Team
JAMMA INTERNATIONAL - OUR TEAM
At Jamma, we believe in creating knowledge and capacity in people to enhance the common good. We strive to connect individuals, communities and organisations to work together.
Meet our team.
JAMMA INTERNATIONAL
Agneta Johansson
Director, Wellbeing
Agneta is a Swedish citizen who has lived in the UK since 1986.
Her passion is to design Life Skills programmes to build capacity and resilience in people where everyone, no matter the financial situation, can learn to improve their wellbeing. Agneta has developed a programme called “Brain Smart, how the brain creates your behaviour and reality”. It is a program for everyone, no matter their age or capability. She has a strong belief that in most cases to master your wellbeing you don’t need complicated information, techniques or language.
People need to be empowered with knowledge of how the brain works and skills on how to control it. This should be a human right. Empowering people with knowledge will enable them to become their own healers and improve their mental wellbeing. This Brain Smart program is being used by mental health charities and has started to be a part of the curriculum in some schools. It is also being developed for prisons.
Agneta feels that it is essential to develop partnerships and build networks of like-minded people and organizations to work together sharing knowledge and experiences. From her professional and personal experience and through her extensive travel in rural parts of Southern Africa, Agneta has come to understand that people in the global south and global north are by and large faced with the same wellbeing issues.
JAMMA INTERNATIONAL
Lesley Fripp
Office Manager
Lesley has 20 years' experience in the Voluntary Sector from large national organisations to small local support charities and is an integral part of the team at Jamma International.
Lesley’s focus is on core support in the organisation, developing and maintaining finance and administration systems that allow the organisation to grow and develop, making the best use of technology. She advises on Governance and supporting Trustees and Directors to guide the organisation to fulfil its aims and objectives.
Project Coordinator, Wellbeing
Lesley is the project co-ordinator for all the wellbeing projects at Jamma International. Lesley has worked in organisations where the focus has been on enabling people to live the life they want. From young people with a serous life limiting illness having an opportunity to experience fun and friendship to people with disabilities having a voice and choosing how to manage their own lives and influencing the way people view disabilities.
Lesley is passionate about people having a choice and having access to information to make informed choices that have a positive impact on their wellbeing and their lives.
JAMMA INTERNATIONAL
Craig Bruce
Director, Conservation & Communities
Craig was born in Zimbabwe and spent most of his formative years sitting in the back of his uncle’s Toyota Landcruiser, always on some sort of a quest after wildlife. This led to a firmly entrenched passion for biodiversity conservation, which resulted in over 20 years of experience as a protected area manager in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana. All of the conservation areas Craig was tasked with managing had people living in or around them and it was here that an interest and understanding of the power of community based natural resource management developed.
The expertise gained in Africa was put to good use as a technical advisor and later programme manager with WWF in Asia. Craig served as an advisor for WWF offices across Asia involved in the management and protection of conservation areas that held tiger. Fundamental to this role was the responsibility of promoting the interests of and engaging impacted and affected local communities in management of their natural resources. After almost a decade in Asia, Craig was asked to head up the Asia Conservation Programme for the Zoological Society of London.
Craig is currently the Director for Conservation and Communities for Jamma International where he uses the many years of expertise gained in Africa and Asia to make Jamma’s vision a reality. A key pillar of this vision is the promotion of community based natural resource management in Africa that will insure a sustainable future and improved wellbeing of our planet and its people.
JAMMA INTERNATIONAL
Katie MacKenzie
Head of Impact, Conservation & Communities
Katie is South African, and has lived in Venezuela, Chile, Australia, and the UK. She has worked alongside NGOs and businesses aiming to incorporate different stakeholders within the field of conservation, has experience in scientific research and analysis, and is a qualified Southern African field guide. Katie's professional journey to date has included completing internships in both investment banking firms and financial public relations.
Katie holds a MSc in Conservation Science and Policy from the University of Exeter, as well as a double degree in Economics and International Politics from the University of Melbourne. Her goal is to create financially sustainable conservation projects that benefit people and wildlife alike and complements the Jamma team with a range of skills and experience in this field.
