Keynote speakers

Other speakers

Mihaela Balan 
Anthea Dallimore
Dan Etherington
James Ensor
Vinita Godinho
Rakkitha Ilukpitiya
John Jablonka
Joseph K. Kamara
Dr Patrick Kilby
Karen Lewin
Dr Jonathan Makuwira
Christina Munzer
Jock Noble
Roni Oracion
Neil Penman
Susan Quay
Tahmina Rashid
Chris Rowlands
Roslyn Russell
Violeta Schubert
Dr Francois Tsafack
Fareen Walji
Anthony Ware
Ross Wyatt

Keynote speakers

World Vision was delighted to have three keynote speakers at the 2009 conference. Each brought a wealth of knowledge and experience to the event.

Rudo Kwaramba is the National Director of World Vision Uganda. She was previously Director of Advocacy, Communications and Education with World Vision UK, and before that National Director of World Vision Zimbabwe. She played a leading role in the UK Channel 4 TV show, Millionaires Mission, filmed in Uganda.

Rudo was born in Zimbabwe and is a human rights lawyer by profession. From private practice she moved into defending the rights of women survivors of gender violence through the Musasa Project. She then worked for a year as an Associate Protection Officer with the UNHCR before returning to the Musasa Project as Director.

Rudo served as the WILDAF (Women in Law and Development in Africa) Executive Board Member for Zimbabwe. She was a trustee of the Gateway Trust, managing a Christian education group of schools in Harare. Previously a member of the Advisory Board for the UNDP Government of Zimbabwe Capacity Building Project on Conflict Transformation, Rudo was also the chairperson for NANGO (National Association of Non Governmental Organisations).

Mark Ingram is the Executive Director of Business for Millennium Development. He was previously the New Zealand Consul General and Trade Commissioner to Australia. During his term in these roles, Mark was instrumental in establishing the Australia New Zealand Biotech Alliance. 

Prior to his diplomatic posting, Mark worked for New Zealand Trade and Enterprise as an export consultant

Mark has also spent 10 years working in international trade for companies, predominantly with the large Japanese trading house Kanematsu Corporation. He has been responsible for developing import/export opportunities throughout the Asia Pacific region.

Christopher Nelson is a development economist and the Director of the Performance Systems and Support Branch at AusAID. In this role, he is responsible for the quality reporting system, annual program reviews and evaluation support for the agency. Prior to this role, Chris worked with AusAID’s Asia program in an evaluation support capacity. He has held various positions in private, public and academic fields including time with the OECD in Paris, the University of Mozambique and the Institute for Sustainable Futures in Sydney. In each of these roles, Chris has maintained a particular interest in how development can better bridge the nexus between the private and public sectors and how developing economies can avoid rent-seeking behaviour. He is in the last stages of completing a doctorate on using alternative methodologies for effective evaluation.

Other speakers

Mihaela Balan is an associate with the Effective Development Group, the M&E arm of GRM International. She has over 15 years experience in international development assistance projects and extensive regional experience in Asia-Pacific and in Central & Eastern Europe. She has worked in M&E consulting and management roles on projects funded by AusAID, EU, the World Bank, USDOL, USAID and the Dutch Government. Mihaela is also undertaking her PhD by research on assessing how effective participation is in development projects and programs.

Mihaela Balan's presentation: Enterprise challenge funds

Anthea Dallimore is a Development Economist for World Vision Australia, based permanently in South Africa. Her role involves promoting and implementing Local Economic Development in a number of countries World Vision works in, including current pilots in South Africa, Cambodia, India, Tanzania and Haiti. Previous to joining World Vision she was the Managing Director of Development Research Africa - a South African socio-economic research institution. She has a Masters in Development Studies and is close to completing her PhD at the London School of Economics - where she has been researching the impact of microfinance on poverty. Professional development interests include Local Economic Development, microfinance, poverty theory and measurement, survey sampling and research design.

