The GRP Secretariat

Nathanial Matthews is Chief Executive Officer at the Global Resilience Partnership. He has over 20 years of experience identifying, managing, and scaling hundreds of resilience and adaptation projects and programs in partnership with governments, NGOs, communities, and the private sector across more than 30 countries. Nate’s expertise has been recognized through contributions to various global networks, boards, and committees including as a Lead Author in The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), an Obama Foundation Mentor, a Munich Re Risk Award Judge, and a Board member of the Ocean, Risk and Resilience Action Alliance. He holds a Ph.D. in Geography, is a Visiting Professor at King’s College London, regularly publishes, and previously worked in leadership roles with the CGIAR, UNEP, the International WaterCentre, NGOs, and in the private sector.

Based in the UK

As Head of Programmes, Simone manages the design, operationalization and implementation of the Global Resilience Partnership’s programming – including monitoring, evaluation and learning activities.  Previously, she worked at ICRISAT in Nairobi and the evaluation department of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She holds a PhD in Development Economics from Wageningen University and has a background in Development Studies, Cultural Anthropology and Business Studies.

Based in the Netherlands

Jesper leads GRP’s Innovation and Scaling efforts, as well as the GRP Incubator. His focus is on change management and creative disruption. He manages and coordinates a small team of experts from various fields. He provides oversight and leadership for GRP’s work on developing, improving, and scaling initiatives by the GRP challenge winners as well as external initiatives and ideas. He is the co-founder of a few businesses. He has held various positions in the development sector and private sector and has been an adviser and consultant to a wide range of organisations and companies. Jesper holds an MBA from the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), Lausanne. 

Based in Sweden

As Head of Policy, Anastasia leads the Convening Diverse Voices Value Addition. She leads the management, planning and strategy within the policy track work of GRP, including the wider Climate Resilience Network and engagement with High Level Champions team on Race to Resilience. This entails, among others, informing, collaborating and convening partners around regional and global events under resilience and adaptation umbrella, with specific focus on conflict and fragility, nature-based solutions, and food and water security themes. Previously, Anastasia coordinated the first ever global assessment on Land Degradation and Restoration at IPBES, and was engaged in sustainable land management issues at UNCCD. She holds an M.A. in Global Relations and International Leadership from Syracuse University – Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

Based in Sweden

Albert leads GRPs work to advance the understanding and knowledge about resilience. Between 2012-2018, he served as Executive Director of Future Earth’s Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS). Following that he served as Deputy Director of the “Guidance for Resilience in the Anthropocene: Investments for Development” (GRAID) programme, which was hosted by the Stockholm Resilience Centre and funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). Albert’s research focus is broad, and involves: i) work on the resilience of marine social-ecological systems, ii) identifying weak signals of positive change in the Anthropocene that can underpin futures that are desirable, just and sustainable, and iii) developing evidence-based frameworks to improve and operationalize knowledge co-production in sustainability research.

Based in Sweden

Ida leads the development and implementation of GRP’s strategic communications, digital and media strategies that adhere to GRP’s values and further the Partnership’s objectives. She works to increase GRP’s engagement with its 60+ partners and to communicate GRP’s perspective to a larger audience. Before joining GRP, Ida worked as a communications and impact officer on the Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) funded project: Sustainable Poverty Alleviation from Coastal Ecosystem Services (SPACES). She holds an MSc in Environmental Communication from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and a BA in International Affairs from The George Washington University (GW) Elliot School of International Affairs.

Based in Sweden

As Head of Operations, Emma leads the finance and operations team’s work. She leads the management and planning of reporting, agreements and risk management, she also contributes to GRP’s policy activities on Locally-led Adaptation (LLA) and convening. Before joining GRP, Emma worked as the coordinator for the “Guidance for Resilience in the Anthropocene: Investments for Development” (GRAID) programme based at the Stockholm Resilience Centre (SRC). Prior to that she worked with private sector collaboration for the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), both in Sweden and at the Embassy of Sweden in Beijing. Emma holds a Master’s Degree in International Politics from Fudan University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Economics from School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg.

