Cornelia sepp

Cornelia has spent over 20 years working with people whose livelihoods involve them in managing natural resources. She started her first long-term mission to Senegal for FAO at the age of 25, together with her husband Steve. After working as an adviser with GTZ’s Forestry Division and as a freelancer, she co-founded ECO Gesellschaft für sozialökologische Programmplanung in 1992. In over 30 countries, Cornelia has parented gender, poverty, environment and policy analyses from a holistic viewpoint, and guided projects in all phases of the project cycle, from stakeholder assessments to participatory rural planning. As co-managing director of ECO Cornelia accompanies the implementation of national forest prorammes, and is involved in the development of best practices in environmental, specifically forestry-related management, and environmental policy in several countries. With her regional focus remaining in sub-Saharan Africa, Cornelia is advisor to the GTZ’s supra-sectoral project “International forest policy” and a widely sought-for trainer and moderator in economic and social aspects of natural resources management. She likes to research in and introuce new approaches to household energy, management of non-timber forest prodcts, and nature conservation – and to care for her three children and one dog.