Candidate info
Particular qualifications:
I have known the IUCN for over 30 years, worked with IUCN member organizations, and commissions, and closely collaborated with the secretariat. As a WCPA member, I acted as regional vice-chair for Central and West Africa for 12 years and contributed to strengthening the IUCN and the commission’s constituency and visibility in the region. I actively supported some of IUCN flagship programme components, including through my engagement as a panel member of the IUCN World Heritage and the Green List. I am involved in several board and consultative committees for organizations working on conservation and sustainability issues in Africa and beyond. A native of Burundi and living in Guinea-Bissau, I have led major conservation programs and built a valuable network across Africa, with local, national, regional, and international key players, including policy decision-makers, civil society organizations, and philanthropic and public funders. I am fluent in English, French, Portuguese, and German and have a basic level of Spanish. I am a supporter of the One Programme approach and believe that I can contribute to the strategic directions of IUCN, further promote the work of the Union in the regions, and bring perspectives from the Africa region to the Council.
Experience in fields of concern to IUCN:
I bring more than three decades of work experience in biodiversity conservation and sustainable natural resources management, with a focus on protected and conserved areas management and governance, threatened species conservation, mainstreaming conservation in development policy and planning, and sustainable conservation funding. Working at the grass-roots, regional, and international level allowed me to get a robust understanding of conservation issues and to be able to interact with local as well as regional and global stakeholders. As regional program coordinator for the Fondation Internationale du Banc d’Arguin and then Director of the West Africa program for the MAVA foundation, I led the implementation of strategic conservation partnerships in West Africa in the coastal and marine realm, aiming at linking conservation science with practice, institutional strengthening of national conservation organizations, and policy influence for sustainable development in the region.