African youth and green economy

Over the past years, extreme climate events have displaced thousands of Africans. And while children and young adults are the least responsible for this crisis, they bear the most of its consequences. The new generation is putting pressure on corporations and governments to fix what they have broken, but is it enough?Featuring Dr Samuel Godfrey, UNICEF water and sanitation advisor, Lisa Banda, climate activist from Malawi, member of the National Youth Network on Climate Change and the Malawi Scotland Partnership, and finally, Mary Therese Barton, Head of Emerging Market Debt at Pictet Asset Management. Christine Sandstrom, Director of the Pictet Foundation, moderates this discussion.

Appearing in this episode

Lisa Banda is a Climate Change Youth Advocate. She is a Volunteer Project Officer at Malawi’s Civil Society Network on Climate Change and is coordinating the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) Profile Development project. She joined CISONECC in February 2020 as a Programmes Intern before transitioning to a Project Officer in October 2020. Ms. Banda is also a Climate Change Young Leader under the Malawi Scotland Partnership (MaSP), through which she has mobilized youths to take interest and participate in climate change adaptation activities. She also travels the country conducting environmental awareness talks in primary and secondary schools and is a regular guest on radio programs on climate change. Lisa is studying to be a Young Women negotiator in the Green Girls Platform and a member of the National Youth Network on Climate Change (NYNCC). She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Science obtained from the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources and has been trained in Climate Justice Advocacy as well as Wildlife Conflict Mitigation.

Dr. Samuel Godfrey is the East and Southern Africa advisor for UNICEF. Samuel is a Chartered Civil Engineer with a PhD and MSc in Water and Environmental Engineering from Loughborough University, UK and two bachelor’s degrees in Engineering (BEng) and International Development (BA) from the UK. He has 23 years of professional experience in the Water, Sanitation, Climate, Environment and Energy Sector which includes 17 years with UNICEF in the Madhya Pradesh, India field office (2004-2008), UNICEF Mozambique Country Office (2008-2013), UNICEF Ethiopia Country Office (2013-2018) and UNICEF East and Southern Africa Regional Office - ESARO (2018 to date). Prior to joining UNICEF, he was a researcher and academic in International Water Development at WEDC, UK where he developed skills and interest in climate and environmental child centered, data analysis and multisector programming. He has subsequently published more than 40 academic papers between 2000 and 2020 in this area. He is the co-author of the ESAR Climate Crisis and Children report and is currently leading the UNICEF Strategic Plan Goal Area five output area in ESAR which includes water supply, sanitation, disaster risk reduction, children in urban settings and environmental sustainability.

Mary-Therese Barton is Head of Emerging Market Debt at Pictet Asset Management. She joined Pictet Asset Management in 2004 and is the Head of Emerging Debt. Before taking up her current position in 2018, she was a Senior Investment Manager in the team. She joined as an Emerging Debt Analyst. Prior to joining Pictet she worked at Dun & Bradstreet, where she was an economist responsible for analysing European countries. Mary-Therese graduated with a BA (Hons) in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Balliol College, Oxford. She also holds an MSc with distinction in Development Finance from the Centre for Financial Management Studies, SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies), part of the University of London. She is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder. Mary-Therese is a Trustee and co-Chair of the Finance Committee of the 500-year old Cloudesley Charity, which supports vulnerable people in the London Borough of Islington.

Christine Sandstrom is the Director of the Pictet Group Foundation. Christine Sandström joined Pictet in 2020 as Managing Director for the Pictet Group Foundation, a Swiss grant making foundation, whose mission is to deliver effective social and environmental impact that will improve the lives of the most vulnerable and the wellbeing of future generations. The main thematic focus areas of the Foundation are Water and Nutrition. Prior to this, she has held several management positions at well-established international humanitarian organizations. Most recently, from 2010, she was Deputy Director at the Henri Dunant Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue – a Geneva-based private diplomacy organization whose mission is to help prevent and resolve armed conflict. In this capacity, she was responsible for developing and implementing a comprehensive program of mediation, humanitarian assistance and peacekeeping in a number of war zones, including Afghanistan, Somalia, Syria, Iraq, Sudan and the Central African Republic. Prior to that, she worked at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as Deputy Head of Operations for North America and Western Europe, overseeing humanitarian operations and ICRC’s humanitarian diplomacy in these regions. She also held various positions in the field, with missions on the ground in countries such as Uganda, Kosovo, Macedonia and Afghanistan. Christine is a Swiss national and holds double Master’s degrees, in International Relations from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva and in War Studies from Kings College London.