About Us

Ryan Duly

Ryan Duly is international development professional with over 15 years experience in both humanitarian and development programme management and response in Africa and Asia. He specializes in disability inclusion, policy and advocacy, monitoring and evaluation, and business development. He currently works as the Country Manager for Humanity & Inclusion, an international non-governmental organization in Uganda.

Darren Hedley

Darren Hedley has worked for 28 years in the development field, including 18 years resident in Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Europe, with experience in Canadian community development particularly with Canada’s First Nations communities. Previously he was a consultant with TANGO International in the field of food and livelihood security, mostly conducting program evaluations. He has worked with Save the Children as a regional program director, and with CARE International as program manager and country director. His PhD research in public policy focused on the functioning of multi-stakeholder networks to create policy change, as applied in a context of urban poverty reduction and water supply management in Zambia.

Laura Musonye

Laura Musonye is a public health professional, who specializes in women’s health. After completing her Bachelor’s degree in Biology at the University of Kansas, Ms. Musonye pursued an additional degree in Public Health and also studied clinical cytology at John’s Hopkins University. She has worked for over a decade as a consultant in women’s health organizations across Africa and is currently the Principal consultant at MODE Health Management. Her primary role is to strengthen health systems in Low to Middle Income Countries (LMICs), through capacity building, policy review and sensitization and awareness. Her projects in women’s health have included the establishment of screening programs for breast and cervical cancer, along with monitoring and evaluation. Ms. Musonye has participated as an invited expert in many conferences and consultations held by various African states and organizations. She has also worked with different NGOs as well as in the private sector.

Lance Robinson

Dr. Lance W. Robinson is a consultant and researcher specializing in landscape governance, community-based natural resource management, land tenure, and participatory approaches. He has over two decades of experience contributing to sustainable development in Africa, Asia and Latin America.  Until 2019, he was a Senior Scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute.  Currently, he is one of the principal partners in the consulting firm Ruwaza Sustainable Development Ltd. 

Mirjam Steglich

Mirjam Steglich is an international development expert with over two decades of work expertise in agriculture, rural development and food and nutrition security. She has contributed to research as well as development, primarily in the context of African agriculture, livestock and food systems. She provided strategic direction, project management and advisory services for international organizations, regional think tanks, NGOs and the private sector. She holds an MSc in International Agricultural Economics and a PhD in Agricultural Sciences, both from Humboldt University Berlin. Her postgraduate research was in innovation systems analysis.

Another area of specific interest to her is development programming in post-conflict and fragile state situations, finding solutions for improved cooperation between the humanitarian and development fields. In supporting development processes that aim to enhance agricultural productivity it is indispensable to her to do so while safeguarding the natural environment and its healthy functions recognizing our planetary boundaries.

Founding member and former Executive Director

Alejandra Orozco

Alejandra Orozco (B.Eng., M.N.R.M., PhD in Geography) is a development practitioner and researcher with more than 15 years of experience working with indigenous and local communities, NGOs, government agencies and the private sector in Latin America, Africa and Canada. Alejandra’s expertise relates to environmental governance and the sustainability of conservation efforts and she has multi-country research experience on state-led conservation, land policies, communal land tenure systems, and community-based approaches to development and conservation. Her work has been focused on community development, building the capacity of indigenous communities to address their land rights and in improving the inclusivity of policies and programs on conservation, land and socio-economic development. She is also experienced at Geographic Information Systems (GIS), spatial analysis and various mapping approaches.