council as GIS officer on a 3 year European funded project (Interreg IV: ARCH) assessing changing landcover and habitats in Kent and developing tools for Planning. With a large amount of data, new methodologies to establish, and participants all using GIS, this has proved a varied and interesting challenge.
Prior to working with Kent County Council, Nienke was employed in the private sector contributing to water resources projects (watershed management plans, flood risk assessment) and developing GIS for coastal zone management,  engineering and environmental projects.
During a 4 year posting in the USA, her focus shifted towards GIS for stormwater and asset management projects and peer review, project evaluation and tender preparation. Prior to gaining a Masters in GIS Nienke worked for several years in the Eastern Caribbean as a team leader, gaining experience with data management techniques, data capture and hydrological/meteorological network management.


CV:  CV N. Eernisse

Country Experience: Brazil, The Gambia, Georgia, Guyana, Indonesia, St. Lucia, the Netherlands, UK, USA

Availability: Currently available (any length projects, but only short-term or multi-trip assignments overseas).

Recent project results: Habitat mapping in Kent, UK, Locating Unmanaged Woodland: a new GIS tool for Kent; Coastal monitoring and information management Training in The Gambia.

Contact me:
LinkedIn nienkeeernisse
email nienke.eernisse @thenrgroup.net

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