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.  

Save

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

Save

Judith Pender

penderJudith has specialised in applying biogeographical techniques to a range of research areas, including migrant insect pests and vectors of disease. She has designed and implemented Geographical Information Systems to address data management and analysis in subjects such as the development of locust information management systems, research into the effects of tsetse fly control on land use, the management of natural resources in peri urban areas in relation to water resources and rat infestation problems and land land use of contaminated land. She has over 40 years experience in sub-Saharan Africa , Middle East , China and Central Asia , and speaks some French and Russian.


Emailjudith.pender @ thenrgroup.net

CVPender CV

Country ExperienceChina, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kazakhstan, Mauritania, Mozambique, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Yemen, Zimbabwe

Lawrence Kenyon

kenyonLawrence has more than twenty years experience of research and consultancy in the field of Crop Protection Technology and Plant Pathology for mainly tropical horticultural, field and plantation crops. This experience includes project formulation, administration and management. Lawrence’s special area of expertise is in diseases caused by plant viruses and phytoplasmas and in plant disease diagnostics. He is also interested in how to better communicate research findings and has experience of the development and delivery of extension and training materials for resource-poor farmers as well as MSc and PhD student supervision and teaching. More recently Lawrence has broadened his experience to include food safety and quality assurance systems for horticultural growers to meet the requirements of EU Food Law, EUREPGAP and specific retailer protocols for access to EU markets. Currently at World Vegetable Center, Taiwan.

Emaillawrence.kenyon @ thenrgroup.net

CVKenyon CV  Kenyon Publications

Country Experience:  Belize, Benin, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Fiji, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Kenya, Mexico, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Sheila Willis

Sheila Willis - Agricultural Entomologist

Sheila is an Agricultural Entomologist with research and teaching experience in Entomology and Pest Management and 15 years experience in the development sector in the UK and Africa. Her early career focused on participatory research with smallholder farmers and pastoralists in East Africa, including research into beekeeping, sweet potato butterfly control, community-based tetse fly control and vectors of camel trypanosomiasis. Sheila has extensive experience in community mobilisation, communications, resource mobilisation and project development. Latterly Sheila has focused on pesticide management including pesticide registration and regulation, safer use of pesticides and integrated pest management.

Emailsheila.willis @ thenrgroup.net

CV:  Sheila Willis CV

Country Experience:  Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, UK

Availability:

Richard Tapper

Richard Tapper - Tourism Development

Richard Tapper is Director of the Environment Business & Development Group, a consultancy that works with clients to enhance tourism’s economic performance, social benefits and environmental protection, and to make tourism more sustainable. His work covers mass tourism, community- and nature-based tourism and management of tourism in protected areas and heritage sites. Richard has 16 years experience in sustainable tourism, and over 20 years experience working on national and international environmental issues. He is an experienced project manager and strong communicator, and his clients include UNEP, UNESCO, UN World Tourism Organisation, the Tour Operators’ Initiative for Sustainable Tourism Development (TOI), the UK and German governments, IUCN and WWF.

Email:  richard.tapper @ thenrgroup.net

CVRichard Tapper CV

Country Experience:  Belize, Cape Verde, Colombia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Mozambique, Nepal, Slovakia, Turkey, Zimbabwe

Availability:

Paul Schoen

Paul Schoen

Paul Schoen is seasoned agricultural economist with over 29 years of international experience in development projects.  After undertaking three university degrees (Hull University, London School of Economics (MSc International Relations, Law and Politics) and Wye College (MSc in Agricultural Economics), UK) he undertook various long and short term assignments in Papua New Guinea, Bangladesh, and other parts of Asia (South, South East, and Far East), all regions of Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean and CIS States. He is experienced in monitoring and evaluation (including mid-term, terminal and ex-post evaluations), economic and financial analysis, project identification, project-preparation, and appraisal and cost-benefit analysis. Evaluations have also utilized tools such as multiplier effects (employment generation and gross margin analysis across sectors analysed) and value chain analysis. He conducts studies as well as business planning and SME support.  He has worked mainly on agricultural development programmes and projects including design of sector support initiatives and strategies for agrarian change such as trade, finance and investment options.  In addition, he provides independent project monitoring and evaluation services to a wide range of organisations including development agencies, NGOs, corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes and charities. He has also lead a team on developing a portfolio to access climate change funds available worldwide for Nigerian agricultural development. Most of his missions have  been undertaken for UNDP (he worked initially as a Junior Professional Officer when he first started in 1992), EC, FAO, DFID, LuxDev, IFAD, SNV, USAID and USDA, World Bank and numerous private sector corporations and foundations including Agha Khan and ACDI VOCA.

In recent years he has been asked to work on regional SME development (such as for SADC which covered 16 member states), value chain development and strategy formulation.