JAMMA INTERNATIONAL
Lara Rall
Network Communications Manager
Lara is head of the communications network for Jamma and our partners. She is a project manager and communications expert based in Cape Town. She is a firm believer in people-centred conservation and sustainable use. Since 2013, Lara has worked in the conservation and development sector designing and driving communication strategies on complex issues, ranging from climate change to human-wildlife conflict and wildlife crime. In The Age of Misinformation, where many aim to divide and polarise, Lara strives to create conversation, connection, compassion and understanding. By making good science accessible and digestible, showcasing the lived realities and stories of those most affected by the world’s greatest conservation challenges and supporting their legitimate representation at an international scale, Lara aims to contribute to constructive and informed dialogues and decision-making that will benefit both people and the bigger environmental picture.
Lara holds an MSc in Conservation and International Wildlife Trade, a diploma in Journalism and Media Studies, and a Bachelor of Law.
JAMMA INTERNATIONAL
Lesle Jansen
Head of Indigenous Peoples & Local Communities Resource Rights
Lesle is a South African attorney holding two additional postgraduate degrees, namely an LLM in Indigenous Peoples in International Law and another LLM in Rule of Law for Development. She has joined Jamma International to help develop diverse legal empowerment strategies for Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM). With a primary focus on strengthening the rights of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities to their invaluable natural resources.
Lesle brings a host of legal experiences in support of communities’ rights with special interests in human rights, environmental law, international and regional law, along with forming part of the South African Khoikhoi indigenous communities. She formerly served on the special mechanism for indigenous communities in Africa within the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights. Throughout her professional journey, Lesle has actively contributed to various aspects of Benefit Sharing, specifically in relation to traditional knowledge and sustainable practices.
JAMMA INTERNATIONAL
Alison Chusney
Communications Coordinator, Conservation & Communities
Alison is a British conservationist who is passionate about wildlife conservation, both on a global and national scale, with particular interest in endangered species and those that are victims of illegal wildlife trafficking and poaching. Alison has carried out a variety of voluntary work both within the UK and Africa. In the UK she volunteered with the RSPB which has given her experience in species surveys, habitat management and field work. Through voluntary work in South Africa, she was able to gain experience in tracking and mapping of species, humane dehorning of rhinos, antipoaching methods, and the reintroduction of pangolins to a reserve.
Alison holds a Master of Science degree (MSc) in Global Wildlife Health and Conservation from the University of Bristol. Here she carried out a research project assessing factors impacting the population decline of northern and southern white rhinos, through the coverage and representation in British and African newspapers. She also has a Bachelor of Science degree in Bioveterinary Science and Veterinary Nursing from the University of Bristol and has gained a certificate in tracking wildlife in the African bush.
JAMMA INTERNATIONAL
Theo Horton
Project Coordinator, Conservation & Communities
Born in the UK, Theo is an ecologist, zoologist, and conservationist holding a BSc in Zoology, and a MSc in Global Wildlife Health and Conservation both from the University of Bristol.
Since his graduation, he has spent time in the UK as a zookeeper at the Big Cat Sanctuary in Kent where he learned how to work alongside a variety of charismatic big cat species as well as how to engage members of the public in conservation.
He has spent time in remote environments carrying out marine and terrestrial biodiversity surveys through his involvement in a conservation project in the Mexican rainforest and along the coastline. While undertaking multiple stints in commercial ecology, he picked up further fieldwork skills along with a passion for GIS and the power of data-driven solutions for conservation issues.
With a diverse research background, from the investigation into the social networks of male bottlenose dolphins, to conservation grazing and its effect on invertebrate communities, he has developed a burgeoning interest in UK wildlife and the sustainable concepts that can support it.
From this research, Theo gained an appreciation for the concepts of sustainable use and how harmful anthropogenic practices can be converted into conservation tools when mobilised by communities.
JAMMA INTERNATIONAL
Talitha Wyne
Intern, Legal
Talitha has joined Jamma International as a legal intern working in the Indigenous Peoples Alliance based in Southern Africa. She will be working alongside Lesle and partnering with indigenous communities, to help develop diverse legal empowerment strategies for Community Based Natural Resource Management. Talitha holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Cape Town and is strongly interested in human rights law, international law and social justice. Talitha has a background working in both legal and non-legal contexts and has worked as a paralegal, a rapporteur and administration assistant at an NPO advocating for the rights of youth and migrants in South Africa and a volunteer legal advisor at a pro-bono refugee clinic.
During her studies at the University of Cape Town, Talitha had the opportunity to conduct independent research on the plight of women and girls in armed conflict, and to work as a research assistant in a project investigating the principle of sovereign equality and the use of force in post-colonial African states. Talitha is driven by a strong sense of compassion and justice for both people and the planet. She is passionate about community empowerment and is motivated to make meaningful changes to society, particularly in the African context.
