LEADERSHIP
Solange Bandiaky-Badji
President, Rights and Resources Group / Coordinator, RRIBiography
Solange Bandiaky-Badji
Dr. Solange Bandiaky-Badji is Coordinator of the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI). She also serves as President of the Rights and Resources Group, the nonprofit coordinating mechanism of the RRI Coalition based in Washington, D.C. Bandiaky-Badji previously led RRI’s strategy for engagement in Africa with a focus on tenure rights reform. She built synergies around new strategic analyses, giving local and global actors a more strategic understanding of trends, issues, options, and gender in Africa. She also spearheaded RRI’s Gender Justice thematic program, and ensured the implementation of a global gender strategy on women’s tenure rights. Before RRI, she was with PartnersGlobal, where she led programs on access to justice, security sector reform, and peace-building. She has also worked as a regional expert on gender and climate change for the Africa Adaptation Programme (AAP) and the UNDP/ BDP Gender Team in New York. Bandiaky-Badji holds a PhD in Women’s and Gender Studies from Clark University, Massachusetts and an MA in Environmental Sciences and in Philosophy from Cheikh Anta Diop University, Senegal. She has published and contributed extensively to research in relation to natural resource management, decentralization, local forest tenure reforms, and women’s participation in climate solutions and peace-building.
Makaria Reynolds
Chief Operating OfficerBiography
Makaria Reynolds
Makaria was most recently the Director of Operations at citiesRISE, Inc., a global NGO transforming mental health policy and practices for young people worldwide, leading their HR activities, financial operations, and contracts and grants management. She was previously a Managing Director at No Means No Worldwide, where she also served as an Interim Executive Director, an NGO teaching skills to youth to prevent sexual assault and violence. As Managing Director, she led the organization’s operations, including financial planning and management, strategy execution, performance management, HR, and compliance and procurement. Makaria is skilled at cultivating and managing relationships with donor agencies including USG (USAID, CDC, NIH, PEPFAR), UNICEF, WHO, and private/family foundations. She has also served as a project manager, country support team manager, and research analyst, and has experience working with international NGOs.
Alain Frechette
Director, Rights, Climate & ConservationBiography
Alain Frechette
Alain Frechette, PhD, is the Director of Rights, Climate, and Conservation at RRI. He has over 25 years of experience in natural resource management, biodiversity conservation, and climate change—focusing on international development for the better part of the last two decades. Alain began his career with state and provincial forest and protected area agencies in the United States and Canada before pursuing strategic consultancies with multilateral organizations, development agencies, and NGOs such as IUCN, DFID, the World Bank, and various UN institutions across Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America.
Bryson Ogden
Director, Rights & LivelihoodsBiography
Bryson Ogden
Bryson leads the coordination and generation of analytical work in RRI’s Strategic Analysis and Global Engagement portfolio, with a focus on the connections between business, tenure, and the environment. Prior to joining RRI, he worked as a portfolio manager and equity analyst, covering the energy sector. He also consulted for the Kenya Forestry Research Institute in Nairobi. Bryson holds a B.S. in International Business from the University of Arkansas, an M.P.A. in Environmental Policy, and an M.S. in Applied Ecology, both from Indiana University.
Carla Cardenas
Director, Latin AmericaBiography
Carla Cardenas
Carla is an environmental lawyer with over 20 years of experience advocating for the rights of nature, Indigenous Peoples, and local communities, as well as climate justice, forest governance, and socio-environmental safeguards. She graduated from the Central University of Ecuador and holds a master’s degree in Community Management of Natural Resources from the Catholic University of Ecuador, a master’s degree in Bioethics and Law from Barcelona University, and an LLM in Law from Loyola University in Los Angeles. Carla has extensive experience in REDD+ programs, forest public policies, forest certification, climate finance, and the development of large-scale projects for NGOs, international cooperation agencies, and forest initiatives. She has served as the Undersecretary of Natural Heritage in Ecuador’s Ministry of Environment and as a Forest Stewardship International Council’s Board of Directors member, representing the environmental south members globally. In recent years, Carla worked with the Forest and Climate Leaders Partnership, where she helped to coordinate the working group of governments committed to supporting Indigenous Peoples and local communities in forest and climate action.