Other recent work has been supporting the complete overhaul of the Novi Sad Commodity Exchange (NSCOMEX – formerly Produktna Berza)) in Serbia where he is leading a small team of technology, trading and legal specialists) for GIZ and the Government of Serbia (Ministry ion Agriculture). He has also worked in Saudi Arabia in 2018 and 2019 on aquaculture Red Sea development and a global strategy formulation for the National Date Palm Centre.

Emailpaul.schoen @ thenrgroup.net; paul_schoen@yahoo.com 

CV: http://Paul Schoen CV (June 2020) (y).docx

Country Experience: Albania, Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Cameroon, Chile, China, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Georgia, Ghana, Hungary, India, Ivory Coast, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kosovo, Laos, Liberia, Lithuania, Madagascar, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Moldova, Mozambique, Namibia, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, PNG, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Saudia Arabia, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, South Africa, Swaziland, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, the Gambia, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, UK, Ukraine, USA, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Zambia.

Availability: Please enquire.

Mark Ritchie

Mark Ritchie - Natural Resources Development Specialist

Mark has been involved in agricultural development worldwide, especially in Africa and Asia for over 30 years. In the last 15 years he has undertaken diverse consulting assignments in environmental impact assessment and in project evaluation for DFID, JICA, the EC, ADB, and the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with a growing emphasis on developing resilience in the face of Climate Change. During 2011 he has been involved in an ex-post environmental impact assessment of the Malawi Government’s flagship agricultural programme, the Farm Input Subsidy Programme. In 2010 he collaborated with members of the Tropical Agriculture Association and the UK No-Till Alliance to prepare an Open Letter to the British Government, recommending a greater focus of attention and resources on Zero-Tillage. During 2009-2011 he worked with the HALO Trust to assist them in promoting linkages between mine clearance and development and enhancing understanding within the sector of the controversial concept of land release and the appropriate evaluation of mine clearance outputs and outcomes (see report). He has worked as an agricultural adviser with the Ministry of Agriculture for UNDP in East Timor (2004-5), led a locust management project for the Asian Development Bank in Kazakhstan (2001-2003) and a farming systems development project for DFID in Malawi (1996-2000). Mark has considerable experience in the management of interdisciplinary international project teams; participatory formulation and management of NR development projects with stakeholders; participatory development of on-farm crop and pest management technologies; institutional capacity building; design, organization and delivery of practical training courses; evaluation of development projects and project cycle management.

Emailmark.ritchie @ thenrgroup.net

CVMark Ritchie CV

Country Experience:  Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, China (PRC), Colombia, East Timor, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, India, Côte d’Ivoire, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Mexico, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Peru, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, UK, Uzbekistan, Zambia

Availability:

Simon Eden-Green

Simon Eden-Green

Simon has a background in plant pathology and crop protection. He has worked with developing countries for over forty years and is a recognized authority on plant diseases caused by bacteria and phytoplasmas, and their insect vectors. His experience includes winning, implementing and leading research and development projects (including pests and diseases of coconut, oil palm, clove, banana, maize, and the development of plant protection services); commissioning, monitoring and evaluating research led by others (as manager of a DFID Crop Protection Programme); and institutional development (as head of a UK research department).  His interests include improving developmental impact through promoting better awareness, participation and communication between researchers, policy makers and the constituents they serve.

Emailsimon.eden-green @ thenrgroup.net

CVSEG CVNRGupdated2022

SEG pubs updated 2022

Country Experience:  Belize, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, France, Ghana, Grenada, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Mozambique, Nigeria, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, UK, USA

Availability:  Available for short-term assignments.

Jonathan Coulter

Jonathan is now retired, but in good health and may be available in some cases.

He has assisted over thirty developing countries in the development of agricultural value chains, making findings more widely available through public presentations and publications. Has worked extensively in Sub-Saharan Africa (anglo- franco- luso-phone and Horn of Africa), Latin America and southern Asia, for clients including the World Bank group, EU, DFID, UNCTAD, FAO, CFC, USAID, French, Swiss and Dutch Cooperation, FINNIDA, TechnoServe, CARE and various consulting companies. Has advised on policies and tested approaches through practical initiatives to improve the performance of marketing systems. His main areas of expertise are: policies and practicalities of developing agricultural commodity markets in southern countries; the organisation of warehouse receipt systems and inventory credit; farmer access to input supplies, financial services and markets, and; the economics of post-harvest handling. His educational background covers economics, business management and marketing, and he is experienced in the preparation, financial and economic appraisal, management and evaluation of projects. Speaks Spanish (bilingual), French (fluent) and Portuguese (‘good enough to speak in public’).

Emailjonathan.coulter @ thenrgroup.net

CV: Coulter CV to retirement in 2018

Country Experience:  Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Chad, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador, India, Jordan, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Pakistan, Philippines, Senegal, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Availability: retired – may be available if job is of unusual interest