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International Team

Between 1997 and 2000, A Rocha grew from one project (established in Portugal in 1983) to become an international organisation coordinating work in eight countries, with several new initiative groups preparing to join the network. The International Team was established in 2000 and now, in 2008, is assisting eighteen national organisations. The Team has three main objectives:

To increase the capacity of the existing national organisations.
To foster the development of new organisations in other parts of the world.
To raise awareness, understanding and support worldwide.

The Team members are all part of local communities and endeavour to root their international work in local realities. They have no headquarters but live in five countries; sustain their relationships by meeting all together once a year and as necessary in sub-groups; and take advantage of technology to cut down their travelling by extensive use of the internet and inexpensive phone deals.

What A Rocha is matters as much to the Team as what A Rocha does. In building this team the members have tried to keep A Rocha's distinctive values at the heart of the changes - they are summarised by the five commitments: Christian, Conservation, Community, Cross-cultural and Cooperation.

Founders: Peter and Miranda Harris Peter and Miranda founded A Rocha in 1983 and now share responsibility for shaping the organisation's vision and ethos globally. Their local life is in France where they are based near the French team for at least half the year. More
Director of Finance and Administration: David McKay BSc, FCA, CTA David is a chartered accountant and has accounting and finance experience in private practice as well as the commercial and charity sectors. His previous job was Head of Management Accounting at Aston University. More
Director of Development and Communication: Amy Owen Amy Owen has been working for A Rocha since June 2008. Prior to that she ran an international consulting business to help non-profit organizations accelerate their success through fundraising and fiscal management. More
Interim Director of Field Operations: Chris Naylor Chris is the focal point for linking the work of the A Rocha National Organisations with the International team and Trustees. More
Interim Director of Science and Conservation: Martin Kaonga M.Phil, Ph.D Martin is responsible for development and implementation of an international science and conservation strategy and ensuring that all global programmes are based on international scientific standards. Holding an M. Phil. in environment and development, and a Ph.D in environmental science from Cambridge University, Martin has worked extensively on broad issues of climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation in Africa. More
Conservation Policy & Programmes Manager: Janice Weatherley MSc Janice has a BSc in Geography and an MSc in Environmental Policy. She is helping A Rocha to establish global conservation programmes by developing projects that bring together the work of several national organisations. More
Director of Climate Stewards: Brendan Bowles MA MSc Brendan is the Director of Climate Stewards, which is A Rocha's global climate change programme, and he promotes the programme globally and in the UK, where he is based. He has Masters degrees in Mathematics (Cambridge) and Business Management (MMU) and is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute. More
Communications Manager: Barbara Mearns Barbara produces A Rocha International News, the annual International Review, the monthly international e-mail newsletters and much of the website content. She also manages the Photo Database and is based in the UK. More
International Coordinator: Sarah Walker MA Sarah coordinates various international projects, such as the International Volunteer Database, and is the point person for the International Trustees. More
Alvor Campaign Coordinator: Tiago Branco Ph.D Tiago has been coordinating the campaign for the Alvor estuary since June 2007. See riadealvor.org . He graduated in Chemical Engineering and studied theology at a Baptist Seminary before joining a research group in Instituto Superior Técnico >> More
IT Officer and Corporate Counsel: Robert Thomas Rob provides solutions for computer needs in ARI and some of the other teams. He also is a legal adviser to the ARI Finance Committee. He is based in England and works part-time for A Rocha UK, not just with their computers, but also managing their Friends scheme. More
International Webmaster: Júlio Reis Júlio works part-time implementing all aspects of A Rocha's Internet strategy: advising the international management team on Internet-related issues; managing the websites and email; building A Rocha's websites and providing support and training to a growing number of national webmasters >> More
Producer, Film & Media: Melissa Ong As AR's filmmaker since 2005, Mel helps to tell A Rocha stories through images and sound. She works with the communications team to produce materials and resources for web, print and video (find them on our Creation Care video resources page). More
Internet volunteer: Linda Sewell Linda provides assistance to our International Webmaster. She spends her time proofreading, and sometimes copy-editing, the collection of A Rocha websites. More
Communications Assistant: Sarah Young Sarah joined the International Team in September 2008 and works part-time, providing communications assistance to Barbara Mearns and Júlio Reis, particularly helping to upgrade the A Rocha websites. She is also working on the A Rocha UK Environmental Education programme. More