Carole Carlson
Director, Finance & AccountingBiography
Carole Carlson
Carole contributes to the institutional operations of RRG, the nonprofit coordinating mechanism of the RRI Coalition based in Washington, D.C., to ensure that they effectively and efficiently enable the RRI Partner, Collaborator, and program staff’s work to achieve tenure reform. Before coming to RRI, she worked for nearly 20 years in public accounting, specializing in nonprofit organizations. Carole is a Certified Public Accountant and also holds a master’s degree in business administration, with a specialty in international business.
Dave Colner
Director, Fundraising & Donor EngagementBiography
Dave Colner
Prior to joining RRI, Dave led fundraising efforts at Haiti Air Ambulance, Indigenous Peoples Rights International, and Land is Life, where he built partnerships and expanded donor support. He also has experience with global development policy and philanthropy through his roles at the Center for Global Development, UNDP, the World Bank, and Wellspring Advisors. He is committed to fostering authentic, long-term relationships that strengthen community-led solutions and drive lasting impact.
Deborah Sanchez
Director, CLARIFIBiography
Deborah Sanchez
Deborah Sanchez is an Indigenous woman from the Honduran Moskitia. She has an extensive background in working on forest certification, climate change, and economic development projects based on the promotion of the recognition and respect for Indigenous Peoples and local communities’ rights. Deborah was most recently Coordinator of forest, climate and biodiversity area at the Mesoamerican Alliance of People and Forest. She was also a member of the Executive Committee and interim executive director of the People Forest Partnership.
Graziela Tanaka
Director, Coalition & Strategic NetworksBiography
Graziela Tanaka
Graziela has more than 20 years of experience working with civil society organizations on campaigning, mobilization, strategic communication and strategic planning, at the national and international level. The last 8 years were focused on rights and conservation in highly forested countries including Brazil, Indonesia, Canada, the Congo Basin, and the Amazon Basin. She was Engagement Director for Idec, an influential consumer rights organization in Brazil. She was the founding director of Change.org Brazil where she supported numerous collectives, individuals and organizations’ social change campaigns, growing the platform to 1 million users in just 9 months. Graziela was Senior Campaign Strategist for Greenpeace International’s forest campaign, contributing directly to the international strategy of the Amazon, Boreal, Indonesian and Congo Basin campaigns. At Greenpeace International, she coordinated international mobilizations that reached millions of people worldwide. More recently at CLUA’s strategic communication initiative, Food Nature Climate, Graziela liaised with various Indigenous and environmental organizations, UN agencies and media organizations to advance and promote nature and Indigenous rights. At RRI, she is responsible for coalition engagement and governance as well as strategic initiatives including MegaFlorestais, the Fellow program and support for the Board of Directors.
Keith Slack
Senior Director, ProgramsBiography
Keith Slack
Keith Slack is Senior Director of Programs at Rights and Resources Initiative. Prior to joining RRI, he was Director of Strategy and Campaigns at EarthRights International, where he coordinated organizational strategy and campaigning on human rights and environmental issues. He previously founded and directed for 15 years Oxfam America’s Extractive Industries Global Program. He worked for the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights and in the human rights program of Catholic Relief Services’ Peru office. He served as a nonresident fellow at the Carnegie Council on Ethics in International Affairs. He holds an MA from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and BA from Vassar College. He has written widely on human rights and natural resource justice issues.
Madiha Waris
Director, Strategic CommunicationsBiography
Madiha Waris
Madiha leads RRI’s global strategic communications. She has over 15 years of experience creating and managing communications in international development. She began her career in Pakistan with The Citizens Foundation, one of South Asia’s largest nonprofits, where she managed communications for nationwide educational programs in low-income rural areas and urban slums. She also led communications for Impact(Ed), a nonprofit created by Discovery Inc., which produces educational media for social impact, and served as a communications consultant with the World Bank. Madiha led RRI’s media relations and publications production between 2012-2015. She holds an M.B.A from the Institute of Business Administration, Karachi, and an M.A. in Interactive Journalism from the American University, Washington, D.C.
