Sazani Associates is an international not-for-profit, research and development organisation. We specialise in community engagement through participatory research, and the development of integrated programmes for sustainable rural development in the UK and overseas.
Our multi award winning organisation was established in 2005 by an interdisciplinary group of experienced practitioners (academics, consultants, project managers) from all over the world, dedicated to the use of participatory approaches for research, development and learning. Our associates operate in the fields of socio-economic development, natural resource management and education.
We have a rolling internship programme and volunteer placements in our project offices. We also work closely with GoWales to provide graduate work experience and volunteer opportunities in Wales. Visit www.gowales.co.uk for current opportunities
Directors
Cathryn MacCallum, MSc (Econ) Social Development Planning and Management, PGCM
Cathryn has worked for many years within African and Islamic cultures and is fluent in Kiswahili. A senior social scientist, she provides technical support for poverty reduction and rural development projects in sub-Saharan Africa, MENA and the Caribbean. Cathryn has facilitated multi-sectoral partnerships, managed and co-ordinated DFID, EU, UNDP, UNESCO and FAO-supported initiatives, as well as consulting on Social Impact Assessments (SIAs) for the private sector.
Ian Clegg PhD, CQSW
Ian has been working in development since 1981, predominantly overseas as consultant to DFID-funded projects in Jordan (with the Jordanian Ministry of Social Development). In this role he had specific responsibility for children’s rights and child protection. He has also evaluated policy and provided technical advice to DFID for their support policies to developing countries. Within the UK and EU, Ian is an expert in criminal justice systems, children’s rights and juvenile justice.
Lisa Farr, MA (Geog) Environment, Politics & Globalisation
Lisa is a communications specialist, and has worked for the past decade in advertising and communications in London, where she is currently based. She specialises in public sector, international and NGO activity, and was central to the development of the Make Poverty History brand and strategy in 2005/6. She lived for fifteen years in East and West Africa, and works increasingly as a consultant on development projects on that continent.
Marilyn James, BA (Environmental Science), Dip Ed
Marilyn has been working in the field of education for the last three decades, and alongside her work on Sazani Associates education projects, she works freelance as a PSE and ESDGC adviser. She previously taught and worked in secondary education as curriculum co-ordinator in PSE and Geography, and has a wealth of experience in curriculum development projects, school linking and educational resource production for use with modern technologies. Marilyn is a National Quality Award assessor for the Welsh Network of Healthy Schools Scheme.
Mark Proctor, BSc Econ (Hons), MSc (Regeneration), Dip SW, Dip ASS
Mark is a former UK Civil Servant, qualified UK Social Worker and Social Forester. Mark specialises in managing conflict and community regeneration, both urban and rural settings. He has over 20 years experience in developing and managing large European Union funded projects bridging the gap between community and corporate needs, he has worked extensively in Northern Ireland, Europe and in East Africa designing and delivering projects on governance issues, grant giving and social forestry.
Staff
Insiya Salam, BA (Joint Hons) Economics & History, MSc International Development
Insiya has spent a number of years living and working in East Africa and is currently the Projects Officer for Sazani Zanzibar. She primarily works with the education officers to support the education projects on the Islands and to expand the global learning community. Insiya also has experience in researching, evaluating and delivering various projects commissioned by government departments in the UK with a focus on youth unemployment, economic development and policy development, and has spent time in Uganda researching sustainable agriculture and the local organic movement.
Jaye Coombes MSc (Econ) Development Policy & Planning, PGCE
Jaye manages Sazani Belize. She is an expert in socio-economic development, and the delivery of social and environmental programmes throughout the region (Belize, Central America and the Caribbean). She has worked on a number of UN and World Bank Social Fund projects. She is fluent in Creole and Spanish (as well as English) and she has particular expertise working with young people in the areas of HIV prevention and awareness, and in disaster management.
Kate Andreo, BA (Joint Hons, Oxon) French and History, MSc Social Development
Kate runs our Education projects in Wales, she has several years experience working in the formal education sector, in both the UK and sub-Saharan Africa, including 6 months teaching in Madagascar. Her main focus is Development Education, advising schools on how to get the most out of school linking and training teachers to embed global learning. Kate is also a keen researcher and is particularly interested in social justice and inclusion, disability, participation, and active global citizenship.
Thereza Rowlands, BA (Hons) Animation Design
Thereza is our Design and Media Assistant in Wales, where she uses her knowledge and skills to support Sazani’s digital and design needs. Her experience includes designing materials for a local College and working as a 3D animator with an animation company in Wales, who she currently volunteers with as a teacher’s assistant for a Welsh after-school club.
Associates
Ada Civitani, MA Applied Anthropology
Ada specialises in the development and management of education and capacity building needs assessments, primarily in the fields of formal/ informal education, women, youth, and migrants. She has planned and monitored research activities in West Africa and Latin America. Fluent in Italian, French and Spanish, she has coordinated a range of international advocacy networks and sits on EU and UN policy advisory groups related to food security and rural development.
Carol Anne Tennyson RGN, RM, PNP
Carol Anne is a retired registered nurse (RGN), midwife (RM) and Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner (PNP). She is an HIV specialist with extensive experience across the Caribbean. Carol Anne’s experience has involved coordination of national awareness and prevention projects for the Belize Government and UNICEF to acting in an expert advisory capacity to the Pan America Health Organisation on HIV policy and practice to managing psychiatric clinics and providing counselling services at a community level. Carol Anne is working with Jay Coombs in Belize to run Sazani in Belize with a focus on youth and rural livelihoods.
Professor Craig Kensler, PhD
Craig Kensler received a PhD in Marine Biology from the University of Wales, Bangor in 1965. For 35+ years he worked in marine natural resources development, education, management and research – mainly overseas. His international career included 17 years on UN specialised agencies projects: six years with FAO on fisheries and aquaculture projects in Mexico, Greece and Italy; two years with IFAD marine fisheries projects in Yemen and Bangladesh and nine years with UNESCO marine biology projects in Mexico, Burma and Sri Lanka. He has years of field experience working on education, training and scientific projects (and consultancies) in Africa, Asia, the South Pacific, Antarctica, Europe, Arabian Peninsula, USA and Latin America. He was appointed Visiting Professor in Tropical Marine Biology at Bangor University (Wales) in 2007.
Matthew Richmond, MSc Marine Sciences, PhD
Matthew is a marine scientist based between Wales and Tanzania. He specialises in Environmental Impact and Strategic Environmental Assessment to the oil and gas industry, project research design and development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and coastal/aquatic resource analysis. He has also produced a number of scientific and educational publications linked to sustainable livelihoods and marine ecology. He is fluent in Kiswahili, Spanish and Portuguese.
Saada Rashid, BEd
Saada is an experienced educationalist and an advocate and specialist in gender equality issues. Fluent in English, Arabic and Kiswahilli, she combines coordination of Sazani’s activities in Zanzibar with the coordination and management of the Bububu teacher-training centre.
Suleiman Mgunya, BEd
Suleiman trained as a geography teacher in Zanzibar and after many years of teaching in local secondary schools, he moved to the National Teachers’ Resource Centre where he currently coordinates in service training for secondary teachers across Zanzibar. He joined Sazani Associates in 2005 and has been Sazani’s liaison officer since then ensuring our teacher focussed projects link in with current educational directives in Zanzibar.