Who we are.
Darlene K. Mutalemwa
Has an education background in the areas of business economics and development ( BA, MSc (LSE) and PhD obtained in the UK ) and is a full-time Senior Lecturer and Researcher and Consultant at Mzumbe University, Dar-es-Salaam Campus College since 2010. For the last 20 years, Darlene has worked intensively in the fields of Small and Medium Enterprise development, development policy, private sector development, diaspora and national development, development aid and HR development.
Darlene has also published over twenty publications in various fields of her work. Her contribution in Tanzanian youth development as the founder/ coordinator of a free/sponsorship driven soft and life skills training dubbed Graduate Sales Bootcamp has been recognized by The Africa List the invitation only community created by the UK government and also the Eisenhower Fellowships (USA), a non-profit organisation gathering outstanding global leaders.
Gary Roberts
A photojournalist and writer who covers conservation and social issues worldwide. His educational background includes BSc Zoology at Leeds University and an MSc at The University of Manchester in International development poverty, conflict and reconstruction.
He studied and later taught photojournalism at Speos Photographic institute. His work has involved numerous conservation and social justice groups including The Fairtrade foundation, Oxfam, ABRU Animal Behaviour Research Unit, SOS Lynx, Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, TANAPA, and APOPO.
The subject of his MSc thesis was
'How the conservation and developmental aims of Saadani National Park in Tanzania can be reconciled with the effects on the local community stakeholders to avoid conflict'.
Lauren Swart
Gets her qualifications from life; I am a
Tai Chi Facilitator, a NLP Trained Life Coach, a Lifeline Councillor and Board Member of SANA. I have a survived a violent attack and learnt enough through that to help others; listening to hear and take action.
I have travelled extensively backpacking for up to 5 years, enjoyed running marathons and ultra marathons like the ‘Two Oceans’ in Cape Town climbed both the Kilimanjaro and Annapurna Mountains. I am South African who has lived in Tanzania for just on 10 years and now moving to the UK for 5 years.
I am very passionate about creating healthy communities, seeking activities that lend themselves to people finding meaning, I am constantly seeking solutions to prejudice. and always looking for ways to make positive shifts
Travel and the understanding of people are my passion.
Sefania Kyando is an agroforest specialist at Saving Africa's Nature in Tanzania. Sefania works with local communities and African youth groups to enable farmers and youth to improve their standard of living while at the same time conserve the environment. He has a Bachelor of Science in Botanical Sciences from the University of Dar es Salaam and has been involved in research and data analysis with senior lecturers and professors about various indigenous plant species. Sefania is also one of the founders of the young botanical scientist association, which links fresh botanical scientists with available job opportunities in different organizations while establishing initiatives for saving and conserving the environment. He is the reforestation manager, responsible for monitoring and evaluating all activities related to forest restoration. As a seedbank analyst, he manages all seedbank activities, collecting, labeling and keeping an ongoing list of the species on hand and those yet needed. He is fostering a program of seed-sharing for educational and conservational purposes, bringing collaboration between businesses and organizations to maintain the health of the forests that surround the Gongo community.
Sefania believes that good leadership is the key to conservation and advocates with the slogan "Lead from the front" As such, he was personally responsible for shifting attitudes away from habitat destruction and toward environmental conservation consciousness; and thus, was awarded a certificate of appreciation from the Global Leadership Summit (GLS).
In 2022, Sefania worked with conscientious farmers on tree identifications in the Regreen project in Dodoma, the capital city of Tanzania, and successfully introduced conservational farming in the region, turning semi-desert into fertile farmland, under the program of "Kisiki Hai." In 2021, he worked as a research assistant at the Forestry Training Institute, Arusha Tanzania, conducting forest research and running conservation activities on tree nurseries and herbarium. He has been awarded a certificate of publication owing to his articles in the East Africa Journal of Forest and Agroforest, as well as the journal of Environment and Natural Resources. In 2020, Sefania attended several field courses essential to agriculture and horticulture conducted at several universities, becoming efficient in plant production, plant breeding, tissue culture, as well as soil properties analysis and pH measurement.
