Speakers
John Dini
John Dini is a Research Manager at the Water Research Commission. His portfolio focuses on water governance, including cooperative governance for water resource management, improving science-policy linkages, water pricing and financing, and equity in water. His responsibilities include setting the strategic direction for the portfolio, managing projects within the portfolio, supporting relevant communities of practice and facilitating the uptake of research outcomes into policy and practice. His areas of expertise include public policy in the water and environment sectors; ecological infrastructure; and freshwater ecosystem restoration and management.
Dr. Marius Claassen
Dr. Marius Claassen is a water resources specialist and Group Leader of Resource-specific Scientific Measures at the CSIR. He holds a PhD in ecological risk assessment from Rhodes University. Marius has been involved in a broad range of research in the public and private sectors as well as in the international arena over the past 26 years. Marius’ key competencies are in regional water resources development, strategy and scenario development, ecosystem services, risk assessment and decision support systems. His interests also include knowledge and learning processes. His most recent involvement include: Scenarios for the South African Maritime Sector; A Scalable Approach Towards Realizing Tangible Benefits in Transboundary River Basins and Regions; A Research, Innovation and Knowledge Management Road Map for the South African Maritime Sector; and Defining Adaptive Capacity in the Context of Environmental Change.
Shanna Nienaber
Shanna Nienaber is the manager of the Implementation Unit for the Water Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) Roadmap in South Africa. The Roadmap is a partnership initiative between the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Department of Water and Sanitation and the Water Research Commission (WRC). It provides a structured framework for research, high-end skills and innovation deployment to contribute to the implementation of national policy, strategy and planning in water and sanitation resources management. Shanna has a background in Political Science and a particular research and practitioner interest in environmental governance, systems of innovation and the science-society interface.
Animesh Shrivastava
Animesh Shrivastava is the Program Leader for Natural Resources Management and Connectivity in Central Asia based in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Animesh Shrivastava has wide experience in country and operational assignments. He served as a Program Leader for Rural and Urban Transformation in India, focusing on developing the agribusiness and the rural-urban transformation agendas.
Animesh is a member of the Agriculture Global Practice and was the Country Sector Coordinator for Agriculture and Rural Development in India. He has worked on a range of agriculture and rural development themes from both analytical and operational sides.
He has also been active under the Global Food and Agriculture Security Program (GAFSP), for which he task-managed the preparation of the two GAFSP-supported projects in South Asia (Bangladesh and Nepal) which are currently under implementation.
Animesh has also worked cross-sectorally on a number of themes and issues. He was the cluster leader for the India Water Beam – a cross-Practice umbrella for consolidating water-related activities – as well as the program coordinator for the South Asia food and Nutrition Security Initiative (SAFANSI), again a cross-Practice effort to enable more effective actions relating to food and nutrition security in South Asia.
Animesh holds a D.Phil in Economics from the University of Oxford.