 Based in South Africa

As the Strategic Learning Lead, Corina drives learning activities across the Global Resilience Partnership and the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance (ORRAA). Her expertise stretches the strategy, implementation, and learning cycles, to which she brings complexity and equity-informed methods to help navigate uncertainty, power, and often conflicting worldviews. As part of her action research PhD at Imperial College London, she developed novel approaches for bridging knowledge–implementation gaps in urban resilience. She initiated and convenes the global Urban Resilience Community of Practice and co-hosts the Urban Resilience Dialogues podcast. Prior to this, she was Principal Strategist, Systems Change at the international non-profit Forum for the Future. Originally an architect, she holds an MSc Environmental Technology (Imperial College London), an MA (Distinction) Architecture (Royal College of Art London), and a BA (Hons) Architecture (University of Sheffield).

Based in the UK

With over 15 years of experience and a strong portfolio of successfully managed projects, Sarah has worked globally to deliver a diverse range of in-person and hybrid projects and events. She got her start in Project Management through non-profit management and she soon found she had a knack for setting deadlines and objectives to attain a larger goal. Sarah has since worked in public, private and corporate industries, and now brings her vast knowledge to the GRP team to help deliver another successful Resilience Hub at COP28 in Dubai this year. Sarah holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Events Management from the University of Northampton, and Projects in Controlled Environments Practitioner (PRINCE2) certification.

Based in the UK

Gerald Mgesi David leads the implementation of GRP’s RAIN Challenge Fund across East Africa. He is a seasoned program manager and international development expert with 12 years of senior-level professional experience. His background includes managing and implementing private-sector partnerships to foster economic growth in the agribusiness and renewable energy sectors, this includes creating economic opportunities for youth. He is an aspiring development programs management enthusiast with a diverse background in the fields of agribusiness financing, renewable energy, climate finance, sustainability, and long-termism in programming. Prior to joining GRP, Gerald worked with the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) as Tanzania Country Manager. He also served as the Country Program Manager for Technoserve’s SAFE program in Tanzania.

Gerald holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from IIA and a Bachelor’s of Business Accounting and Finance from the Mzumbe University in Tanzania.

Based in Tanzania

Vilina is a young development practitioner engaged in advocacy, research, and capacity development initiatives at the intersection of gender and water. She is currently a PhD scholar at Ewha Womans University, Seoul majoring in International Development Cooperation researching water security with a focus on Himalayan cities and towns. Vilina holds an interdisciplinary Master’s degree in Water Science and Governance from TERI School of Advanced Studies, New Delhi. Previously she has worked with ATREE and Sehgal foundation.

Based in South Korea

Isabel holds an MA in Leadership for Sustainability by Malmö University, having some years of previous experience as a Financial Controller, Consultant & Project Manager. She worked with projects from all over the world, including Latin America, Africa, U.S., Europe, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Australia. Creative, globally oriented, but most importantly, deeply human. Her expertise lies in catalyzing innovation-oriented led projects in order to create impact and systemic change.

Based in Brazil

As Policy Officer, David provides support to the Regional Resilience Hubs, resilience knowledge and networks, and operations and logistics of policy convenings. He is an Environmental Scientist with an MSc. in Ecological Economics from The University of Edinburgh. His main interests revolve around improving decision-making to support environmental management. David has a strong interdisciplinary background and experience working at the science-policy interface. Previously, he headed the Technical Support Unit for the IPBES assessment of the Diverse Values and Valuation of Nature. Furthermore, his experience includes working in formal environmental education, private consultancies, and civil society organizations. 

Based in Mexico

June is a climate scientist who is passionate and advocates for climate justice, sustainable lifestyles, wellness and inclusion. She leads the youth engagement at GRP. As part of her masters, she is carrying out research on the impacts of droughts on rural livelihoods and how to build transformational adaptation and resilience measures for the rural communities. June volunteers at the GLFx Nairobi as the knowledge coordinator, designing and developing the knowledge products in relation to land restoration and youth in Kenya. 

