Our Team
Executive
Belynda Petrie (LLB) (Hons, Psychology)
CEO
Belynda is an expert and leading figure in regional and international climate change adaptation and mitigation, energy, socioeconomic development and human security. Her strength lies in large measure in her ability to bring together multidisciplinary teams, often with public and private sector stakeholders. She has led several medium- to large-scale projects, including the Southern African Regional Climate Change Programme (RCCP) funded by the UK’s Department for International Development —a vast programme that aims to help equip the region’s leaders, decision makers, scientists, economists and other experts to adapt to the impacts of climate variability and change.
Belynda has pioneered a systematic analysis approach, drawing on economic, social and ecological learnings in the search for solid sustainability solutions to complex transboundary issues. She sees stakeholder engagement as a pillar of all attempts to find durable and resilient solutions to the complex challenges facing Southern African leaders. She has been instrumental in facilitating the shaping of a science-policy-institutional–finance dialogue, which has become the RCCP framework in developing practicable responses to key climate change issues. Other projects include the development of a Uganda water resources climate change vulnerability assessment and strategy, the internationally acclaimed Western Cape Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (South Africa), the Ibhubesi Gas Field development project (west coast of South Africa), and the restructuring of the Datatec International Group.
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Sven Kreher (CA)
Commercial Director
Sven’s corporate finance and merchant banking experience is invaluable in the world of energy finance. He brings expertise not only as a consultant in financial analysis and project finance, but also energy development and logistics. Prior to joining OneWorld, Sven led a South African Breweries team assessing logistics and distribution strategy.
Other projects include the Madikwe game farm development, conservation and business development of the South African fish-farming industry, carbon market analysis for Nedbank, while remaining as a team member on the group’s biodiesel project in the Eastern Cape. In 2009, Sven spent a month in Antarctica.
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Business Services
Paula Assubuji (BSc, Economics)
Operations Director
Economist Paula Assubuji has extensive experience in the development sector in Southern Africa and Europe, as well as a solid track record in community-based and -driven projects, focusing also on gender and diversity. Before joining OneWorld as operations manager, she was the manager of the Secretariat of Shack Dwellers International (South Africa) and earlier the regional programme manager for the Heinrich Boell Foundation (Southern Africa). She has more than 10 years’ experience in a range of developmental organisations in Mozambique and Germany, developing the skills to work at all levels of organisations. She is an expert in programme design and management, donor and partner strategy and relationship management, as well as monitoring and evaluating development projects.
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Shane Coomber (BCompt, Accounting & Auditing; SAICA Articles)
Financial Manager
Shane is OneWorld’s financial manager. After completing three years’ articles within the chartered accounting industry, he gained an additional three years’ post-articles audit management experience in many different business environments. He held the position of director of a bookkeeping company and gained more than two years’ valuable experience in this role before joining the OneWorld team.
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Monica Schlottau
Office Manager
Before returning to South Africa in 2005, Monica was the senior manager responsible for securities at a privately owned bank in Hamburg, Germany. Her experience in private banking spans 25 years. Among other duties, she was responsible for implementing new banking systems as well as for merging acquired assets into existing securities services. As head of department, she managed staff and reported to internal and external auditors. Monica joined OneWorld in October, 2009, as office manager. She is responsible for internal coordination, logistics and administration. This involves project coordination, logistical planning, project budget control and general administration.
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Joshua Ogada (MA, Communication and Development Studies)
Communications Officer
Joshua is the communications officer at OneWorld, responsible for internal communication. He has worked as a communications consultant, media researcher and journalism educator, with a special interest in political communication and development studies. Josh was part of a team contracted by the Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa (HSRC) to produce a monograph: Re-Visioning Television Policy, Strategy and Models for the Sustainable Development of Community Television in South Africa. Josh is a political science graduate from the University of Nairobi), holds a Master’s in communication and development studies (Ohio University), and pursued doctoral studies in mass media and public affairs at Louisiana State University. Besides his home languages of English and Swahili, Josh is fluent in French and Spanish, having previously worked as a conference interpreter (French) and translator. Prior to joining OneWorld, Josh was regional Programme Officer for Fahamu Networks for Social Justice, and Links and Resources Editor at Pambazuka News.