During his holidays, Sefania prefers to spend time in the garden or enjoy farm activities with his parents and other relatives whose main activities are agricultural.
Costantin Coucoulis
Founding Chair of SANA. Studied Economics in Greece. Costas has dedicated his time, conservation knowledge and community development skills to the communities around Saadani National Park since 2001. In 2016 he was selected to be a board member of the Jane Goodall Institute Tanzania based on his enourmous contribution to conservation efforts in Tanzania.
He also participates in conservation activities conducted by numerous other organisations addressing similar issues. He has also been instrumental in bringing together experts and government organisations to discuss conservation issues occuring in Tanzania.
Yusuph Masanja
The ClimateForce ambassador to Tanzania whose recent voyage to the Arctic circle with Sir Robert Swan inspires climate awareness and action across the globe. His previous roles at Jane Goodall’s Roots&Shoots, Nipe Fagio, Arigatou Foundation, and Global Compassion expanded his experience in multiple domains ranging from environmental conservation to community organizing, peacebuilding, and children’s rights.
Yusuph currently serves as the co-facilitator and coordinator at the Goldin Institute promoting grassroots partnerships for global change. Like his work experience, his educational background converges from a mix of multimedia and management studies.
Yusuph is a student of life who graduated from the Association of Business Executives, Media One School of Digital Production, Goldin Institute, and Bigger Picture Academy.
Maggy Frias
Has decades long history of commitment to social and environmental issues. She has been an early-on member of AIDS awareness movement in the Names Project in San Francisco, California, and a lifelong advocate of ocean conservation, working with organizations such as the Blue Frontier Campaign. Her commitment to the natural and the social environments has been the driving force behind her professional and personal development.
Having traveled through Southern and Eastern Africa, Maggy witnessed firsthand the suffering that social inequity has wrought. And after trekking these regions she was struck with a new love and appreciation for its wild inhabitants, especially for the beauty and tenuous survival of its elephants.
Through 27 years of experience with non-profits and charitable organizations, she has been deeply involved with all facets of giving and fundraising. She also has over twenty years of experience in business and administrative management. She studied executive fundraising at Boston University and studied marketing at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, CA.
Born and raised in the American North West, she makes her home in San Francisco, although Tanzania is never far from her heart. Maggy is a surfer, sailor and a custodian of sea and savannah.
Isabella Renatus is a native Tanzanian. The current position she holds at Saving Africa’s Nature is Community Empowerment Coordinator. She is a member of the Gongo village located in Pwani, near Saadani National Park, Tanzania. As a community activist, Isabella is passionate about the wellbeing of the women, young and old, that reside in the Gongo community.
Presently, her primary focus is on educating women to see the importance of maintaining a healthy understanding and attitude toward their menstrual cycle, learning about and keeping hygienic practices in their homelife and workplace. Isabella is guided by a policy reflected in a quote by Jane Goodall, "We are all interconnected, people, animals, our environment. When nature suffers, we suffer and when nature flourishes, we all flourish." After finding misguided hygiene practices among the girls and young women of the community, she realized that without the health and wellbeing of the women, humans would be powerless to bring about positive environmental change. Healthy human practices generate healthy communities, which are prerequisite for the human affected ecosystem. Empowering the women of the community allows the human world to affect greater health in the natural world.
Thus, Isabella is passionate about abolishing early and forced marriages for young women, and reducing early pregnancies. Offspring from such practices, she finds, produces unhealthy familial environments; and as such, the community and the natural environment suffers. Socially empowering women better guarantees a flourishing for all.
In the spirit of The African Union Agenda for 2063, Isabella is working to eradicate the obstacles that women now face. Without women taking an active role, without reproductive rights and health, and without educated mothers fostering enlightened families, the health of the communities, wildlife and natural environment will fail to reach the goals set in that agenda.
