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Synergy
is an employee-owned company with headquarters
in Oxford, UK, and staff based in UK and Southern
Africa. Our specialised international team
of staff, associates and partner organisations
offers a strong blend of practical experience,
creative solutions and the latest technical thought
to address local and global social development
issues. We have particular skills in working
with and between the private sector, civil society
and governments.
We work
with local organisations and individuals wherever
possible, building the capacity of our clients
and partners in order to deepen the value of our
efforts, effect lasting change and ensure our
work contributes to sustainable social development.
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Katharine
Gotto Walton
Director
Katharine is an experienced project manager specializing
in sustainable development, and social and environmental
performance with experience of working across
corporate, non-governmental, governmental and
academic sectors.
Drawing
on international experience including more than
four years working on the ground in Latin America
as a Sustainable Development Manager with Shell,
she has developed a thorough understanding of
the practicalities of integrating sustainable
development within extractive industry projects
in sensitive social and environmental situations.
Her
exceptional management and mediation skills have
been critical to facilitating effective engagement
and dialogue on numerous projects including those
in Venezuela, Iran and Kazakhstan.
Before
joining Synergy she was responsible for the management
and globalization of the BP Conservation Programme
over a five year period. The Programme was based
on a proactive partnership between BirdLife International,
Fauna & Flora International and BP. Katharine
has a background in biodiversity conservation
and sustainable development, and speaks fluent
Spanish.
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Edward
O'Keefe
Director
Edward
is an experienced international sustainable development
project manager. His key skills include applying
a livelihoods approach to institutional analysis;
planning and development at national and local
levels; and building processes for effective stakeholder
partnerships. He has a background in Africa and
now leads Synergy's work in the continent.
He
has worked with organisations including Shell,
IFC, Fauna & Flora International, and HP to
understand and integrate complex social issues
into management systems. With Fauna & Flora
International, he was a major contributor to the
development and management of the Community &
Business Forum of the Kumtor Gold Mine in Kyrgyzstan,
which helped mediate relationships between the
mine and the local communities. He acts as an
external assessor for Newmont's Five Star Community
& External Relations management system.
Before
joining Synergy Edward worked for the UK Department
for International Development mainstreaming natural
resource and poverty issues into the Ugandan government
programme to reform agricultural advisory services.
He has also worked for international NGOs in developing
and managing local and national sustainable development
projects in Africa, Eastern Europe, Central Asia
and South-East Asia. |
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Paul
Kapelus
Director
Paul's
mission is to promote business in Africa as a
force for good. He has 15 years experience in
the field of corporate responsibility with a focus
on mining, oil, infrastructure development, finance
and telecommunications. Paul was the founder
and CEO of the African Institute of Corporate
Citizenship. He has experience in undertaking
social impact assessments, the development of
social development plans, sustainability reporting
and assurance, stakeholder engagement strategies
and plans, and resettlement.
Paul's
experience with the mining sector has been at
an academic, policy and corporate level.
His work in the mining sector includes coordinating
the South Africa Mining and Society research study
with the International Institute for Environment
& Development (IIED) and Mining, Minerals
and Sustainable Development (MMSD) in Southern
Africa, as well as strategic advice to a range
of companies. Paul has worked in a number
of countries throughout Africa.
In recent
years Paul has played a role in establishing partnerships
between companies and NGOs in Southern Africa,
has facilitated stakeholder panels for companies
and has also coordinated various initiatives with
the finance sector, including the development
of an Investor Guide on HIV/AIDS.
Paul
is a stakeholder council member of the GRI (Global
Reporting Initiative), and a council member of
AccountAbility. He also participated in
the Chairman's Advisory Group of the ISO26000
Social Responsibility Initiative. In January
2006 he was elected as a Young Global Leader by
the World Economic Forum and is a judge on the
Mail & Guardian Investing in the Future Awards
and ACCA Sustainability Reporting Award, South
Africa, and sits on the advisory committee of
the Wits Center for Sustainability in Mining and
Industry. |
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Hope
Sherwin
Consultant
Hope
is an experienced practitioner in Sustainable
Development and Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR) with knowledge of the private, voluntary
and governmental sectors.
While
living in the United Arab Emirates Hope co-founded,
together with the Emirates Environmental Group,
a forum for cross-sector dialogue bringing together
public and private organizations to address sustainability
issues. She also has been involved in the
social impact assessment and stakeholder engagement
for several infrastructure projects in the UAE.
She
has experience in CSR reporting, assurance, benchmarking,
auditing and strategic advice gained as a consultant
with CSR Network and as part of the BT Social
Policy Team. She has worked with a number
of NGOs including the Amnesty International Business
Group. Hope has worked in Bihar, India,
and as a trainee political analyst in the South
Asia unit at the European Commission's External
Relations Directorate.