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Khanya Gretchen Ndhlovu (MSocSci, Social Development)
Operations Support Officer
Khanya comes from a background of journalism and social development. As a journalist in her home country, Zimbabwe, she gained experience in news gathering, writing, networking and web management. More recently, she has written stories for the Southern African Regional Climate Change Programme (RCCP) electronic newsletter and has driven research and stakeholder engagement on OneWorld’s Forest SA project. Khanya has worked with rural communities in Zimbabwe, focusing mainly on gender mainstreaming in development planning, social and economic development analysis and planning and rural development. She is also an experienced field and desktop researcher, with crucial exposure to people- and freedom-centred development processes and has an understanding of different role players in development. She currently provides operational support at OneWorld.
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Natalia Pagliuca (BA Hons, Sociology and International Studies)
Generalist
As part of her BA in Liberal Arts and Sciences from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (May 2009), Natalia wrote an undergraduate thesis in which she researched the various economies of Sub-Saharan Africa with a focus on the informal sector and urbanisation. Upon her qualification, she worked as personal assistant to the director of St Joseph’s Home for Children with Chronic Illnesses in Cape Town (2009). She was responsible for marketing and fundraising activities, and enhancing media initiatives.
In November 2009 she interned with OneWorld, assisting with survey data compilation and analysis on the Niall Mellon Township Trust and Strengthening Capacity for Climate Change Adaptation in the Agricultural Sector in Lesotho projects. Natalia permanently joined OneWorld in 2010.
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Technical Advisory
Richard Sherman
Global Governance Specialist
Richard Sherman leads OneWorld’s work related to global governance, including the multilateral climate change negotiations. He has been a member of the South African delegation to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (1998 to 2001, and 2009 to date), and is currently Lead Issue Negotiator on Climate Finance and Institutional Arrangements. He founded and managed the International Institute for Sustainable Development Africa Regional Coverage Project and initiated the Climate-L.Org knowledge management process. He has participated in more than 70 intergovernmental negotiations on sustainable development and environment. Richard works as a consultant to Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future and the South African Department of Environmental Affairs, with a particular focus on institutional reform and global governance.
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John Mmekwa Notoane (Management Associate Cert)
Policy Analyst
John is responsible for policy analysis at OneWorld and has extensive stakeholder engagement expertise. Having worked as a senior manager in port operations developing expertise in business strategy development, systems design and logistics management, his experience in the public sector is substantial. He contributed to resolving stakeholder challenges in the development of the Coega deepwater port in the Eastern Cape and facilitated the stakeholder platforms for the Forest Oil development on the West Coast, as well OneWorld’s Western Cape Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan.
John was responsible for stakeholder engagement processes and establishment and management of transboundary relationships for the design and implementation phases of the Southern African Regional Climate Change Programme (RCCP) for DFID, UK. He was also lead facilitator for the stakeholder engagement process of the Majeng Land Restitution Project in the Northern Cape. He has a Management Associate certificate from the University of Cape Town and is fluent in English, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Zulu and Sotho.
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Publishing
Andy Mason (MA, Cultural and Media Studies)
Publishing Manager
Andy is a writer, editor, cartoonist and publications specialist, focusing on reader-friendly editorial and visual narrative strategies. He worked as a managing editor in various publishing environments from 1979 until 1989, when he co-founded Artworks Communications CC, a leading contract publishing and editorial design firm in Durban. In 2007/08 he facilitated the transformation of Artworks into a predominantly black-owned firm with a AAA BEE rating. In 2008 he moved to Cape Town to pursue his academic and creative interests. He has edited or contributed to several cartoon anthologies, and in 2010 his book What’s So Funny? Under the Skin of South African Cartooning was published by Double Storey Books. In 2009 he established the Centre for Comic, Illustrative and Book Arts (CCIBA) at Stellenbosch University. He joined OneWorld in 2010. He also lectures in Visual Narrative Studies at the Stellenbosch Academy for Design and Photography, and continues to co-ordinate the activities of the CCIBA.
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Linda Cilliers (MA, Creative Writing)
Online Editor
Communication strategist Linda Cilliers deals with communications, including the Regional Climate Change Programme Information Clearinghouse and the OneWorld website, facilitating multi-country user requirement assessment and specification, interface with technical development, content development and management. She is a widely published journalist and author, as well as a skilled editor, subeditor, translator, publishing consultant and web strategist. A former editor of Research Africa—a Pan-African science and technology policy journal—her experience in the publishing and media industry spans 25 years. She leads an annual seminar on freelance journalism at UCT’s Centre for Film and Media Studies and presents courses on subediting for the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism.
