Steering Group

Andrea Isabel Guzmán Arroyo (Bolivia)

Andrea Isabel Guzmán Arroyo is a political scientist and has been working for the Centre for the Promotion of Art and Culture (CENPROTAC) for many years. Her work touches on development and gender issues, as well as interculturality, democracy and citizenship. CENPROTAC has its roots within "Educación Popular" (Popular Education), and a long tradition of working with marginalised sections of the population. The objective of "Educación Popular" is to encourage critical awareness and promote a sustainable, fair and participatory development, focusing in particular on young people, women and indigenous groups.

Claudia Gimena Roa Avendano (Colombia)

Claudia Gimena Roa Avendano is currently working as director for FUNDAEXPRESION, a Colombian non-profit organization founded in 1999 and formally established in 2001. FUNDAEXPRESION sees the importance of fostering cultural and environmental diversity as a means to improve the livelihoods of marginalized communities of society. Principal areas of work include: 1) Agroecology and food sovereignty; 2) Andean rainforest conservation; 3) Community water management; 4) Improved opportunities and empowerment of women; 5) Youth education, cultural identity and artistic expression; 6) Socially-just and ecological marketing schemes; 7) Community media resources; 8) Civil society participation in public policies; 9) Sustainable consumption and production. 

Claudia has been giving valuable input to the international work of the GenderCC network, based on her experience in key areas: alternative community life-projects, opportunities for women, youth education, cultural identity, participatory methodologies.

Felicia Davis (USA)

Felicia M. Davis has been an advocate for just climate policy since the UN Climate Conference in The Hague (2000). Warning that the face of climate catastrophe would be black and female, Davis volunteered in the Gulf Coast for more than six weeks following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Davis founded JustEnvironment to focus on the intersection of gender, race, and class in climate policy. Following training by GenderCC during the UN Climate Conference in Poznan she agreed to help develop the GenderCC North America Focal Point as a the optimal vehicle to advance climate equity. 
Formerly the Program Manager for the Georgia Conservancy’s Mothers & Others for Clean Air and before that the Georgia Airkeeper Director where she mentored a small cadre of women and minority climate activists, she simultaneously applied organizing and coalition building skills to in-crease African American involvement in air quality and climate issues. An author of the critical 'Air of Injustice' Report, she brought together the Georgia Coalition for the Peoples’ Agenda, Black Leadership Forum, Clean Air Task Force and the Clear the Air Campaign in a historic collaboration. Davis is an experienced NGO participant in United Nations conferences on women, technology, and climate change and created “eco-cyber-centers” in Ghana, Senegal, and South Africa that successfully integrated digital technology, environmental stewardship, and cultural exchange. She also has long-term experience with the advancement of women in higher education and been an advocate serving on the boards of a range of black women’s organisations and environmental justice initiatives. Currently, Felica is Director of the Facilities and Infrastructure Enhancement Program at UNCF, the United Negro College Fund.

Koin Etuati (Fiji)

Koin Etuati currently works as Project Officer, in the Energy Section of the Community Lifelines Programme (CLP) at the Secretariat for the Pacific Community (SPC) in the Fiji Islands.

Her main responsibilities in liaison with the Energy Team (Energy Advisers & Manager) are awareness raising, technical publications and project development on renewable energy and energy efficiency programmes for all SOPAC member countries. She is a member of the Pacific Energy Gender (PEG) Network and assisted in capacity building activities for mainstreaming gender into rural energy developments and energy policies. She also assists in the implementation of the PEGSAP (PEG Strategic Action Plans). The Pacific Energy and Gender Network (PEG) is a regional initiative to connect, inform and mobilize people and organizations committed to achieving gender equality in energy use. PEG aims to become a dynamic network of women and men around the Pacific and internationally, towards a viable solution for the 'available, reliable, affordable, environ-mentally sound energy for sustainable development and gender equity for all Pacific Islanders'.

Sharmind Neelormi (Bangladesh)

Sharmind Neelormi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at Jahangirnagar University, in Savar, Bangladesh. She is currently undertaking Macro Economics and Development studies at the Department. Sharmind's secondary focus is research and advocacy, while working on various aspects such as sustaining development of the country in a complex socio-economic as well as hydro-geological setting. Currently, she is engaged in research in association with the Centre for Global Change (CGC), a non-government policy research organization. She is mainly interested in macro economic policy interventions towards sustainable development.

In recent years, Sharmind took actively part in multi-disciplinary research on issues related to climate change vulnerability, impacts assessment and adaptation with a particular focus on community-based activities. Most of the research activities have been undertaken in association with BASTOB , BUP (a think-tank), IDRC (research-based learning centre), IUCN and Human Resources Centre at Jahangirnagar University. Currently, she provides technical services to the Department of Environment of GoB, towards analysis of environmental costs of pollution of the industrial sector. She has been working on climate change issues in Bangladesh for several years, taking part in a number of multi-disciplinary research on issues related to climate change, focusing on women’s differential vulnerability within the larger contexts of their social and economic vulnerability. As a member of Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA), she came to participate at the UNFCCC COPs, and joined the GenderCC team in 2007.

