Legal Status and Governance

Legal and Operational Status

The Community Conservation Fund of Namibia was registered on the 14th of July 2017 as a Non-Profit Association Incorporated under Section 21 of the Namibian Companies Act). It is governed by the Companies Act, and Articles of Association. It is further guided by by-laws, a strategy plan, internal manuals, and policies.

Membership and Governance

Members:

Hon. Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah is a seasoned diplomat who has been the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Namibia since March 2015 to date. She is also the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation. Among other positions, she served as the first Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs after independence, Director-General of the Department of Women Affairs in the Office of the President, Minister of Women Affairs and Child Welfare, Minister of Information and Broadcasting, and in 2008, Minister of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism. She holds a graduate degree in diplomatic studies and a post-graduate diploma in international relations. Hon. Ndaitwah serves as Patron of the organization in her individual capacity.

 

 

Gideon Shilongo is the Director for Group Corporate Relations for the Olthaver and List Group, one of the biggest conglomerates in Namibia. Previously he was the Manager for Corporate Affairs at Namibia Breweries. Gideon was the first Chief Executive Officer for the Namibia Tourism Board (NTB) for five years during which time he helped set up NTB to stimulate tourism growth in the country as well as set up the regulatory framework for the tourism industry. He has experience working on Community Based Natural Resource Management Programmes during the formative years of CBNRM. Gideon serves on a variety of boards including Offshore Development Company, Namibia Competition Commission, Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Namibia Trade Forum as well as Wilderness Safaris.

Directors:

 

 

Steve Galloway has 40 years working experience in exploration, mining, corporate and project finance, banking and investments. He has served on the boards of several financial and mining companies. He was the Chief Mineral Economist in the Ministry of Mines and Energy and was promoted to Undersecretary in the Ministry of Trade and Industry. He also served as Executive Director of the Namibia Investment Centre for four years. He was the Managing Director of Ned-Capital Namibia for 10 years before moving to RMB Namibia as Managing Director from 2011 to 2016. Steve continues to serve on various boards and committees, including Chairman of Gondwana Collection, director of MTC, director of Namibian Institute of Corporate Governance, Executive Committee member of Namibian Chamber of Environment. He serves on the Public Private Partnership Committee and other national policy committees. He has BSc Hons in Geology and BCom Hon in Economics. Steve currently serves as the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of CCFN.

 

 

Ronny Dempers

 

Colgar Sikopo is the Director of Wildlife Services and Park Management in the Ministry of Environment and Tourism. Colgar is a wildlife management specialist having worked for close to 20 years in wildlife and park management. He rose through the ranks from field staff to Director. As Director Colgar has been responsible in development of management plans for protected areas, infrastructure development and managing the interface between protected areas and communities living in and around protected areas. He has led the development of various pieces of legislation and policy including Parks and Neighbours Policy, Human Wildlife Conflict Policy and the Community Based Natural Resource Management Policy. Colgar has worked on proposals and mobilised funding from different donors including Global Environment Facility, KfW, European Union, and the Private Sector for wildlife and park management. Colgar currently serves as the Government’s selected representative on the Board of CCFN.

 

Hon. Bernadette Maria Jagger has been a long-standing member of the SWAPO Party and is currently an elected Member of Parliament for the National Assembly. She has held numerous positions in the Party, such as serving on the SWAPO Party Women’s Council for the past six years. In 2012, she was appointed as a Member of the SWAPO Party Central Committee, the highest decision-making structure between Congresses of the Party. Honorable Jagger was appointed by the Political Bureau of the SWAPO Party Central Committee as the Deputy Secretary for Economic Affairs in 2018. She is currently the Co-Chairperson of the Namibia Conservation Parliamentary Caucus, a body that aims to bring together Legislators in both Houses of Parliament on matters of national concern around conservation. She served as Deputy Minister of Environment and Tourism between February 2018 to February 2020. Before this she served as the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resources and Community Development. She also served on the Committee on Standing Rules and Orders, the Parliamentary Standing Committees for Public Accounts and Information, Communication Technology and Innovation. Before joining Parliament she served in various positions in the Ministry of Education, the latest position being a Deputy Director. She holds a Bachelor of Philosophy in Education (B.Phil. Ed) Degree from the University College of Marjons, Plymouth, UK. She is currently serving in the Namibian government as Deputy Minister of in the Ministry of Gender and Child Welfare responsible for the division of Poverty Eradication.

 

 

Chris Weaver is a well-respected common property natural resources management specialist, with over 40 years of experience working with communities, in finding innovative ways of addressing common property management issues. In 1982 Chris moved to Africa where he worked with communities in Lesotho on rangeland, livestock, and agricultural practices. Since 1993 Chris served as Chief of Party and Managing Director for the WWF Namibia Program until 2020. During this time, he has managed a number of large conservation initiatives such as the highly regarded USAID-funded Living In A Finite Environment (LIFE) Project from 1993 to 2008 and provided oversight to the WWF-supported Consortium’s contract with the Millennium Challenge Account’s (MCA) Conservancy Development Support Services Project. During his career, Chris has helped raise close to US$200 million in conservation-related funding and continues to be a leading advocate of Namibia's CBNRM programme and conservation at large.

