TEAM
Prof. Kalame Fobissie CEO, CanadaProf. Fobissie is an Adjunct Professor at the School of International Development of the University of Ottawa-Canada, an Adjunct Professor of Tropical Forest Management at the University of Helsinki-Finland and a Lead IPCC Author. During his career, he has published extensively and has worked across more than 50 countries on climate change. Since 2007, Prof. Fobissie has been actively engaged in international climate policy. During the drafting of the Paris Climate Agreement and its implementation rules, he led some of the negotiations for Africa and Central African countries. He has provided climate change consulting services to many governments and organizations including the World Bank, AfDB, UN and GCF.
Gabriel Koerich Lead Finance & AdministrationGabriel has a Corporate Finance, Tax and Law background with 7 years working for PwC and has led tax functions at HSBC in Brazil for 5 years. He has degrees in Business Administration (BBA from UDESC, Brazil) and Law (UNIVALI-Brazil), and a graduate certificate in Brazilian Taxation. During 2016 and 2018, Gabriel has had relevant experience in M&A banking operations in South America as Coordinator of tax litigations issues. Between 2017 and 2019, he has structured a new finance department tax function of a major international bank in Brazil setting up new policies, systems, preparing and reporting IFRS financial statements to local regulators and to the company’s shareholders. Gabriel is currently finalizing his Executive MBA at the University of Ottawa, Canada.
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Nishant Vinayak Lead Marketing & Business DevelopmentNishant is a former consultant and entrepreneur based in Ontario. He has worked on innovative projects with multinational companies across Europe and the Americas. He was awarded the EY exceptional people award for creativity in 2015 and his company was listed as one of the emerging start-ups in 2016. He has a bachelor’s degree in Management from the University of Leicester-UK and a diploma in International Business from ESLSCA - Paris. He is presently completing his Executive MBA at the University of Ottawa, Canada and is also a UNCTAD empretec trainer.
Vera Morbey Course CoordinatorVera Morbey is currently finalizing her Master’s degree in International Development and Globalization at the University of Ottawa studying. Prior to her recent studies, she taught English at the French School in Guinea-Conakry for two years. She was also a Peace Corps health volunteer for three years in Mali and Guinea-Conakry. During her time as a Peace Corps volunteer, she worked on HIV-prevention projects, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene projects and partnered with the World Food Programme, working on their school feeding initiative. She completed her Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Minnesota USA in Health and Wellness and spent six months studying public health in Senegal. Vera joined Fokabs in February 2019 and is in charge of coordinating training courses organized by Fokabs.
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Dr. Dieudonne Alemagi Senior Climate & Natural Resource Policy Expert, Canada Dr. Alemagi holds a Ph.D in Environmental and Resource Management from Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus, Germany. During his career, he has published more than 50 publications including journal articles, book chapters, policy briefs, and reports in the area of forest policy as well climate change mitigation and adaptation in Cameroon and the Congo Basin. His papers have appeared in international journals such as Climate Policy, Energy Policy, Forest Policy and Economics, Land Use Policy, Resources Policy, among others. He has held a number of high profile positions including, Climate Change and Policy Associate Scientist at the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF). At ICRAF, he conducted research in the areas of Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+), sustainable forest management, and biodiversity conservation in Central Africa. From 2008 – 2011, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia. During the course of his career, Dr. Alemagi has provided consultancy services to international organizations like the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), National Resources Canada, and the Environmental Management and Poverty Alleviation. Dr. Alemagi joined FOKABS in May 2017.
Elvis Ngwa Climate & Natural Resource Analyst, CameroonElvis started his career in 2008 with High-Tech Cameroon Environmental Protection Association (High-Tech CEPA) as assistant to the Environmental Manager during which he supported the design and implementation of environmental advocacy projects. With MSc. in Natural Resources and Environmental Management from the University of Buea, he worked as a research assistant at the University of Buea, where he was preoccupied with environmental toxicology and remediation research in 2012. In 2013, worked with Likingi Sustainable Agroforestry Programme (LISAP) Ltd as a Project and Sustainability Manager, for two years. During this position, he assisted the company with technical support on project development and management in the cocoa sector. He also designed and implemented a sustainable farm management capacity building programme for local cocoa farmers in the South West Region, in accordance with the UTZ Certified code of conduct. Later on, as a part time teacher in the University of Buea, he taught biometry and field experimentation, in the Department of Agronomic and Applied Molecular Biology, building students’ capacity on experimental designs, data collection and analytical methods. In 2016, he moved to the ERuDeF Institute of Biodiversity and Non-profit Studies, as the Assistant Director in charge of research, fundraising and partnership. He coordinated research, developed funding proposals and negotiated partnerships for the institute. Elvis joined the FOKABS team in 2017 where he currently serves as a Climate and Natural Resources Management Analyst.
Kevin Enongene Manager, Cameroon OfficeKevin started working on natural resource and climate change issues in 2010 as a Research Assistant with the Association of Certified Environmentalists (ACEN) in Cameroon. He holds an MSc in Environmental Management from Massey University, New Zealand with specialization in renewable energy and an MSc in Natural Resource Management from the University of Buea, Cameroon. In 2013, he joined the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Central Africa Regional Programme Office (CARPO) as a Regional Climate Change Assistant, a position he held for a year. During this period, Kevin conducted several REDD+ and climate change related studies in the Congo Basin and provided technical support to the Cameroon Ministry of Environment, Protection of Nature and Sustainable Development (MINEPDED) on REDD+ and Climate Change and played a pivotal role in the elaboration of a Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) guidelines for REDD+ in Cameroon. Later, he moved to the WWF Cameroon Country Programme Office where he worked for three months as a Climate Change Contractor. Under the Cameroon country office, he provided technical support to the WWF Cameroon REDD+ project with respect to the development of emission reduction strategies and the elaboration of reference and mitigation scenarios of the project. In May 2016, he joined FOKABS where he currently works as a Climate and Low Carbon Development Analyst. He is as well currently involved in a research project on renewable energy funded by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) where he models and desigs solar photovoltaic systems for residential buildings alongside economic, environmental and policy analysis. Kevin has several conference papers and peer reviewed journal publications.
Eugene Loh Chia Manager and Senior Climate Expert, Cameroon
Eugene joined FOKABs as a manager and senior climate expert. He is an environmentalist with interdisciplinary background which transverse across environmental and development issues. He has an MSc degree in International Environmental Studies and a BSc in International Development, from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway. Eugene has about 10 years of experience working on climate change adaptation and mitigation, from policy design to implementation across the African continent. He has worked and provided advisory services to governments and organizations such as GIZ, ECO-CONSULT, Central African Forest Commission, CIFOR, African Forest Forum etc. Eugene was implicated in the design and implementation of first generation forest carbon emission reduction projects in the Congo Basin. He is currently a PhD research fellow with the Center for Environmental Studies, University of Pretoria, South Africa.