Margot Rothman
Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning SpecialistBiography
Margot Rothman
Margot Rothman is the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Specialist at RRI. She holds masters degrees in Rural Development Planning and Public Administration from the UK and Belgium. Her early career was spent at UNDP in Mali and with the Canadian government in Senegal, supporting development programs in social protection and gender equality. She subsequently spent over 25 years consulting in monitoring and evaluation for diverse clients including the United Nations, the World Bank and IMF, the OECD and the European Union, in addition to bilateral governments, private foundations, and NGOs.
Omaira Bolaños
Program DirectorBiography
Omaira Bolaños
Omaira Bolaños is the director of the Gender Justice program. She holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Florida. Omaira has over 26 years of professional experience working with Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, local communities, and women’s organizations. Her expertise includes communities’ collective tenure rights, gender justice, women’s tenure rights, sustainable development, watershed management, community forestry, community-based conservation, applied research, and capacity development. She has developed research on Indigenous Peoples’ land rights struggles in the lower Amazon Brazil, women’s roles in community forestry, and women’s efforts to rebuild communities from natural disasters in El Salvador. Since 2020, Omaira has been rebuilding RRI’s Gender Justice program, expanding its connection to a greater diversity of grassroots women’s movements in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. She has brought new voices, perspectives, and leadership in collective action for women’s tenure rights. She promoted the creation of the Women in Global South Alliance, which enables Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and local community women to advocate globally for direct funding to support their climate change and biodiversity efforts. Omaira sparked a cross-regional peer-to-peer learning strategy to place women’s knowledge and experiences as the driving force for building pathways for transforming structural gender-based injustices and discrimination. She was the former director of RRI’s Latin America program (2009-2014), creating and expanding the regional coalition to more than 103 grassroots organizations and allies, strategically positioning the Latin America Afro-descendant movement to advocate for the recognition of their collective tenure rights promoting the mapping of the Afro-descendant people territorial presence and their role in conservation and climate change action. She also builds evidence-based and bottom-up analysis on Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and local community women’s economic initiatives and the strategies women develop at the ground level to overcome gender-based structural barriers to achieve recognition and enjoyment of their rights.
Patrick Kipalu
Director, Africa ProgramBiography
Patrick Kipalu
Patrick KIPALU coordinates and leads RRI’s engagement in Africa. He has strong background in natural resources management and human rights in Africa. He has experience supporting civil society organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa, including on human rights, natural resources exploitation (lands, forests, and mines), and climate change. Prior to joining RRI, Patrick worked as Country Manager for Forest Peoples Programme (FPP) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Before that, he worked for the Africa Program at Bank Information Center (BIC), and for the Equity and Governance Program (EGP) at World Resources Institute (WRI). Patrick has a Master’s degree in Global Environmental Policy from the American University (AU) in Washington DC, and a bachelors’ degree in Environmental Sciences and Natural Resources Management from the University of Kinshasa in DRC. He speaks English, French, Lingala and Kikongo.
Rose Nierras
Director, Asia ProgramBiography
Rose Nierras
Rose directs and coordinates RRI’s Asia program. She has extensive experience in governance programming aimed at supporting social movements of the most marginalized and excluded communities and civil society organizations to hold their governments to account. Across different geographies in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, she has directed governance initiatives that supported a wide range of groups use various governance tools to improve government responsiveness and accountability to their citizens. Before joining RRI, Rose was the Director of Country Strategies at the International Budget Partnership (IBP), where she set-up, directed, and supported the design and implementation of country IBP programs. In a selected number of countries in Africa and Asia, IBP supported social movements to use budget analysis and advocacy to secure basic services for their constituencies. Rose also has extensive experience in the development and constant improvement of program support systems including planning, monitoring, evaluation and learning, and grant and sub-award management. Rose has a Masters degree in Development Studies from the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom.
STAFF
Alexis Restum
Executive & Board AssistantBiography
Alexis Restum
Alexis obtained her BA and MA in International Development from Clark University in 2022 and 2023. During her time at Clark, she worked as an administrative assistant for the Admissions Department and a teaching assistant for the International Development, Community, and Environment Department. A large part of her studies was spent researching mega development projects and legitimacy of the free, prior, and informed consent process. Outside of school, she worked with Seeds of Peace, an international organization focused on bringing youth together from across the lines of differences to engage in dialogue as a counselor, program lead, and consultant until 2024.