Anthea Dallimore's presentation: An introduction to Local Economic Development

Dan Etherington was an agricultural economist in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at the Australian National University teaching courses in sustainable agriculture for 25 years. He was also an overseas aid advocate. For the last 16 years he has developed and manufactured a coconut oil press with his company Kokonut Pacific, so that villagers on Pacific Islands can make their own high quality oil. He first conceived of the Direct Micro Expelling process for coconut oil extraction in 1992 and, by 2005, 10,000 people were benefiting from it in the South Pacific. He was recognised in the 2008 honours list with a Member of the Order of Australia for contributing to sustainable agriculture in the South Pacific.

James Ensor is Director of Public Policy and Associate Director of International Programs with Oxfam Australia. In this role, James has responsibility for Oxfam’s development programs, public policy, research, advocacy and campaigning activities.

James has double degrees in Economics and Science (specializing in Natural Resource Management), postgraduate qualifications in Journalism and has completed the Melbourne Business School Senior Executive Program and the Cambridge University Prince of Wales’s Business and the Environment Programme for Industry. He has a particular interest in natural resource management and is a member of the BHP Billiton Forum on Corporate Responsibility and past President of the Victorian National Parks Association.

Prior to joining Oxfam Australia, James spent seven years with the Central Land Council in the Northern Territory, a statutory authority established under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act, representing the interests of the indigenous landowners of Central Australia.

James Ensor's presentation: Risks, challenges, limitations and potential of engagement with business

Vinita Godinho is a career banker with almost 20 years experience in the banking industry both overseas & in Australia, specialising in risk management and governance. She is a passionate advocate for diversity and community development both within and outside of her workplace, and combines her professional learning with a strong social conscience. Over the last decade, Vinita has increasingly contributed to ANZ's focus on Indigenous financial inclusion.

Rakkitha Ilukpitiya obtained his bachelor’s in computer science from the University of Portsmouth, UK in 2006. After completing his bachelor’s he became a computer studies teaching assistant at ICBT city campus Kandy, Sri Lanka. In July 2007 Rakkitha moved to Melbourne to pursue a Masters in computer science at RMIT University. During this time Rakkitha was involved with World Vision and IBM in developing SMAP3 - a mobile application to conduct surveys. In June 2009 Rakkitha successfully completed his Masters, majoring in Software engineering.

John Jablonka is Training Manager for Cross Cultural Consultants International, a small Australian company providing training, facilitation and other project services to a range of partners involved in development programs including Government, NGOs and the private sector. Partners and clients include AusAID, Engineers Without Borders and BHP Billiton. John has designed and delivered training and worked across cultures as a community development worker, educator and consultant in urban and remote Australia, Southeast Asia, the Pacific and the Middle East with volunteers, students, communities, governments and staff from diverse sectors. His recent work includes delivering a participatory Train-the-Trainer program on Culture, Gender, Teamwork and Communication for AusAID with Government and Civil Sector partners in Tonga and Vanuatu involved in the Pacific Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme.

John’s area of ongoing professional and personal development is the application of principles of participation to enable cross cultural understanding and effectiveness in achieving development outcomes.

Joseph K. Kamara is a Country Program Coordinator at World Vision Australia, a role that includes designing and monitoring projects and capacity building initiatives in Africa. Prior to this, he headed the Humanitarian Emergency Affairs department in World Vision Mozambique and also worked as a Program Manager in World Vision Uganda. He has a Masters of International and Community Development from Deakin University as well as a Bachelor of Development Studies from Makerere University, Kampala. Joseph has particular interest in economic empowerment for the disadvantaged communities.

Joseph K. Kamara's presentations: Increased household income through market linkage to mango production and
Mango value chain analysis - accompanying case study.

Dr Patrick Kilby

Dr Patrick Kilby's presentation: From rags to respect

Karen Lewin is an Economic Development consultant. Before moving to Australia in June 2009, Karen was the Micro-enterprise Development Advisor for World Vision UK. She is completing her MBA thesis at Warwick University, on business principles applied to poverty alleviation, a project for World Vision UK and the basis of this presentation. Karen worked in community development in Queensland and WA for seven years and in microfinance in the Asia Pacific region for seven years.