Hope
speaks French, German and basic Arabic.
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Kathryn
Tomlinson
Consultant
Kathryn
is a social anthropologist with a particular focus
on human rights and indigenous rights. She
has consultancy experience in a wide range of
projects concerning CSR, development and government
policy.
Kathryn
has more than five years experience on both desk
and field based research, having completed a PhD
on indigenous peoples' land rights relating to
a conflict over the building of an electricity
power line through indigenous lands of Venezuela.
During her doctorate, Kathryn spent 13 months
carrying out fieldwork in Venezuela, researching
and analyzing both the legislative and practical
on the ground aspects of indigenous land tenure.
Since
working as a consultant, Kathryn has worked on
several projects concerned with resettlement,
land tenure, indigenous peoples, human rights,
social assessments and stakeholder engagement.
Key project experience includes the in-country
auditing of the West African Gas Pipeline Resettlement
Action Plans in the French speaking countries
of Benin and Togo, the development of a resettlement
policy framework for the Kazakhstan Caspian Transportation
System, and social risk reviews for mines.
Kathryn also has a wide experience of writing
papers for an academic audience, having presented
her work at numerous UK and international conferences.
Kathryn
is fluent in French and Spanish.
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Emily
Keeble
Consultant
Emily
is currently developing Synergy's Helica®
training toolkit for revenues transparency and
human rights issues. She has a MA (Hons) in Understanding
and Securing Human Rights from the University
of London and a BA (Hons) in Political Sciences
from the University of Leeds.
Emily
has previous experience of working on social and
environmental issues with government agencies,
NGOs and companies including Oxfam, the Climate
Care Trust and the Medical Foundation. Furthermore,
while undertaking her Masters degree Emily co-founded
a student led network of academics, students and
members of the public, which facilitated debate
on civilian protection in Darfur.
During
both undergraduate and post-graduate degrees,
Emily received extensive exposure to current debates
surrounding human rights, corruption, HIV/AIDs,
conflict resolution, international relations and
civilian protection within both the public and
private sectors and has broad academic experience
engaging with international and specifically human
rights law. |
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Kerry
Brewer
Office Manager
Born and raised in South Africa, Kerry moved to
the UK at the end of 2000 after obtaining her
degree in Office Management and Technology.
Prior to joining the team at Synergy, Kerry built
up six years of administrative experience including
a period at BP on the Block 18 project in Angola.
During her work at BP she broadened her
capacity to work in international environments
and travelled to Norway and Paris to establish
satellite offices for the project.
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Judith
Schorscher-Righetti
Judith is an experienced rural sociologist with
over 12 years field experience in applied research,
social analysis, community consultation and empowerment,
group facilitation, conflict resolution and gender.
She has worked in Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory
Coast, Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia,
and Guinea. She is fluent in English and French,
has a good working knowledge of Spanish and some
basic Sudanese Arabic. Judith has been working
with Synergy on the establishment of a comprehensive
communities programme for the Rio Tinto project
in Guinea and on other mining community projects. |
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John
Rowley
John
has had over 25 years experience in development
work with NGOs, bilateral and multi-lateral agencies.
His specialist expertise lies in training and
participatory methods, project design, planning,
evaluation and management; and strategic planning
at programme and institutional levels. He has
undertaken research into social development and
food security. He also has excellent French skills,
both written and spoken. John has worked in Benin,
Bhutan, Bosnia, Burkina Faso/Upper Volta, Burundi,
Chad, Congo, Croatia, Denmark, Dominican Republic,
Ethiopia, France, Ghana, Guinea, Iceland, Italy,
Kenya, Malagasy/Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania,
Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Netherlands, Niger,
Nigeria, Pakistan, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles,
South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo,
Uganda, United Kingdom and N. Ireland, Vietnam,
Former Yugoslavia, Zaire, Zambia and Zimbabwe. |
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Henry
Thompson
Henry
has focused for more than 20 years in promoting
and applying sustainable and equitable use of
natural resources in arid and semi arid regions.
He has worked to achieve these goals with governments,
NGOs, corporate's, communities and academia including
IUCN. DfID, JICA and BP across Africa and the
Middle East. Henry has key experience in
community-based organisations, developing effective
multi-sector dialogues, participatory surveys,
programme-orientated research and analysis, impact
assessment, rural development and the management
of corporate community affairs.
Since
2001 he has concentrated on work in Yemen, balancing
work for the oil and gas sector on environmental
and social impact management with work in the
broader field of development in the interface
between the hydrocarbon sector, civil society
and governance. |
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