Angela Lawrence
Senior Manager, Human ResourcesBiography
Angela Lawrence
Chan Woo Kim
Staff AccountantBiography
Chan Woo Kim
Chloe Ginsburg
Associate Director, Tenure TrackingBiography
Chloe Ginsburg
Chloe has supported RRI’s tenure data collection and analysis since joining RRI in March 2015. She also contributes to the Rights and Climate theme. She received her B.A. in environmental policy and politics from Drake University with a concentration in primate studies. During her undergraduate studies, she spent a semester in northeast Thailand studying social and environmental justice in the face of development and conducted field research on a chimpanzee population in Gishwati National Park in Rwanda.
Daiana Gonzalez
Senior Associate, Strategic CommunicationsBiography
Daiana Gonzalez
Daiana is a communicator and multimedia storyteller from Colombia. She has 5+ years of experience working in Latin America, Europe and the US in organizations such as WWF Colombia, the International Land Coalition, and Le Monde Diplomatique Colombia. She has focused her career on Communications for Development and on the subjects of climate change, conservation, women, and rural peoples. Fluent in English, French and Spanish, she holds a Master’s in Territory and Development from l’École des Hautes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in France. She is also part of the Latin American Network of Young Journalists, Distintas latitudes; and the Latino Climate Council of the Hispanic Access Foundation.
David Kroeker-Maus
Senior Research Associate, Tenure TrackingBiography
David Kroeker-Maus
David Kroeker-Maus has worked on RRI’s Tenure Tracking team since May 2019, supporting the collection, analysis and management of RRI’s tenure data, and providing support and guidance to other research initiatives. David has previously worked in Haiti, as a journalist and researcher; in Uganda, as a consultant for various development organizations; in the US, as a research assistant at the Institute for Communitarian Policy Studies, and as a regional organizer at Bread for the World; and now in Montreal, Canada. He holds a B.A. in International Relations from Bethel University (Minnesota, US) and an M.A. in Environment and Development from King’s College London (UK).
Dewi Dwi Puspitasari Sutejo
Southeast Asia FacilitatorBiography
Dewi Dwi Puspitasari Sutejo
Dewi has more than 15 years of experience in research and network management, working with Indigenous Peoples and local communities on community mapping, participatory research, and land use planning. She has also overseen engagement with various stakeholders, including academics, governments, and NGOs at the national and international levels. Dewi has extensive experience in project development, management and monitoring and evaluation. Before joining RRI as Southeast Asia Regional Facilitator, she worked at Indonesian Community Mapping Networks (JKPP) as Vice National Coordinator. Dewi holds a Master’s degree from IPB University in Coastal and Marine Resources Management.
Elisa Canqui Mollo
Facilitator, Tropical AndesBiography
Elisa Canqui Mollo
Elisa is an Agricultural Engineer with a master’s degree in Economic Development. She comes to RRI with over 15 years of experience in program and project management in advocacy and mainstreaming Indigenous Peoples’ issues. Most recently she worked as the Regional Program Manager for Oxfam’s regional program in Latin America and the Caribbean. She has experience working with local, national, and regional Indigenous organizations in Latin America and is a former member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
Emma Hucke
Administrative Assistant, ProgramsBiography
Emma Hucke
Emma joined the RRI team in May 2023 after completing a master’s degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Her thesis focused on the sociopolitical situations of Peoples of Andean background living in Barcelona, Spain. During the investigative process for this project, she became immersed in political advocacy of immigrant rights, which is now a great concentration of hers in addition to ecological preservation as well as social justice and rights of all humans. As part of her eagerness to develop and grow an international understanding of cultures and environments, Emma has lived for short and extended periods of time in South Korea, Italy, Vienna, Argentina, Spain and New York, where she completed her studies and several internships with small NGOs.
Francisco Pérez
Senior Associate, Latin America ProgramBiography
Francisco Pérez
Francisco Pérez is the Senior Associate for the Latin America Program. He has a BA in Political Science from the State University of New York at Oswego and an MA in International Development from American University. While in graduate school he completed his capstone conducting field research on the political ecology of industrial agriculture in communities in the Puntarenas province of Costa Rica. Prior to joining RRI, Francisco was a Program Associate at the Center for International Private Enterprise, supporting a portfolio of youth entrepreneurship and democratic governance programs in Latin America. He also served in the Peace Corps as a youth development Volunteer in an indigenous community in the western highlands region of Guatemala, and as a Volunteer Specialist supporting the pre-service training of a cohort of maternal health and rural extension volunteers.