Ms. Elize Shakalela

Elize holds a Master's Degree in the Rule of Law for Development from the University of Chicago School of Law amongst other law qualifications. Over the years, she has gained extensive experience in the public Sector, coordinating and advising various donor funded projects and serving in different capacities including Wildlife Crime Consultant, Environmental Consultant and Environmental Legal Officer and Legal Research on various national and International Initiatives. She currently serves as Lecturer for Environmental Law for final year students, at the University of Namibia and also takes Criminal and Customary Law Lecturing duties for first years with various publications and contributions to current Environmental Legislation in Namibia.

Ms. Michelle Erlank

Michelle is a Chartered Accountant by training with a solid proven executive experience in Namibia. Having served over 10 years as Treasurer of FirstRand Namibia, and amassed over 17 years of banking experience amongst others she brings to the board a wealth of risk, executive strategy, and audit experience of note.  A reading and chess enthusiast, she also serves CCFN as the Chairperson of the Audit and Risk Committee. 

Ms. Bernadette Bock

Bernadette is currently the Executive Director of the UNAM Foundation. She brings to the CCFN governance vast experience in Grant Funds Management, Internal and External Stakeholder Management, Social Performance Management, and Community Relations. An alumnus of the University of Namibia from which she attained a Bachelor of Economics degree, Ms. Bock also holds a Masters's Degree in Cooperative Economics from the Phillips University of Marburg, Germany.  Her previous work experience includes work on an international biodiversity research project, focusing on the impacts of political incentives on natural resource use. 

Adv. Andrew Corbett

Andrew is a well-known practicing advocate who has for years provided legal advice and litigation services in commercial disputes of a varied nature including but not limited to mining, environmental law, administrative law, human rights, constitutional law, property law, and labor law. Over the years, Andrew has rendered far-reaching legal opinions on a broad range of matters that affect CCFN's operations including on customary law, traditional authorities, land and property, wildlife, water and other natural resources, tourism rights, and indigenous minorities. He served as a member of the Bar Council of the Society of Advocates of Namibia between 2002 and 2005, and from 2010 to present is its Vice-President.

Mr. Immanuel Khadila 

Mr. Immanuel Kadhila is currently the Managing Director of Eos Capital prior to which he served as Head of Treasurer at Government Institutions Pension Funds (GIPF), arguably the biggest finance portfolio in Namibia. Mr. Kadhila, has over 12 years’ experience in Investments Management.  He holds a Master of Science in Investments Degree from the University of Stirling in Scotland and a degree in Economics from the University of Namibia. Immanuel also serves as the Chairperson of CCFN's Investment Committee.  

Mrs. Gitta Paetzold 

Gitta Paetzold has for the past 25 years served the Hospitality Association of Namibia, a private-sector tourism accommodation organisation, committed to optimising the full potential of the Namibian Hospitality Industry. In her role, Gitta actively aims to build partnerships locally, continentally and internationally, in the strong belief that “tourism is everyone’s business". With an academic background in political science and first work experience in the media fraternity as a radio & television journalist, Gitta has always been keen to help “tell the African story”, to ensure that the old narrative of Africa as the “dark continent” is counteracted with beautiful facts of this continent’s natural beauty and uniqueness, as well as its wealth of cultural diversity, as this is what makes this continent so valuable. Gitta strongly believes that key in developing tourism in Namibia and Africa, is to ensure that the local communities and the African people become actively engaged and responsible for the tourism product development, 

Investment Committee Members

Ms. Namene Shejavali 

Namene Shejavali-Lungu is a legal professional who practiced as an attorney at top law firms in both South Africa and Namibia.  During her tenure in practice, she focused on a wide range of conventional corporate and commercial legal services and solutions.  She joined the corporate ranks for the first time in 2019 as General Manager: Legal, Compliance and Company Secretary for a multinational fishing company.  On 1 April 2021, she will enter the regulatory space at the Namibia Stock Exchange as Chief Regulatory Officer.  Namene has demonstrable expertise in negotiating, drafting and reviewing corporate and commercial agreements, analysing and resolving legal problems, drafting legal opinions, advising on legal compliance, corporate governance and company secretarial matters and undertaking legal research. In addition to serving as a member of the Investment Committee of the CCFN, she is appointed as an independent member and chairperson of the Ashburton Investment Committee of the GIPF Infrastructure Mandate. Namene holds a Bachelor of Laws Degree and a Master of Laws Degree (Company Law, International Trade and Human Rights in the Marketplace) from the University of the Witwatersrand, which she obtained in 2003 and 2008 respectively.

