Weaving Strength from Complexity: Amplifying Home-Grown Wisdom to Navigate the Polycrisis
January 30, 2025, at 9:00 AM U.S. Eastern Time (find your time zone here).
African communities have faced interconnected challenges for generations, similar to what we now call "the polycrisis." Their Indigenous knowledge has helped them understand and respond to complex environmental, social, and economic issues. However, these challenges are now changing faster and becoming more widespread. We live in a world that's volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA).
Understanding and responding to these challenges requires learning and doing, understanding the theoretical ‘science’ of complexity, and the ‘practical’ sharing of wisdom from lived experience across generations, geographies, and cultures. In this way we can grasp the complexity of our interconnected natural and social systems and better prepare ourselves and our communities for the changing nature of our world, building both internal and collective resilience in the process.
We invite you to join this interactive discussion where we'll try to collectively grasp and find ways to deal with the constant compounding stream of new disruptions in our rapidly changing world.
Learn more about the GEEP Africa regional center at https://thegeep.org/about/regional-centers/geep-africa.
Speakers:
Gerry Salole, Independent Consultant, International Development and Philanthropy
Gerry Salole is an independent consultant specialising in international development and philanthropy, currently operating through his consultancy, “drawing conclusions”. He previously served as Chief Executive of the European Foundation Centre and has experience of having worked with organizations such as the Ford Foundation, Save the Children and Oxfam. Gerry is a Senior Advisor to the Africa-Europe Foundation. In addition to his consultancy work, Salole holds several board memberships, he’s the chair of the European Cultural Foundation, and sits on the Board of the Unicredit Foundation, The Evens Foundation, The Africa Capacity Building Foundation and the Impact Trust. He also teaches as an adjunct lecturer at the Centre for African Philanthropy and Social Investment at the Business School of the University of the Witswatersrand.
Tamzin Ractliffe Lead The Impact Trust
Drawing on nearly three decades of experience in connecting communities with capital, Tamzin leads the Impact Trust and Routes to Resilience programmes, where she focuses on building collective resilience in the face of interconnected global challenges. Her work bridges social identity theory, environmental citizenship, and resilience-building strategies, particularly in contexts of systemic transformation. With a background spanning venture capital, social finance, and sustainability leadership, she has pioneered several groundbreaking initiatives including South Africa's first social investment exchange (SASIX) and contributed to similar platforms across Africa, Europe, and the Americas. Currently pursuing PhD research in community resilience strategies at Surrey’s Centre for Environment and Sustainability, Tamzin's approach combines practical innovation with deep theoretical understanding of how communities can build adaptive capacity in response to complex systemic challenges.
Cindy-Lee Cloete (moderator), Chief Executive Officer, Wildlife & Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA)
Cindy has over 15 years of experience in creating enabling spaces for Education for Sustainable Development. Growing up on the plains of Namakwaland in South Africa, Cindy understands the importance of the interconnectedness of humans and nature. Selected as one of the first Mandela-Washington Fellows and an active member of the ESD Expert Net, she gained experience in global North-South and global South-South collaborative approaches to bring about holistic and sustainable solutions to social and environmental challenges. Cindy grounds her work in social and environmental justice philosophies and prides herself on challenging the current education and youth development status quo. Through her national, continental and international networks, Cindy wants to contribute to reorienting, rethinking, and decolonizing the way we work to care for the earth.