Isabel Davila Pereira
Legal AnalystBiography
Isabel Davila Pereira
Isabel Davila Pereira joined RRI in July 2023 as a Legal Analyst with prior experience working in Latin America and Canada. Originally from Loja, Ecuador, she holds a Juris Doctor from Osgoode Hall Law School with a specialization in International, Transnational and Comparative Law. While at Osgoode, Isabel was part of the Environmental Justice and Sustainability Clinic, and focused her research on environmental law and rights, particularly on the Rights of Nature framework. Prior to joining RRI, Isabel worked as a lawyer for First Nations, Indigenous individuals, organizations, and institutions in Treaties 3, 5, and 9, in matters relating to Indigenous and Treaty rights, land tenure, natural resource development, environmental stewardship, health, governance development, and economic development. She volunteers as a lawyer with the Justice and Corporate Accountability Project (JCAP), a volunteer legal clinic that cultivates expertise in supporting Indigenous and campesino communities in the Americas and communities in Africa. Isabel is also a board member of Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights (CLAIHR).
Katie Constantine
Associate, Strategic CommunicationsBiography
Katie Constantine
Katie Constantine is the Communications Associate at RRI. She has over seven years of experience working in fields such as climate change, economic justice, and social justice. Prior to joining RRI, she created digital advocacy content and communication strategies at non-profits such as Oxfam America and Woodwell Climate Research Center. She has a bachelor’s degree from Boston University College of Communication, and she recently received a master’s degree in Conflict Resolution and Coexistence from Brandeis University.
Kamala Thapa
South Asia Regional FacilitatorBiography
Kamala Thapa
Ms. Kamala Thapa belongs to the Magar Indigenous community in Nepal and is an Indigenous woman activist. She has more than 15 years’ experience working in different organizations on human rights, Indigenous Peoples’ rights, advocacy and awareness programs for Indigenous land rights, climate change, disaster and natural resource management, and gender and social inclusion (GESI). Before joining RRI as South Asia Regional Facilitator, she worked with the Center for Indigenous Peoples’ Research and Development (CIPRED) as an Indigenous Peoples and Local Community Facilitation Manager under the Tenure Facility Project in Nepal and was former Executive Director of the National Indigenous Women’s Federation (NIWF). She earned her master’s degree in Natural Resource Management and holds a bachelor’s degree in Sustainable Environment Management and a Certificate Level in Forestry (IOF). She closely follows GESI and CEDAW processes in Nepal and has been involved in many research projects focusing on Indigenous Peoples’ land rights, access to natural resources, and decision-making in Nepal.
Lorene Moran-Valenzuela
Senior AssociateBiography
Lorene Moran-Valenzuela
Lorene Moran-Valenzuela is Associate of RRI’s Gender Justice Program. She has a Master’s degree in International Development, a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies and certificates in Social Work Practice, Monitoring and Evaluation and Gender Studies. She has experience working in various fields such as human rights advocacy, migration, community development, and environmental sustainability. Her work in her home country of Canada has centered around refugee resettlement and sponsorship while her work globally in Uzbekistan, Kenya, Colombia, Cambodia, and Senegal has entailed supporting local community needs in conflict resolution, trauma healing, land and housing rights, project management and capacity building.
Mame Diop
Associate, Africa ProgramBiography
Mame Diop
Mame Diop holds a master’s degree in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from American University. Prior to joining RRI, she played a key role in the 2024 US-Africa Business Summit with the Corporate Council on Africa and has contributed to impactful projects, such as developing a monitoring and evaluation framework for the World Bank aimed at enhancing economic inclusion for youth and women in Zanzibar, and conducting research on disaster response in South-East Asia for the International Committee of the Red Cross. A dedicated advocate for social justice and human rights, Mame was a volunteer for Réseau Panafricain Espoir D’Afrique to raise awareness of African issues and with Educ’Action to improve educational access for children in Senegal.