Mr. Immanuel Khadila

(see profile under Current Board members)

Mr. Chris Weaver

(see profile under Current Board members)

Mr. Michelle Erlank

(see profile under Current Board members)

Audit & Risk Committee Members

Immanuel Khadila

(see profile under Current Board members)

Michelle Erlank

(see profile under Current Board members)

Sergio De Sousa

(see profile under Current Board members)

Governance Alumni

Dr. Chris Brown

Chris Brown has over thirty-five years of practical experience in environmental management and administration, community-based conservation, and biodiversity and protected areas. He is a former Executive Director of the Namibia Nature Foundation (NNF), and prior to that was the founding Head of the Directorate of Environmental Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Environment and Tourism, where he established a national portfolio of environmental programmes, including those on community-based natural resource management, biodiversity, combating desertification, environmental profiles, and park management planning. He has a PhD in Conservation Biology and has published more than 100 scientific papers and reports, including Namibia’s Green Plan. For 10 years he was the editor of Namibia’s scientific journal, Madoqua, and has recently helped establish the electronic Namibian Journal of Environment. He was a Director of the Namibian tourism company Gondwana Collection for 18 years where he headed the board committee on Parks and Environment, and is a Director of Bushskies, a company that provides aerial photographic survey services. He is a past President of the Environmental Assessment Professionals Association of Namibia and was appointed by the Ministry as a Member of the Namibian Sustainable Development Advisory Council, the Nature Conservation Advisory Board and the Solid Waste Advisory Panel. Dr Brown served as the Chairperson of the Board of CCFN from its formation until November 2019 after which he resigned as per the succession plan. He is currently the CEO of the Namibian Chamber of Environment, an umbrella support organization for the environmental NGO sector in Namibia and continues to serve as an Advisor to the CCFN Board of Directors.

Mr. James Mnyupe (Investment Committee 2018 to 2020)

Between 2015 to 2020, James Mnyupe was the Managing Director of Allan Gray Namibia. He was responsible for running the business and serving institutional clients, local brokers, financial advisers and, on occasion, the financial services industry and the public sector. James holds the Chartered Accountant (CA) (SA)(Nam), Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation. He is also a Harvard Kennedy Business School Graduate and brought to the table a wealth of industry experience in the setting up the CCFN's Investment Committee and its foundational Investment Strategy. In 2020 James was selected to be an Economic Advisor to the Namibian presidium, a position he holds to date. He tendered his resignation from the Committee due to the national commitments.

CCFN Staff Members

Mr. Tapiwa AM Makiwa: Chief Executive Officer

Tapiwa is a Chartered Accountant (CA), affiliated with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Namibia (ICAN). In addition to this professional qualification/accreditation, he also holds amongst others an Honours Degree in the Theory of Accounting and a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting Sciences from the University of South Africa (UNISA). Having completed his accounting articles with KMPG Chartered Accountants and Auditors he has worked in the audit, mining, and hospitality, retail, and manufacturing sectors of business. Immediately prior to his current role as Chief Executive Officer of the Community Conservation Fund of Namibia, he served as Chief Finance and Business Development Officer for a local group of companies with interests in retail, hospitality, catering, and manufacturing. He has +/-17 years of progressive work experience in the financial field (audit, tax, accounting) and business and strategic management experience in the exploration, retail hospitality, and tourism sectors with both international and local companies, Tapiwa brings with him to the CCFN a wealth of business and financial knowledge suited to the operational and financial oversight of the Fund.

Ms. Selma Nangolo – Project Manager

                                                                                                                                                 Selma Tueumona Nangolo is currently the Project Manager at the Community Conservation Fund of Namibia (CCFN). Prior to that, she carved out a progressive career in Development Finance; Community Based Tourism, and Natural Resource Management. She is a highly experienced Project and Grants Manager with more than 15 years of experience working in the field. She has worked with multi-faceted institutions including Governments, Non-Governmental Institutions, the Private sector, and international donor agencies (such as the Global Environmental Facility Small Grants Programme and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). She serves as a member of the Environmental Investment Fund (EIF) Board’s Review Committee, has served on the National World Heritage Committee, and was a Steering committee member of the CESP (Community Based Natural Resource Management Enterprise Support project) funded by the EU. She has a Master of Science degree in Environmental Management specialising in Biodiversity Conservation and a Diploma in Commerce.

Mrs. Hilaria Sakaria 

 Finance Officer

Hilaria is the Finance Officer at CCFN. She holds a master's in development finance and a bachelor's degree in finance and accounting. She has +/-10 years of work experience in Accounting and Administration in state-owned, non-profit organisation and private-owned entities.

Urioukwao Matundu - Project Technical Assistant (POSCCN)

Urioukwao Matundu is currently the Project Technical Assistant under the Poverty Oriented Support to Community Conservation in Namibia. Before he joined CCFN, he served as a Field Coordinator under the Protected Areas System Strengthening (PASS) Project for Etosha National Park, Waterberg Plateau Park and Kunene Region focusing on law enforcement, fire management, and automated park entry permits and revenue collection system. He was also a Landscape Conservation Specialist for Zambezi Region under the Namibia Protected Landscape Conservation Areas Initiative (Namplace) Project. Prior to that, he served as a part-time lecturer in the Department of Economics and Management Sciences at the Namibia University of Science and Technology. Urioukwao has a Master of Arts degree specialising in Natural resource and Development Economics from Osmania University (India) and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography and Economics from the University of Namibia.