Karen Lewin's presentations: Value chain for commercialisation of agriculture  and Market mapping exercise

Dr Jonathan Makuwira is a Lecturer in International Development at RMIT University where he teaches courses in aid and development; NGOs and development; project planning, design, monitoring and evaluation. He has a doctorate in Development Studies obtained at University of New England where he also taught Peace Studies. Before coming to RMIT, Jonathan worked for Central Queensland University as a lecturer in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. Jonathan hails from Malawi where he worked for government, private sector and the Council for NGOs in Malawi (CONGOMA). He came to Australia in 1999. His professional and research interests include but not limited to: aid effectiveness; civil society/NGOs and development; capacity development; participatory methodologies; peace and development education and political economy of partnership building.

Since August 2008, Christina Munzer has been the Senior Program Officer for the Asia region based in CARE Australia’s Canberra headquarters. Previous to that, she worked for the International Rescue Committee (IRC) since 1999 in several emergency and post-conflict postings: Nepal, Thailand, Iraq, Kosovo, East Timor and Macedonia, on a range of programs from public health to civil society targeting internally displaced and refugee populations. Christina also worked in IRC’s headquarters in New York as the Desk Officer for Asia and Africa country programs. Christina served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal, and has also worked in the US health sector for several years including as a Clinical Research Associate for Pfizer, Inc.

Christina has an MIA in Humanitarian Affairs from Columbia University and a BA in English Literature from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Christina Munzar's presentation: Sri Lanka tea plantation program

Jock Noble has been engaged in social enterprises development for over 25 years in Australia, the United Kingdom, India and America. Jock's role at World Vision involves designing, implementing and supporting innovative local economic development initiatives in poor communities. Over the last three years much of his work has focused on projects in Kenya and Indonesia. Prior to this Jock was the founder and CEO of Diversity@work Australia Inc, a social enterprise which develops innovative models, strategies and educational programs to strengthen companies through diversity and inclusion. Under Jock’s leadership it became one of the largest diversity consultancies in the world. Jock holds a Master degree in Entrepreneurship and Innovation from Swinburne University’s Centre for Innovation and Enterprise and was the Carey Medal recipient in 2007 for exceptional services to the community.

Jock Noble's presentation: Improving access to markets - Indonesia market facilitation pilot

Roni Oracion has been WVA’s Microenterprise Development Specialist for over 10 years. Over the years, she has accumulated a wealth of knowledge and expertise in the microfinance and microenterprise development sector, has built good working relationships with microfinance institutions and organisations involved in microenterprise development. She is a member of the Australian Microfinance Network, the Small Enterprise Education and Promotion (SEEP) Network, the Social Performance Management (SPM) Network and VisionFund Network.

Roni has attended and conducted a number of training courses in microfinance and microenterprise development, including social performance management, over the years. The most recent courses she attended include the Boulder Microfinance Training and the CGAP Microfinance Training.

Roni Oracion's presentation: Social performance management  and Social performance management - assessment tools

Neil Penman graduated in Electronic Engineering from the University of Western Australia. He started his career as an R&D engineer in electronic instrumentation at Rolls Royce in 1983. He moved back to Australia in 1986 and worked as a computer programmer before becoming a consultant for 7 years. Neil joined IBM in September 2006 as an IT Architect.

Susan Quay is a senior project manager at Creating Community Australia - a social planning consultancy based in Perth, Western Australia. Her main expertise is in community and enterprise development. She is dedicated to uniting community, business and government and ensuring there is a common, community-focused outcome.

Susan has worked on the planning, management and delivery of large scale projects and international sporting events - including the Sydney Olympic Games. She is also a former Manager of Recreation for the Western Australian Government. Susan was instrumental in the inception of the award-winning Ngulla Community Nursery project and bringing the project to fruition. She continues to be a core member of the Ngulla Management team.

