Dr Meggan Spires

Meggan believes that African cities are places of innovation and potential, where globally relevant solutions are found. She leads the Climate Change, Energy and Resilience workstream at ICLEI Africa, where a diverse team works with African city stakeholders to build resilience, enable low emission development, and improve access to finance and energy. Meggan holds a PhD in Environmental Science and before joining ICLEI Africa worked as a municipal official.

Jess Kavonic

Jess has a background in atmospheric science with a specialised knowledge of climate change and its relationship with a sustainable approach to development. She has seven years’ experience working with and for local governments, working to improve urban human well-being, build climate resilience and protect the urban natural asset base through influencing development policies and planning systems. Jess manages the UNA Programme and the FRACTAL and Reflecting Cities projects.

Dr Kate Strachan

Kate holds a PhD in Environmental Science, focused on coastal changes associated with climate change. She has a special interest in understanding climate change and the associated risks, especially relating to coastal cities. She has worked with and for local governments to build climate resilience, developing climate adaption plans, and identifying challenges and opportunities associated with natural assets to overcome shocks and stressors associated with climate change.

Nachi Majoe

Nachi has 10 years’ experience in local government policy, practice, and capacity building. She holds two Master’s degrees: Public Management & Governance, and International Planning & Sustainable Development (Urban Resilience). As Manager of Urban Systems & Strategic Alliances she leads on urban governance, finance, infrastructure, and settlements as well as the localisation of global agreements (such as the SDGs). She further maintains ICLEI’s strategic partnerships.

Kirsty Griffin

Kirsty holds a Masters in Climate Change and Sustainable Development and joined ICLEI Africa in 2015. Her work focuses on climate change mitigation and adaptation, capacity building, and climate and biodiversity action planning. Kirsty is currently the project manager of ICLEI Africa’s CAPS Project and a member of several highly experienced and dynamic project teams responsible for implementing ICLEI’s key biodiversity and climate change projects.

Tara Caetano

Tara is an energy economist with more than a decade of experience in climate change and development in the African context. She holds an Engineering Masters in Energy Studies from the University of Cape Town. Her experience includes leading projects across Africa at the national and subnational level in areas such as long-term emission development strategies, energy transitions, development economics, and the circular economy.

Avuyile Kewana

Avuyile has a deep passion for urban sustainability. She joined ICLEI Africa in April 2019 to offer technical input and support in implementing low emission strategies, carbon reporting and development of greenhouse gas inventories for cities. Avuyile has experience working as a Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Assistant Intern at the City of Cape Town.

Azola Zulu

Azola is an enthusiastic and professional built environment/ sustainability practitioner with over 5 years’ experience within the climate change and urban development field. She holds a Bachelors degree from the University of Pretoria and is currently pursuing her Master’s in Sustainable Energy Efficiency from University of Witwatersrand. In her previous role, as the C40 Technical Officer for the City of Johannesburg, in which she was responsible for driving the process of developing and implementing net zero carbon performance and resource efficiency standards for the built. She is passionate about identifying strategic partnerships to accelerate the implementation of ambitious climate actions.

Balbina Nyamakura

Balbina completed her BSc Honours in Environmental Sciences at Rhodes University in 2017. She is currently pursuing her MSc in Environmental and Geographical science at the University of Cape Town. She joined ICLEI Africa in 2018 as a Masters student and is conducting her research as part of the IMPACT project, focusing on cross-sector collaboration for drought disaster resilience in the city of Harare, Zimbabwe.

Ben Hetherington

Ben holds an Honours in Economics from the University of Cape Town and completed the City of Cape Town’s Urban Sustainability Internship Programme. He has been involved in various energy and climate initiatives, most notably climate data collection and reporting through the ICLEI-CDP Unified Reporting Platform and other climate initiatives, such as C40 and the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy. He supported the development of the City's Climate Action Plan.

Carine Lehtem Buma

Carine is passionate about energy, especially given the urgent need for sustainable energy access in Africa. She holds a MSc. in Physics and B.Eng in Petroleum Engineering. Carine joined ICLEI as an intern and is working on climate change and energy projects, including CoM SSA. She has experience in the design, monitoring and evaluation of photovoltaic systems, as well as on technical properties of petroleum products.