Mariana Beltran
Associate, CLARIFIBiography
Mariana Beltran
Mariana is an experienced sustainability professional with expertise in Architecture and Integrated Water Resources Management. Her career highlights include significant work as a sustainability consultant in the Sierra Tarahumara Mountains of Mexico, where she organized educational workshops on sustainable food production and water harvesting for Indigenous communities. Recently, Mariana played a key role at the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), supporting the Joint Public Advisory Committee (JPAC) and the Traditional Ecological Knowledge Expert Group (TEKEG) in the successful execution of their projects. Mariana is based in Montreal and holds a Master’s degree from McGill University. .
Margaux Mahou
Associate, Africa ProgramBiography
Margaux Mahou
Margaux Mahou recently obtained her MSc from HEIP Paris ( l’École des Hautes Études Internationales et Politiques de Paris) in International Relations and Diplomacy with a specialization in international institutions and development policies, and joined RRI in March 2023. Before studying international relations, she received her bachelor’s degree in Political Science and African Studies from McGill University in Montréal, Canada. Margaux has experience working at the UNDP in Togo, the City of Paris, and Global Health Advocates France (a French NGO). She has lived in several African countries and worked on many regional African projects.
Matthew Gonzales
Grants AdministratorBiography
Matthew Gonzales
Michelle Sonkoue
Africa Regional FacilitatorBiography
Michelle Sonkoue
Michelle Sonkoue is an Agro-socio-economic engineer with a Master’s degree in Integrated Rural Development. Prior to joining RRI, she worked for the Forest Peoples Programme on identifying opportunities for promoting community conservation initiatives and for the National Land Coalition-Cameroon at the Centre for Environment and Development on issues of land governance, sustainable agriculture, forest biodiversity conservation and multi-stakeholder platform development. Her day-to-day work is guided by the values of justice for the most vulnerable and marginalized social groups and has contributed to: the promotion of justice in customary land governance for youth and women in Cameroon, the promotion of legal reforms targeting the recognition of customary land tenure in Africa, the adoption of good practices to ensure access to land for agro-sylvo-pastoral-halieutic purposes for youth and women in Cameroun; the awareness of the government of Cameroon on the limits of the law in securing customary land rights; the engagement of the private sector in dialogue and in improving the livelihoods of riparian communities of oil palm monocultures; the resilience of women farmers and youth farmers to climate change; the fighting against land grabbing; the improvement of the organizational and operational set-up of multi-stakeholder platforms in Liberia, Ethiopia and Cameroon. She joined RRI as a facilitator for the RRI Francophone Africa Program in April 2022.
Minerva Scott
Senior Finance ManagerBiography
Minerva Scott
Monica Orjuela Vasquez
Latin America Regional FacilitatorBiography
Monica Orjuela Vasquez
Monica is Sociologist with a master’s degree in Management and Conservation of Tropical Forests and Biodiversity, with more than 20 years of experience in national and international cooperation projects (GEF, Holland, CEPF) related to the conservation and sustainable management of natural resources. She has worked with indigenous and Afro-descendant groups and civil society organizations in Colombia and other South American countries. She did her thesis on Governance for Community Forest Management in the Maya Biosphere Reserve, Guatemala and the Bosawas Reserve, Miskito territory of Nicaragua.
Morgan Terry
Operations AssistantBiography
Morgan Terry
Naomi Ogunti
Human Resources AssistantBiography
Naomi Ogunti
Natalie Caine
Senior Associate, Coalition & Strategic NetworksBiography
Natalie Caine
Natalie is a Senior Associate with the Coalition and Strategic Networks (CSN) team at RRI. She’s a skilled program and campaign manager, with over two decades of experience in community organizing, facilitation and network management in grassroots social movements, international organizations and non-profits. She has an undergraduate degree in Communication Studies and English from Laurier University (Waterloo, Canada) and a Master’s Degree in interdisciplinary Environmental Studies from York University (Toronto, Canada), where she focused on community action research, social movements and food sovereignty. She was awarded the Our Kids’ Climate international parent climate fellowship for her work in intergenerational climate justice organizing in 2021. She has lived in Ireland, The Netherlands, Latvia, Armenia, Coast Salish Territories and now resides in Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang/Montréal.
