Anthea Stephens is currently heading up the Grasslands Programme at the South African National Biodiversity Institute. The Grasslands Programme is a R60million multi-stakeholder initiative designed to mainstream biodiversity into production landscapes and sectors on the grasslands biome. Anthea has years of experience in managing complex environmental programmes having previously worked at IUCN (World Conservation Union) as acting director and manager of the country programme. She holds an MSc in Environmental and Geographical Science which she received from the University of Cape Town. She also holds positions on the board of PhytoTrade Africa, the Southern African National Products Trade Association, and on the advisory panel of Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa.

Mahlodi Tau is the Grasslands Programme Officer. He has an MSc Agric in Grassland Science from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He is a member of the Grassland Society of Southern Africa (GSSA). Mahlodi’s first profession was working as Research Assistant, later appointed as Environmental Scientist with the CSIR. Prior to joining SANBI, Mahlodi worked for GDACE as a Senior Scientist for the LandCare Programme. His key responsibility is to support the management of the Grasslands Programme within the overaching Enabling Environment component.

Zukiswa Ngcemu is the Grasslands Programme Administration Officer. She studied at the Durban University of Technology, majoring in Financial Management.  Zukiswa has years of experience in the conservation sector and has worked for the KZN Provincial Department of Agriculture and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife. Her main responsibility in the Grasslands Programme is to provide administrative support to all the components of the Programme.

Budu Manaka is the Grasslands Urban Coordinator, seconded to Gauteng Department of Environment, Conservation and Agriculture (GDACE). She has a Masters in Environment and Development from the University of KwaZulu Natal and a Project Management Certificate from Copenhagen Development Consultancy. She also acquired her Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Certificate from CJ Development Research Consulting. The main focus for the urban component of the Grasslands Programme will be to mainstream grassland biodiversity management objectives into Gautengs’s urban economy. Budu was previously an Environmental Consultant at Common Ground Consulting before joining the Clothing and Textile Component of the National Cleaner Production Centre-South Africa (NCPC-SA) as Project Manager. The NCPC-SA is a programme hosted by the CSIR.

Tsumbedzo Mudalahothe has 15 years work experience in Agricultural Development Management, 8 of these years were spent in the Private Sector, 5 years in the Public Sector and 2 years within an NGO. He has a Bsc in Agriculture, a Post Graduate Diploma in Marketing Management: and is currently completing his MBA.  He also holds various certificates in: Advanced Project Management, Agricultural Products Processing and Marketing, Agribusiness Marketing Management, Principles of Agribusiness - Business Awareness, Quality Management and Customer Relations Management, PRA. (Participatory Rural Appraisal) and others. His key responsibility in the Grasslands Programme is to manage the agriculture component.

Steven Germishuizen is the forestry coordinator for the Grasslands Programme and works under the administration of Forestry South Africa.  He has an MSc.in Behavioural Ecology from the University of Western Kentucky.  Steve hasspent the last 15 years working as an environmental consultant based in KZNon a variety of projects, mostly centered in the grassland biome.His focus has been environmental management within the forestry industry with aspecial interest in biodiversity conservation and ecosystem integrity.  Hehas a wealth of experience working with forestry at all scales from rangingcommunity based forestry to the large corporate entities.  He is currently amember of the FSC’s plantations review expert team dealing with ecosystem integrity.