Board Member
Masego Madzwamuse
Masego is the Environment Programme Director at Oak Foundation and is based in Switzerland since September 2021. The Programme focuses on three major systems—Energy, Food, and Nature—and takes a people-centered approach. Before joining Oak Foundation, Masego was the Chief Executive Officer at the Southern Africa Trust.
Masego has an established track record as a grant maker and a policy analyst, specializing in climate justice, natural resources management, and social development. With over 20 years of experience, Masego has worked on the rights of communities in conservation, and supported social movements and civil society organizations advocating for social and economic justice. This has involved leading research and advocacy and working with economic justice networks; trade, debt, and aid advocacy groups; parliamentary portfolio committees; and conservation and environmental organizations working on natural resource governance and socio-economic and cultural rights. Her previous leadership roles included team leader of the Social and Economic Justice Programme at the Open Society Initiative of Southern Africa and country director of the Botswana Office for International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). While at the IUCN, she was part of the IUCN social policy team. She is also a member of the IUCN Commission on Environmental Economics and Social Policy.
Masego has lived in Botswana, Zimbabwe, and South Africa and holds a master’s degree in environmental sciences and a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Environmental Science.
Masego has an established track record as a grant maker and a policy analyst, specializing in climate justice, natural resources management, and social development. With over 20 years of experience, Masego has worked on the rights of communities in conservation, and supported social movements and civil society organizations advocating for social and economic justice. This has involved leading research and advocacy and working with economic justice networks; trade, debt, and aid advocacy groups; parliamentary portfolio committees; and conservation and environmental organizations working on natural resource governance and socio-economic and cultural rights. Her previous leadership roles included team leader of the Social and Economic Justice Programme at the Open Society Initiative of Southern Africa and country director of the Botswana Office for International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). While at the IUCN, she was part of the IUCN social policy team. She is also a member of the IUCN Commission on Environmental Economics and Social Policy.
Masego has lived in Botswana, Zimbabwe, and South Africa and holds a master’s degree in environmental sciences and a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Environmental Science.