Nelly Njinguet
Associate, CLARIFIBiography
Nelly Njinguet
Nelly is a passionate professional with a Master’s degree in international development and a strong focus on gender studies, particularly intersectional feminism. She has extensive experience in project management, having worked with Oxfam-Quebec-Université Laval on various development initiatives. Nelly also has experience in Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) and Gender Equality during her work with the International Bureau for Children’s Rights (IBCR), where she played a key role in ensuring that gender-sensitive approaches were embedded in projects. Her work has consistently focused on promoting social equity, addressing systemic inequalities, and advocating for marginalized communities. Nelly is based in Montreal.
Nicola Karcher
Manager, Donor EngagementBiography
Nicola Karcher
Nicole Harris
Manager, Strategic CommunicationsBiography
Nicole Harris
Nicole completed undergraduate and graduate studies in English literature, history, and education. She has 8+ years of experience working in communications, training, and project management, including as managing editor of Soliloquies Anthology, a bi-annual literary journal publishing poetry, prose, and creative non-fiction, and as a communications consultant for the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD). She’s also volunteered with Room to Read, a nonprofit organization supporting literacy and gender equality in education in Asia and Africa, and as an English second language teacher at a child labor school in Nepal. She speaks English and French.
Pranali Jain
Associate, Asia ProgramBiography
Pranali Jain
Pranali recently obtained her BS in International Relations and Diplomacy and BA in Economics from Seton Hall University in New Jersey. She is passionate about international law, economic development, and gender equity. Prior to joining RRI, she contributed to advancing sexual and reproductive health rights and justice with the Universal Access Project. She also has experience working in healthcare and immigration law. She is fluent in Hindi, Gujarati, English, and Spanish.
Rachel MacFarland
Senior Operations Manager, Finance & AdministrationBiography
Rachel MacFarland
Sandra León Bolourian
Senior Manager, Programs & Strategic Response MechanismBiography
Sandra León Bolourian
Sandra León Bolourian is Senior Manager, Programs & Strategic Response Mechanism at RRI. She manages the Strategic Response Mechanism Program and is responsible, among others, for ensuring the integrity of collaborative agreements with Partners and Collaborators, as well as other agreements. During her tenure at RRI, Sandra has been responsible for the administration of the Tenure Facility and the Country and Regional Program (CRP), as well as overseeing the administrative systems for CRP and the Global Programs. Sandra is a seasoned professional with over 20 years of experience in administration, human resources, external relations, event planning, and public affairs in large international organizations and smaller non-profits. Sandra came to RRI from the World Bank’s Latin America Social Protection program. Prior to that, and following a 14-year career at INTELSAT, an intergovernmental cooperative of over 147 nations, she worked at Calvert Foundation, a non-profit investing in disadvantaged communities. She holds an M.B.A. in international business and a B.A. in radio and television, with a minor in sociology from George Washington University. She is fluent in English, Spanish, and French.
Teresa Paterson
Senior Associate, Rights, Climate & ConservationBiography
Teresa Paterson
Teresa Paterson is the Senior Associate of the Rights, Climate & Conservation team at RRI. She has 5+ years of experience in research, project management, and advocacy working on the intersection of human rights, environmental issues, and social justice. Prior to RRI, Teresa researched topics related to climate change, land rights, environmental degradation, extractive industries, and marginalized communities’ access to justice with the Environmental Peacebuilding Association. She also managed and implemented climate and energy USAID projects in Central Asia and Africa, working with a range of stakeholders to build political will toward developing stronger legal frameworks and renewable energy projects. She holds an M.A. in Human Rights and Humanitarian Action from l’Institut d’études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po).
Tim Derr
Senior Associate, Rights & LivelihoodsBiography
Tim Derr
Tim coordinates RRI’s private sector engagement efforts to support the development and mainstreaming of economic development models that respect and strengthen community rights and livelihoods. Prior to RRI, Tim worked as a consultant and project manager on global development initiatives in Armenia, Macedonia, India, and Germany, with a focus on inclusive, multi-stakeholder approaches to environmental, economic, and social issues exacerbated by the climate crisis. Tim holds an MBA and Master of Global Affairs from the University of Notre Dame, with a specialization in sustainable and equitable community-led economies.
Yosua Siagian
Associate, Rights & LivelihoodsBiography