Based in Kenya

Linnéa supports GRP with agreements, procurements and finance/admin. She mainly works with GRPs implementing/downstream partners and control their financial reports and general agreement fulfillments together with the responsible GRP officer. She recieved two Bachelor Degrees at Uppsala University, one in Economics and one in Business Administration. Thereafter she studied a Master programme in Sustainable Management at Uppsala University campus Gotland and holds a Master Degree in International Development and Management at Lund University. She previously worked with project finance and administration at WWF Sweden. As an intern she has worked in southern India with indigenous people’s rights and livelihood, in mountainous Kyrgyzstan with projects related to biodiversity and climate adaptation and at the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) as an agriculture and biodiversity intern. Linnéa has also worked at SEB Bank alongside her studies.

Based in Sweden

Mellisa is a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning professional with a passion for environmental issues and resilience building in developing nations. Mellisa supported the implementation of the Climate Resilient Infrastructure Development Facility (CRIDF) in Zimbabwe. Prior to joining GRP as a young expert, Mellisa worked at Mercy Corps, where she led monitoring and evaluation efforts for an urban resilience intervention and facilitated evidence-based learning. She excels in utilising mixed methods of data collection, analysis, and reporting to inform emergency and developmental interventions. Mellisa holds an MSc in Environmental Policy and Planning from the University of Zimbabwe.

Based in Zimbabwe

Julia is the Private Sector Partnerships and Business Development Lead at GRP. She has more than 10 years of experience in negotiation and partnership coordination, building and managing the engagement of high-level public, private and civil society actors in multi-stakeholder platforms, and supporting policy dialogue mechanisms around water and other environmental challenges. Before joining GRP, she worked for the 2030 Water Resources Group, a public, private, civil society multi-donor trust fund hosted by the World Bank Group. With a legal background, she worked as a lawyer in Brazil and holds a master of laws (LL.M.) degree from Harvard Law School. 

Based in France

Cibele works with advancing evidence-based knowledge on resilience, with a main focus on resilience of food systems and local livelihoods in food production landscapes. Her work has also a strong emphasis on the management of ecosystem services and biodiversity under social-environmental change. She engages in co-production of knowledge in close collaboration with GRP partners, and in the latest years she has co-organized several multi-stakeholder dialogues convened by GRP on Food and Water Resilience. She co-leads the Resilience and Development theme at the Stockholm Resilience Centre and between 2016-2020 had a research coordination role in a scientific exchange programme between the Stockholm Resilience Centre and Stanford University. Cibele holds a Ph.D in Sustainability Science at the Stockholm Resilience Centre.

Based in Sweden

Laura manages agreements with Partners, including budgets and financial reports and other tasks in finance and administration at the Stockholm Resilience Centre. Previously, she worked at Nordea Bank as a special cases administrator with a focus on countering money laundering and terrorist financing. She has also worked as an assistant auditor at BDO and performed audits and helped clients with diverse financial tasks. Laura holds an Bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance from University of Gävle and an Master’s degree in accounting and auditing from University of Stockholm.

Based in Sweden

Mumbi works with the Head of Communications to increase GRP’s engagement through managing and maintaining GRP’s social media channels, updating the website, producing communications content, and ensuring compliance with GRP and donor branding requirements. Prior to joining GRP, Mumbi worked in similar communications roles for Arigatou International and the World Human Accountability Organization. She holds a BSc in Journalism and Mass Communications from Iowa State University and is passionate about working at the intersection of communications and human rights.

Based in Namibia

Patricia is very passionate about sustainable development and has over 10 years of working experience in the development sector with a main focus in Operations Management. She has previously worked with institutional donors such as USAID, PEPFAR, and GIZ. She possesses skills in project management where she has supported the design and implementation of various programs. She has demonstrated skills in report writing, fundraising, proposal development, work plan development, financial planning and management, budget development and management, grant management, capacity building, research, communication, procurement, stakeholder engagement and management as well as monitoring and evaluation. 

Based in South Africa

Shuchi is a conservationist, social scientist and an engineer who works at the interface of science, policy and practice. She has worked with WWF and The Nature Conservancy prior to GRP. She has experience in strategy design, setting up multi-stakeholder platforms and implementing community-based conservation projects of freshwater ecosystems in South Asia. She has Masters degrees from Oxford and Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) Mumbai. She has contributed to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report that is due to be published soon.   

Based in India