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Applied Research
Dr Stephanie Midgley (PhD, Bot; MSc, Agric, Hort)
Unit Lead/Researcher: Agriculture and Food Security
Stephanie Midgley is the applied research team lead at OneWorld, with a specialist focus on agriculture and food security. She has been working in the field of climate change impacts and adaptation for 19 years, focusing on crop plants, agricultural and food systems, and integrated cross-sectoral analysis of risk and vulnerability to climate change. She holds a PhD in Botany and an MSc Agric in Horticultural Science, and was an Associate Professor at Stellenbosch University (AgriSciences) before joining OneWorld in 2009. In her academic research, Dr Midgley had a particular interest in ecophysiology and the impact of rising CO2 and weather extremes on crop production and quality. She was the agriculture specialist for the Western Cape Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan, has worked on climate change projects in Uganda and Lesotho, and is currently leading research focus for the Regional Climate Change Programme in Southern Africa. Dr Midgley has a particular interest in developing and testing tools and conceptual frameworks for an integrated analysis of climate change risk and vulnerability, including the use of mapping (GIS) to identify hotspots, and conceptual linkages between climatology and socioeconomic impacts.
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Arthur Chapman (MSc, Hydrology)
Researcher: Water
Water researcher Arthur Chapman has worked as a hydrologist and an environmental specialist on the hydrological impacts of land-use change, using hydrological modelling and risk assessment techniques. Arthur has contributed to numerous studies on the impacts of and vulnerabilities to climate change, including the Western Cape, South Africa, Status Quo Report and consequent Strategy and Action Plan, as well as long-term scenario modelling apropos climate change vulnerability, adaptation and mitigation in Southern Africa. He helped assess vulnerabilities to climate change in the Ugandan water resources sector in 2009 and has given numerous presentations on the impacts of climate change in the water resources sector in Southern Africa.
Arthur made significant contributions to the scientific component of OneWorld’s Regional Climate Change Programme for the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID). He has been researching and managing projects on the impacts of climate change on regional water resources, climate risk and vulnerability, disaster risk and response, and the impacts of climate change on human health. A key component of his work involves modelling the evolution of socio-economic futures in Southern Africa, on the premise that the growth of populations and changes in economies changes future risk and vulnerability profiles of nations and people.
Arthur worked for 19 years as a researcher and hydrologist at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), his research and fields of expertise being in the areas of hydrological impacts of land-use change, hydrological modelling and risk assessment.
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Webster Whande (DPhil; MPhil)
Researcher: Natural Resources
Webster brings indepth knowledge of different thematic areas of environmental issues (agriculture, climate change, biodiversity) and natural resources management in Africa. He has experience in project design, implementation, management and multi-country coordination as well as in applied policy research, drafting policy briefs and issues papers. Efficient planning, organisation and presentation are key skills, and he has planned several international conferences at different levels and implemented various projects in different countries. He has also organised and facilitated training workshops for midcareer professionals in various aspects of natural resources management, facilitated policy dialogues and workshop sessions on natural resources management, migration and development. He is able to work effectively at various levels of society and engage various levels of stakeholders. Before joining OneWorld, Webster was a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies’ Climate Change Project where he researched the governance of climate finance in Africa. Webster obtained a DPhil from the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies within the School of Government at the University of the Western Cape. For his DPhil, he researched the political ecology of Transboundary Natural Resources Management in Southern Africa with emphasis on livelihood dynamics and outcomes of large scale multicountry conservation initiatives. He currently leads institutional assessment in developing climate change adaptation strategies within OneWorld’s systems thinking reference group and has interests in exploring links between sustainable natural resources management and climate adaptation strategies and resilient communities.
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Euan Hope
Research Intern
Having completed his studies in Economics at the University of Cape Town in 2010, Euan joined OneWorld in early 2011 as a research intern. In fulfilling the research component of his Honours degree at UCT, his dissertation reviewed the success of Zimbabwe’s CAMPFIRE Programme in achieving poverty reduction in participating communities.
At OneWorld, Euan has assisted in data collection and research for a Climate Change Risk and Vulnerability Assessment for the Southern African Small Island States of Mauritius, Seychelles, and Madagascar. He also provided research assistance on a report reviewing the potential feasibility of the payment for ecosystem services (PES) as an adaptation strategy to climate change.
Euan’s interests lie in development and environmental economics, with a focus on socioeconomic and community development as well as community-based natural resource management and payment for ecosystem services.
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