The CSSI2024 Opening and Closing panels brought together distinguished speakers from academia and practice who have a diverse array of experience on cross sector collaboration. They engaged in frank and engaging discussions around the themes of power and inclusion. The interactive conversations served to bridge the learning journeys with the main conference sessions and highlight key areas for action in both research and practice.
Barbara Gray is Professor and Faculty Fellow Emerita in the Smeal College of Business at the Pennsylvania State University. She studies the dynamics of multiparty conflict, collaboration, power, social class, and institutional processes within and between organizations. She has received two lifetime achievement awards for her work on conflict and cross-sector partnerships and was named the 2022 Distinguished Research for the OMT Division of the Academy of Management. She has authored four books and her work has appeared in Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Organization Science, Journal of Management, Human Relations and many other journals. She is a principal in the consulting firm An Olive Branch Associates and is a lay ordained Zen teacher.
Sibongile (Bongi) Mkhabela, a development practitioner, social worker by profession and an activist by orientation. Ms Mkhabela, is a multi-award winning development institution builder and currently the Executive Director of Barloworld Empowerment Foundation (BWEF).
Ms. Mkhabela is notably the former Chief Executive Officer of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund (NMCF) as well as the initiator of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital Trust (NMCH Trust).
In 1994 Mkhabela was enlisted into the Office of the then Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, as Director of Programmes, Projects and Coordinator of a legislative process leading to the establishment of the National Development Agency (NDA). She also led the implementation of the Children’s Charter.
The roots of Mkhabela’s lifetime of activism trace back to her youth and student days. She served as Secretary General of the South African Student Movement (SASM). She also served on Soweto Student Representative Council (SSRC) which steered the nationwide June 16, 1976, uprisings credited for the beginning of the end of apartheid. Her personal story of the Soweto uprisings is captured in her book, Open Earth and Black Roses.
Mahmood Sonday is the Managing Director of Reos Partners in Africa.
Mahmood has a background in the private sector, government, venture philanthropy and building cross-sector partnerships. He brings his experience and leadership in project design, partnerships and systems transformation to guiding and supporting teams collaborating to achieve meaningful and lasting results. He has worked with leading institutions in Africa and internationally, across sectors, on climate change, public health, peace and governance transitions, economic inclusion, equity, and building non-violent workplaces and communities.
As a leader in Reos Partners in Africa and globally, he is responsible for the health and growth of the organisation and increasing the impact of its work in the world.
He has also co-authored and published in peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Business Ethics and the Journal of Awareness-Based Systems Change.
Luvuyo Maseko (Moderator) is a youth development enthusiast and practitioner. He is the project manager of the youth innovation portfolio at the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship where his work seeks to support young people to transition to further opportunities in employment, entrepreneurship and education, through systems thinking. He holds an honors degree in Psychology and a pgdid in management specialising in Sports Management.
Luvuyo is also the chairperson, and a founding member, of Youth Development Collaboration Lab (YD Co-lab), a collaborative network of organisations and individuals working to advance youth development and empowerment in South Africa. He is passionate about developing and implementing effective programmes that allow youth have the freedom to be the authors of their own stories.
Andrew Boraine is an independent partnering and systems change practitioner. He has been involved in South Africa’s political, local government, urban, economic, and sustainability change processes for the past four decades, as student leader, anti-apartheid activist, advisor, negotiator, government planner, city manager, chief executive, facilitator, partnership and partnering specialist, systems change practitioner, place-maker, institutional designer, communicator and writer. He conceptualized, co-created, implemented and managed three innovative collaborative intermediary organizations over a 25-year period – the South African Cities Network (SACN), Cape Town Partnership (CTP), and Western Cape Economic Development Partnership (EDP). Andrew is Adjunct Professor with the African Centre for Cities (ACC) at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and a Research Fellow with the Centre for Sustainability Transitions (CST), Stellenbosch University
Nicole Banister is an award-winning TV show host, presenter, and international changemaker. She is the host of the celebrity interview series NIKKI BANZ LIVE with 90 guests from 35 countries, and Start It Up–the Waterbear series boasting 10M views and showcasing one of the world’s most prestigious social entrepreneurship competitions. Nicole has traveled to 50+ countries and is a United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Fellow, a Board Member for the Museum of the Peace Corps Experience, and a Georgetown University Hoya. With expertise in strategic global partnerships, social media, and mass communication, Nicole is passionate about leveraging media to amplify the voices of the world’s most dynamic young changemakers by unapologetically speaking her own truth and holding space for others to do the same.
Monicah Mbiba is a conservation and development professional with over 15 years of broad-based experience in strategic planning and organizational development, community program design and implementation, partnership building, conservation education, policy support, biodiversity research, and academic writing—and has co-published over 18 manuscripts in savannah biodiversity and conservation. She is currently a Senior Portfolio Manager for Maliasili supporting local organizations deliver greater impact and leading their work in South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Monicah led the design and implementation of Thriving Futures programs that champion locally-led solutions and action in conservation with Samburu communities and local partners in Northern Kenya where she was a Senior Program Manager. Monicah has also served as a sustainable use assessment expert for the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), where she contributed to evidence synthesis to influence global policy on sustainability scenarios in the use of wild species. She previously held post-doctoral research positions in the Sustainability Research Unit at Nelson Mandela University and the African Climate and Development Initiative at the University of Cape Town, both in the Western Cape, South Africa. Monicah holds a Ph.D. focused on socio-ecological systems in the south-east lowveld of South Africa exploring natural resource use and household livelihood vulnerability from Wits University in South Africa, a master’s degree in Environment and Development from the University of Reading in the UK (as a Beit-Chevening Scholar), and an honors degree in Forest Resources and Wildlife Management at the National University of Science and Technology in Zimbabwe. She is passionate about supporting transformative shifts in power and conservation agenda-setting that amplify local organizations and players.