People
ONE TEAM, MANY SOLUTIONS
Lama Mugabo and Jeff Cook are both graduates of the UBC School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP). They have been planning the launch of BBR since 2004, exploring innovative ways BBR can be an avenue for galvanizing Canadian actors' partnering with their Rwandan counterparts to turn Rwanda into a model state through participatory action and sustainable development. BBR is the result of several years of reflection on innovative ways Canadians can best work with Rwanda to bring about sustainable development.
Lama Mugabo, MAP
Lama Mugabo is a community development planner with a keen interest
in engaging local communities in understanding how global issues
affect local communities, and ways participatory processes can serve
as a catalyst for solving global issues. He uses the art of storytelling
through film, photography, and music, as a tool to engage local
actors in finding solutions to community development problems. His
collaborative approach to community development has taken him across
Canada: from Victoria, Calgary, Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver.
He has also worked in Africa from Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), Maputo,
(Mozambique), Bujumbura (Burundi) and to Kigali (Rwanda) where he
has worked in private, public and civil society sectors.
In 2004, Lama served as the National Coordinator for RR10, Remembering
Rwanda 10th Anniversary Memorial Project, at the Liu Institute for
Global Issues (UBC). He is a founding member of Building Bridges
with Rwanda (BBR), an organization that was founded after several
years of consultation with different stakeholders in Rwanda and
Canada, to initiate alternatives ways Canadians and Rwandans can
collaborate to rebuild the Rwandan society from the ashes of the
1994 genocide.
Jeff Cook, MAP
Jeff's 15 years of community planning and management experience
with First Nations in the Yukon Territory and British Columbia began
as an Economic Development Officer with the T'rond'ek Hwetch'en
First Nation (Dawson City, Yukon) for a three year period starting
in 1991. This experience enabled a critical learning foundation,
setting into motion a long term commitment towards enhancing the
overall health and self-reliance of First Nations and indigenous
communities through building relationships of trust, collaboration,
mutual learning, respect and recognition.
Jeff's public process skills and participatory techniques such as
bioregional, mental and visual mapping, open space learning, small
group engagement, participatory evaluation and motivational speaking
helps ensure broad based inclusion. His cultural awareness and sensitivity
to First Nations traditional values, practices and customs supports
an integrative and sustainable planning approach to visioning and
problem solving. This practical experience combined with formal
education in cultural geography, political studies and community
and regional planning encourages an informed analysis with results
based action that is realistic and achievable.
From 1994-1998, Jeff worked independently with numerous First Nations,
Elders and individuals primarily in community economic development
planning and project development. In 1998, Beringia Community Planning
(a division of Cook & Associates Planning & Education Inc.) was
created based on principles of community development, participatory
action, learning by doing, social engagement and active listening.
The organization has worked with over 20 First Nations groups and
organizations in a diverse range of planning capacities such as
strategic planning, comprehensive planning, sector and project plans.
Sustainable housing, self-governance, organizational development
physical development and land use, and community economic development
are concentrated areas of knowledge focus.
1. Kathy Sainty - President
Kathy has been a lawyer since 1986 and a District Registrar of the Supreme Court of British Columbia for the past five years. Kathy was educated at Lester B. Pearson College where she met Lama Mugabo, BBR’s Executive Director. She holds a B.A. (Economics) from the University of Toronto and an LLB from University of British Columbia. In her role as court registrar, Kathy presides at judicial and quasi-judicial hearings, inquiries, accountings, assessments, reviews and other matters as set out by statute or the Rules of Court or as referred by a Judge of the Supreme Court. Her responsibilities include writing judgments, some as complex as 100 pages, on various matters before her. Kathy has strong analytical skills and tremendous board experience. She has been involved with a number of diverse organizations including St. Jude’s Anglican Home, Sorrento Centre, Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific and the Pearson College Alumni Association, the Canadian Women Voters Congress, St. Faith’s Anglican Church, the Western Businesswomen’s Association, the Scott Road Business Association, both the Delta and Surrey Chambers of Commerce, the Pacific Songwriters Association and the Children’s Wish Foundation of Canada (BC Chapter). She is gifted at consensus building. She is specifically interested in the development of justice systems within countries that have experienced conflict.
