South-North Consulting: Good Development Advice For (a) Change!

What I know inside out

Land access, resettlement, livelihoods, sustainability and just transitions.

 Wallpaper

• MSc in Managing Rural Development – University of London, Imperial College Wye.
• BA Honours in Geography and Environmental Sciences
• Higher Diploma in Education – University of the Witwatersrand.

 In my toolbox

Versatility in connecting investment with real social impact, ensuring development benefits communities, and working with international finance institutions, governments, and the private sector.

 Why I do it

I love working with spatial data, planning and legal frameworks and the precision required to uphold rights and accountability.

 Words to work by

Doing something right is as important as doing it in the first place.

 What keeps me going

Trying to make ES&G, the SGDs and CSR have a meaningful impact.

 Beyond the work

Hitting fuzzy yellow balls competitively, intelligent podcasts, ecological artists and three chords music.

My ubuntu lens

My work is inherently interdisciplinary, bringing together perspectives from social sciences, environmental management, economics, and governance to create solutions that are both practical and people-centred. I approach collaboration through the lens of Ubuntu—the belief that we grow through our connections with others.

 

As a team player and mentor, I am open, approachable, and adaptable, working comfortably across diverse cultural contexts and with people from all backgrounds. Whether leading or supporting, I focus on fostering trust, shared learning, and collective problem-solving to achieve meaningful, lasting impact.

Energised and versatile

 I am approached to provide technical expertise across sectors and industries, ensuring that projects comply with international best practices while balancing investment objectives with the entitlements and rights of affected communities. Most recently my work involves engagement with international finance institutions, private sector companies, civil society organizations and governments to deliver practical solutions  for land access, resettlement, and livelihoods restoration.

Commercial agriculture, livelihoods and resettlement

Review land acquisition for sugarcane plantations in Côte d’Ivoire, assessed resettlement risks, and evaluated expansion strategies. Applied IFC standards while interpreting local land laws and customary rights to guide investment decisions. Resettlement planning for a large-scale agricultural projects in Lesotho linked to the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, ensuring alignment with international environmental and social safeguards.

Increasing work in renewable energy

Developed approach to ESIA gap analyses and action plans for three renewable energy projects in Brazil and Chile, aligning them with national EIA processes. Assessed land acquisition and access for a 73.2 MW wind farm with transmission lines, substations and associated infrastructure in Kosovo.

Infrastructure

Advise on electricity transmission, overhead lines, associated facilities, railways globally and designed resettlement planning approach for a water, sanitation, and drainage project, supporting household socio-economic surveys and reviewing Resettlement Action Plans (RAPs) in Timor Leste. 

Zeroing in on carbon in the transport sector

Managed the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) RAP Upgrade Project, ensuring inclusion of daladala drivers, informal vendors, and hawkers in compensation and relocation planning in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Energy

Developed Construction RAP and Operations RAP and LRP for a natural gas project and provided ongoing advisory services. Advising on land access and resettlement for an energy infrastructure project. Designed the land assessment and resettlement planning for an energy sector project in Palestine.

Mining and certain extractives

Contributed to the IFC Environmental and Social Gap Analysis for a graphite mining project, focusing on resettlement compliance and supported resettlement planning and implementation for a nickel mining project.

Ecosystems services and livelihoods restoration

Developed the Chongoleani Supplementary Resettlement Action Plan and Livelihoods Restoration Plan, analysing evidence from marine and terrestrial livelihoods baseline surveys.

Lusaka Transmission Distribution Rehabilitation Project (LTDRP) – Low voltage distribution network

The back end of large-scale rural infrastructure projects. I supported an INGO to develop a project aimed at aimed at enhancing women’s empowerment and building sustainable businesses to access the financial sector and access subsidised electricity (WEMSES Project).

Eco Cities Ideas

I helped generate a zero draft of a Resettlement Policy Framework for the Green City Kigali Project, a model Green city in Kinyinya Hill, Kigali. I did similar work in South Africa on the Midrand Eco City in the 2000s.

Integrated, aligned and rigorous social management planning

 

Providing technical advice and support in large-scale projects on:

• Resettlement Action Plan
• Land and Livelihood Restoration Plan
• Monitoring and Reporting Plan
• Training and Capacity Building Plan
• Livelihood Programme Approach
• Livelihoods Needs Assessment
• Livelihoods Land Assessment
• Livelihood Impacts Identification
• Livelihood Programme Development and Management
• Vulnerable People Programme Development
• Community Development Plan
• Community Investment Fund Framework
• Stakeholder Engagement Plan
• Local Employment Plan
• Local Procurement Plan
• Worker Accommodation Plan
• Implementation and Partnerships and Development Plan
• Monitoring and Evaluation Plan

 All of this results in recommendations & costed proposals for mechanisms to address project social impacts.

Grids, Right of Ways and Substations (in Rwanda, DRC, Burundi, Uganda and Pakistan)

The electrification grids throughout the developing world need to be maintained, upgraded and even established. People are affected and the impacts need to be properly addressed. I help by reviewing Land Acquisition and Resettlement Plans (LARP) and Livelihood Restoration Plans (LRP) to make sure there is adequate consideration people's livelihoods, national and international standards are aligned (compliance with WB, IFC, EDF, EIB and EBRD standards).

Social Impacts of Large Scale Infrastructure Development (Greece, Albania, Italy)

Sometimes the impacts of infrastructure developments have social impacts on household and businesses may be missed. I developed a framework for a project strategy for resolving economic displacement and project induced vulnerability stemming from project land easement and access. I helped develop a spatial tool (Route Social Impact Register), database (Data Management Protocol, Social Impacts KP Register) and field-based tools (Rapid Field Assessment, Site Files, EPC contractor monitoring) that assisted project staff to identify and assess the level of impacts inside and outside of the Right of Way and develop consistent compensation and mitigation measures. I assisted in the development of Terms of Reference for technical studies that needed to be conducted (with crop, orchard, plantation management, livestock, biodiversity and valuation experts).

Getting projects bankable

I've worked with company leadership, management and implementation staff to develop systems and procedures for social compliance that align with international best practice and align with the social standards of international lending institutions. Involves engagement with communities and households. Prepared a gap analysis and road map to guide the development or updating of:

Community Development Plan

Stakeholder Engagement Plan

Livelihood Restoration Plan

Vulnerable People Programme Development

Local Employment Plan

Local Procurement Plan

 The aim is to develop and sustain a social licence to operate and ultimately secure project financing.

Livelihoods and Community Investment in the Extractives Sector

Making mining a development industry in the Anatolian Highlands. Strategic advisory to senior management of large-scale extractive industry development which includes:

• Stakeholder Engagement Planning
• Community Development Investment Strategy and Planning
• Communication Planning
• Social Action Work Planning
• Trade-off Studies for potential expansion
• Social Risk Assessment
• Impacts and Mitigation Assessment

I developed, updated and monitored these with project staff:

• Stakeholder Engagement Plan
• Grievance Procedure
• Land Access Plan
• Community Development Plan
• Community Relations Management Plan
• Community Relations Organizational Capacity and Training Program
• Local Employment Plan
• Local Procurement and Supply Chain Management Plan 
• Training Management Plan
• Community Health, Safety and Security Plan
• Cultural Heritage Plan
• Livelihood Program Management Plan
• Implementation and Partnerships and Development Plan
• Monitoring and Evaluation Plan
• Social Closure Plan  

I provided training and ongoing capacity support to the Community Relations Department and other departmental project staff and management.