Anastasia Pinto (India)

Anna Pinto has been an active member of the Indian Women’s Movement for over two decades and has contributed to the establishment, initiation and work of many women’s groups such as Bailancho Saad in Goa and Saheli Women’s Resource Centre in New Delhi. At the moment, she supports and offers resources to many women’s community organizations in India’s North Eastern regions. Over the years Anna has worked on numerous studies largely in rural and tribal areas of India and in particular in the North East. She was responsible for drafting the legislative section of Shram Shakti, the definitive report on Indian women’s economic status in 1987. Moreover, she maintains close links with grassroots and women’s movements all over the country.
Anna is currently working on adaptability issues and preparedness of human rights aspects of climate change with small education efforts in her home state in Goa. She participated in several UNFCCC Conferences as a member of the Indigenous Peoples group and took part in the Women’s Caucus since its inception. Anna is involved in the UNFCCC process for many years and is a strong lobbyist for gender and climate change, with a focus on indigenous and forests issues.

Ulrike Röhr (Germany)

Ulrike is one of the founders of LIFE e.V., a German organisation working on education, environment and equal opportunity issues. From 1994 to 2006 she headed the organisation's branch in Frankfurt. Originally, Ulrike is a civil engineer and sociologist. Nowadays she focuses mainly on gender aspects of energy and climate policy. Ulrike also gives support to environmental organisations and institutions in implementing gender mainstreaming. Please visit the genanet website to find out more about Ulrike's work.

Nina Somera (Philippines)

Nina has spent much of her professional life working for civil society organizations, mostly dealing with women and gender, labor, urban poor and communications. In 2010, she worked for the the NGO Forum on the ADB, working on various research such as the Asian Development Bank’s involvement and investment in the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Greater Mekong Subregion and the Philippine’s own conditional cash transfer program, among many others. Prior to this, she was the Media, Information, Communications and Campaigns Associate of Isis International, a feminist communications organization for more than two years.

Annabell Waititu (Kenya)

Annabell Waititu has over 15 years experience in gender mainstreaming in natural resources management, lobbying and advocacy for integration of gender and social issues in development and management of natural resources. She has equivalent experience in providing such technical support to various organizations through training and development of tools and methodologies.

Annabell currently works for the Institute of Environment and Water (IEW) which is based in Kenya and works in the East African region. The Institute of Environment and Water (IEW) was established in 2005 as a programme of the East Africa Wildlife Society (EAWLS) to facilitate multi-stakeholder dialogues on water resources management in the wake of the water sector reforms. The aim of IEW is to improve access to water resources for poverty reduction, sustainable livelihoods and environmental sustainability.

Eunice Warue (Kenya)

Eunice Stella Warue holds a Bsc. in Environmental Health from Kenyatta University and a diploma in Environmental studies. Moreoever, she has done conflict management courses and Ecosystem management in Integrated water Resources Management.

Eunice is a specialist in environmental health and has been working on climate change issues at community level, Gender mainstreaming, water hygiene and sanitation (WASH), community training and governance issues. Eunice is currently working with women groups who are trying to address the effects of climate change and to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Ulamila Wragg (Cook Islands)

Ulamila's career as a journalist in the Pacific region spans over twenty years. Her first job was as a writer with Rubine Public Relations Company, in Suva, Fiji. She next took a position as a reporter for Communications Fiji, Ltd., Fiji’s largest commercial radio company.
Ulamila was a senior reporter for The Daily Post, the Fiji Times and the Fiji Sun. She relocated to the Cook Islands in 2003 to take a position as a writer with the Pitt Media Group, and also joined the Cook Islands News. Ulamila has also worked as a correspondent for Radio Australia in the Cook Islands, and led the Pacific Magazine into its new phase as a strictly online magazine. In December 2008 Wragg co-founded the Pacific NGO "WAVE" (Woman Advancing a Vision of Empowerment). WAVE is a not-for-profit Pacific net-work with three thematic areas – climate change, HIV/AIDS and Violence Against Women.

Maira Zahur (Pakistan)

Maira Zahur has been a member of the Gender & Disaster Network as well as of GenderCC for many years. She holds master's degrees in Management (Pakistan) and Disaster Management and Sustainable Development (UK), and has nine years of work experience in the field of Disaster Management (DM), Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), Climate Change Adaptation and Gender. Her expertise ranges from community facilitation to the formulation of policy guidelines. She has not only worked with international organizations like ACF, UNDP, UNICEF and CWS, but also has extensive experience in the context of developmental concerns at the grass-root levels. In the course of her career, she has also worked very closely with relevant government stakeholders on various projects in Pakistan.
Maira recently founded the Social Research Initiative (SRI) which aims at fostering research on the social dimensions of climate change.