Susan Quay's presentation: Ngulla community nursery  and accompanying paper

Tahmina Rashid is the Program Director, International Development in the School of Global Studies, Social Science and Planning at RMIT. Her research interests include Gender, Development, Poverty and Human Rights. She has previously worked in rural areas in Pakistan exploring the linkage between feminist organisations and poor urban/rural women. She has also worked in urban slums in Dhaka examining the impact of micro-credit on state citizen relationship. Currently she is working with cotton picking women in Pakistan, looking at the hazards of working in cotton field, community sustainability and empowerment issues.

Tahmina Rashid's presentation: Poverty reduction through micro-finance

Chris Rowlands is the Markets Analyst at World Vision Australia. He not only provides advice to WV policy and programs to improve market integration of WV activities, but also undertakes in-country research and analysis from time to time. Chris holds a first class Honours degree in Commerce. His professional interests include value chain analysis/promotion and developing new market-oriented models to improve community access to markets.

Roslyn Russell is an Associate Professor in the School of Economics, Finance and Marketing at RMIT University. Roslyn holds a research position and conducts research for industry, government and the community sectors. Over the last five years, Roslyn’s research has involved extensive evaluation work on financial literacy and microfinance programs.

Violeta Schubert is an anthropologist and lecturer in the Development Studies at the University of Melbourne. Her research, publications and teaching interests are in the broad areas of gender and family, security and protection, and cross-sector partnerships between government, business and civil society with particular emphasis on empowerment strategies and relationational dynamics between communities and development related organisations. Occasionally, Violeta contributes to evaluation research studies of community projects.

Dr Francois Tsafack is an experienced Design Monitoring & Evaluation (DM&E) professional with a background in public health and information technology (Systems Engineering). Dr Tsafack currently works for World Vision Australia as a Program Quality Advisor. He is involved in all DM&E functions, including capacity building for a wide range of community development programs and projects.

Dr Francois Tsafack's presentation: Community and business development using open street maps

Fareen Walji works as a Research Officer within the Partnership for Disability Inclusive Development formed in 2008 between CBM Australia and the Nossal Institute for Global Health at the University of Melbourne. Fareen’s research interests and practice focus on gender, disability, and the interplay between multiple forms of marginalisation. Her prior work experience includes women’s rights research in South India, and the management of disability rights projects with Handicap International in Indonesia She holds a BA in Political Science, an MA in Development Studies and a Masters in Women’s Health.

Anthony Ware is a doctoral candidate at Deakin University, researching how international NGOs can operate most effectively in the political-economic-cultural context of Myanmar (Burma). He has eight years experience living and working in southeast Asia, and his professional interests are most particularly in community-based or community-driven development models. He has just returned from a research trip to Myanmar in which interviews were conducted with representatives of over thirty UN, INGO and other organisations working inside the country.

Anthony Ware's presentation: Poverty reduction in an Authoritarian state

Ross Wyatt has over 25 years experience in senior marketing and sustainability roles, including management of some of Australia’s highest profile brands, and leadership of the major charity organisation, Starlight Children’s Foundation. In this role he has worked with many major corporations, assisting them in the development and implementation of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies.

Recognising that many companies were struggling to make CSR more than a “bolt-on obligation”, Ross pioneered the concept of Corporate Social Exchange, a whole new way of measuring and managing the exchange of value between companies and community.

Ross holds a degree in Marketing from Monash University and has lectured extensively in the MBA program with James Cook University in Australia and Singapore in the fields of Marketing, Consumer Behaviour, International Marketing, Services Marketing, Marketing Communications, and Strategic Management. He has also conducted research into the field of quantification of business ethics.

He is the author or co-author of numerous research studies, including What Assures Consumers in Australia on Climate Change, ASX50 Disclosures on Bribery and Corruption, ASX50 Disclosures on Corporate Governance, and The State of Green Purchasing in Australia, 2008.

Ross Wyatt's presentation: Beyond CSR