2. Dr. Tracy Lindberg - Vice President
Dr. Tracy Lindberg holds a PhD in Clinical Psychology and has experience in assessment and counseling of youth, adult and geriatric individuals, in both outpatient and inpatient settings. She is currently working for the Fraser Health Authority implementing a new model of collaborative mental health care with objectives of reducing stigma and facilitating access to care. Tracy also provides psychological and neuropsychological assessments to individuals who have experienced significant injuries, stress, and trauma through a private psychological clinic. In both her clinical and research work, she has studied the impact of cultural factors on mental health functioning in general, and has developed the skills to accommodate these factors in the assessment and treatment of mental health issues associated with trauma specifically. Tracy was active in university politics, and served as both a representative on Student Council and a Student Senator. She was one of 2 organizers of the 2005 African Film Festival in Vancouver, and programmed a film lineup that addressed the dual objectives of increasing Western awareness of some of the significant challenges facing Africa today, and simultaneously highlighting the many positive elements in various African cultures. Tracy has strong critical thinking, organizational, and people skills, and considerable experience with helping people cope with change. She brings to BBR’s Board of Directors her knowledge in human systems and behavior, as well as a particular interest in the mental health issues facing Rwandans as they recover and rebuild from their experiences during genocide and adapt to large-scale societal changes.
3. Mitchell Rhodes – Treasurer
Mitch Rhodes has undergraduate degrees in Economics and Honors Business from the University of Western Ontario and the University of Windsor, respectively and he is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario. During his career he specialized in the entertainment and the financial services industries. For the last eight years, Mitch has used his skills as a Chartered Accountant and strategic planner to focus on issues of the environment and sustainability. Moving from Toronto to Whistler in 1998, Mitch became actively involved with many NGOs and community organizations. As President of AWARE, Whistler’s local environmental group, Mitch became deeply involved with land use issues for the region, the 2010 Olympic Bid and Whistler’s intention to become the first community in North America to move toward sustainability using the principles of the Natural Step. In 2004, Mitch moved to Sweden to become part of the inaugural class of the Masters Program in Strategic Leadership toward Sustainability. In 2006, Mitch moved back to BC with his partner, Laura MacKay, to make Vancouver their home and to further develop their company Treadlight Productions. Mitch and Laura’s efforts are directed by the question: How can Treadlight use the tools of film, TV and new media and the principles of sustainability to be effective in moving society towards sustainability? To date, Treadlight has been involved with groups in Israel/Palestine, First Nations youth in BC, the Jane Goodall Institute and also have various other projects in development in Canada, Rwanda, China and the Middle East.
4. Richard Taylor
Richard Taylor is a Canadian who has spent most of his life in Africa. After graduating from Trinity Western University with a Bachelor’s degree in International Development, he co-founded a non profit organization “Wellspring” that is dedicated to improving education in Rwanda through its whole school development program. Richard is a gifted communicator and consensus builder who thrives on bringing people together to accomplish similar goals. He believes that investing directly into the people of Rwanda is a key element to building a brighter future, and sees that Canadians have a unique opportunity to partner with Rwandans in meaningful development initiatives
5. Elisabeth Mujawamaliya
Elisabeth “Liz” Mujawamaliya was born and raised in Rwanda, and as such, brings a set of skills that combines professional experience and academic training in Human Resources and Public Health with a contextual understanding of both Rwandan and Canadian cultures. From 1987-1994, she worked for the Rwandan Ministry of Agricultural and Livestock, as Zoo-Technician Veterinary. Shortly after the 1994 genocide, Liz directed her efforts to working with two international relief organizations. She was the Senior Administrator & Accountant Officer for Care Australia and she served as Human Resources Officer at World Vision, assisting in the integration of returnees and the displaced. Liz later immigrated to British Columbia, Canada where she has worked as a Pharmacy Technician and Customer Service Representative. She is currently completing a BBA in the Entrepreneurial Leadership Program at Kwantlen University College and intends to continue her business training at Simon Fraser University before she returns to work in Rwanda.
6. Laura J. MacKay
Laura J. MacKay works as a Sustainability Associate with The Natural Step Canada, coaching organizations and communities to create a baseline of their current operations in relation to a compelling vision of a sustainable future. She graduated from a unique Masters program in Sweden based on The Natural Step framework, with the explicit intention of leveraging movement of the film and television industries toward sustainability. She co-founded a production company called Treadlight Media, whose clients include Hollyhock Leadership Institute, the BC Working Group on Education for Sustainable Development, Centre for Individual Recovery and Reconciliation (in Israel-Palestine), The Shambhala Institute, Jane Goodall Institute and Building our Legacies Together First Nations Youth Group. Treadlight celebrates the use of media as a tool for engagement, story-telling and self-reflection, and has initiated a video story-telling project focused on training and connecting youth in Rwanda and Canada. Laura holds a Masters degree in Sustainability from Blekinge Institute in Sweden, and a Bachelors degree in Economics from McGill University.
