Daniel Wiegant Crespo
YEP period 2014 - 2016, batch 2
Young Expert at Meta Meta - EthiopiaFirst position after YEP
PhD Researcher at Wageningen University & Research, the Netherlands
YEP Role
As programme officer I provided support to the branch office in the Central Rift Valley. Here, HoA-REC promotes integrated land and water management in close collaboration with government, private sector and members of the Regional Environment Network. The Central Rift Valley programme, which is funded by the Dutch Embassy, addresses the pressures causing deforestation, land degradation and water quality deterioration. It aimed to safeguard critical ecosystem services upon which rural livelihoods depend as well as conserve the unique biodiversity of the Rift Valley ecosystem.
Secondly, I was involved in promoting a transboundary watershed programme that will be implemented in the Horn of Africa through the Regional Environment Network members. Lastly, I assisted to organise the alumni network for those persons who have been enrolled in a water-related study in the Netherlands.
Click here for more information about my project.
Skills
As a human geographer, I am passionate about the coming together of different development initiatives and actors in a geographical space, and the challenges and opportunities that are created in the process. I am always eager to stress the importance of seeing developments from a system perspective. To find out how ecosystem services and biodiversity can thrive while sustainable livelihood opportunities are created is what drives me. In doing so, I consider myself pro-active, analytically strong and committed.
Background
Nationality: Dutch / Spanish
Education:
- Advanced Master in International Development at the Centre for International Development Issues Nijmegen, Radboud University
- Research MSc. Sustainable Development – International Development (cum laude) at the Copernicus Institute, Utrecht University
- BSc. Human Geography & Planning (honours) at the Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University
Experience before YEP
- Programme Officer within the Social & Ecological Resilience Partnership Programme at the Horn of Africa Regional Environment Centre & Network
- Traineeship at the Department for Climate, Energy, Environment and Water (Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs) focusing on Environment and Climate Mainstreaming in water and food security programmes of the Dutch development cooperation
- Cycling the Silk Road, an 18.000 km trip from the Netherlands to China
- Research internship in Nepal on water-induced stress and hazards and the factors determining the resilience of Himalaya communities, in collaboration with Nepal Engineering College
- Research internship in Bolivia on adaptive capacity of Andes communities and the effectiveness of climate change interventions in the Río Chico watershed in Chuquisaca, Bolivia, in collaboration with the Liga de Defensa del Medio Ambiente