Damien Gabriel

Damien holds a Double Master’s degree in International Relations from Aston University, United Kingdom, and Sciences Po Lille, France. With international experience, various skills and interests in international relations and sustainable development, and a proficiency in French, English and Portuguese, he assists to enhance the ICLEI network in sub-Saharan Africa.

Dania Petrik

Dania is a MPhil graduate from the Energy Research Centre, UCT, with a focus on climate change and poverty. Her background in communications equips her to effectively communicate climate related issues. She has over five years’ experience in climate research and consulting, working alongside donor agencies, practitioners, local and national government, regional networks, and with academia to implement a range of projects specifically around building capacity and improved climate governance.

Meagen Swain

Meagen Swain holds a Master of Philosophy in Climate Change and Sustainable Development from the University of Cape Town with a theoretical background in Environmental and Geographical sciences. Before joining ICLEI Africa as a Professional Officer in the Climate Change, Energy and Resilience workstream, she completed the City of Cape Town’s Urban Sustainability Internship Programme, within the City’s Environmental Management Department. During her time at the City of Cape Town, she supported the public participation process of the city’s Climate Change Strategy and assisted in strengthening the strategy and action plan. Her interests lie in climate change, resilience and urban greening.

Nelson de Lamare

Nelson is part of both the Climate Change, Energy & Resilience work stream, and the Membership team, while undertaking his MA in International Studies at Stellenbosch University. He has experience working for the Coordinating Committee for International Voluntary Service, a global network of International Voluntary Service CSOs, as well as the culture and education sectors of UNESCO.

Takunda Mambo

Takunda is a UCT graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science and Sociology, and a Master’s Degree in Disaster Risk Science. He is passionate about sustainable development with experience in various areas including, but not limited to, climate change, conservation, energy, environmental management, financial inclusion and ICT4D. He has experience leading projects and data collection in both urban and rural settings. He also has a strong appreciation for GIS, and its integration in data analytics for development.

Outside work he enjoys listening to music, reading up on global current affairs and watching movies. His favourite books are Brave New World and The Alchemist.

Tarryn Quayle

Tarryn joined ICLEI Africa in 2009 and focuses on urban water and sanitation projects through the lens of climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. Tarryn has a keen interest in co-developing projects that reflect the demand-driven, inclusive and multi-stakeholder approaches integral to supporting sustainable urban development on the continent.

Vanessa Tshite

Vanessa holds a postgraduate diploma in Integrated Water Resources Management and a BSc in Environmental and Water Science from the University of the Western Cape. She joined ICLEI as an intern, working on two main projects – UNA and IMPACT. She has experience assisting with environmental legislation and related projects as an Environmental Compliance Assistant at the City of Cape Town and in the private sector.

Adél Strydom

Adél believes in the beauty and power of stories to bring change. She combines an honours degree in Media Theory and Practice with an MPhil in Sustainable Development. Her six years’ experience range from travel, lifestyle and nature to urban metabolism, energy, and climate change. She works with the Climate Change, Energy & Resilience team at ICLEI Africa on communications, focusing primarily on writing and film.

Claudia Schroder

Claudia holds degrees in Social Dynamics and Environmental Management and is currently completing her Masters in Environment, Society and Sustainability through the University of Cape Town. Her role as a Research and Communications Officer since 2018 enables her to explore the complex dynamics between humans and nature in the face of climate change as well as bring insight to the manner they are communicated to ICLEI’s audiences and stakeholders.

Jarita Kassen

Jarita Kassen spent the last two years working at Eyewitness News producing radio news stories and articles on a variety of topics. She is passionate about climate change and sustainability and excited to work in a communications position that addresses these issues. She has experience liaising with local government officials and gained a good understanding of government structures and communicating about political issues during her studies at the University of Cape Town. She has a BA degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics and an Honours degree in Political Communications, focusing on media. She also has a diploma in Business French and has dabbled in design and layout, and podcast production. Jarita will be joining the ICLEI Africa team as a Communications Officer for Energy and Climate Change, specifically to support communications for the CoM SSA Secretariat as well as our LoCS4Africa Virtual Congress, and other related campaigns.