Alumni

Max Brett is a communications officer with the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI). In over two years with NRGI, Max has co-led the organization’s social media efforts; edited, rewritten and shaped blogs, press releases and other written communications from NRGI; edited and guided reports through publication; contributed to the organization of outward-facing communications opportunities at global events; and supported staff extensively. Max has an investigative journalism background. Max has a bachelor of science in journalism with extensive studies in the theory and practice of visual art from Northwestern University.

Nguyen Ngoc Quang works for Vietnam Mining Coalition (VCM) as the national coordinator with a responsibility to promote, impelement and monitor all activities of the coalition activities. This includes organizing policy dialogue and workshops related to thematic topic and research, cooperation and collaboration with Vietnam government agencies in extractive industries, natural/environmental taxation, and so on. He is also in charge of the PanNature and VCN's advocacy to policy makers, decision-makers and communities. Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Quang is an experienced professional in civil society movement and advocacy as he has a long standing contribution to improve in the natural resources governance in Vietnam.

Mr. Pham Kien Trung is a lecturer at Hanoi University of Mining and Geology (HUMG) with 7-year working experience. In recent years, he concentrated on the Environmental Management field, specifically Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and published several papers at International Scientific Conferences and Scientific Journals. He attended short courses about Risk Management, Quality Management (University of Applied Sciences Georg Agricola in Bochum), Green Growth (USAID, UNDP). After his research in Chiang Mai University, he focused on a comparative study on EIA, CSR between Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam. He received an award from the Rector of HUMG and Dean for his excellent lecturer and research.

Rendy teaches at the Bangka Belitung University but primarily work as the executive secretary of The Ilalang Institute, a non-government organization based in Bangka. His main responsibility in the organization is leading the implementation of several projects such as research, public discussion, public school, seminar. Furthermore, he is also responsible to establish and maintain a network with other stakeholders from the government, university, parliament, political party, activist, and the non-government organizations in Bangka. The mission of his organization is to increase public awareness and taking into account concerns of all stakeholders with regard to the mining governance in Bangka. Rendy holds a master of arts from the Gadjah Mada University. Now, he is also active as a member of board for education representative- Babel Islands Province for 2014-2019 period.

Rizky is as Program Manager for Openness and Extractive Governance at PWYP Indonesia. She also leads a project on the coal trading governance aiming to identify the loophole in the coal trading mechanism and assist a project on the land-based mining governance improvement, with focuses on the improvement of mining licensing and environmental rehabilitation. Additionally, Rizky is responsible for the financial modelling project in the Asia Pacific region as a continuation of her participation in the financial modelling workshop conducted by Open Oil, a Berlin-based consultative agency on open data and extractive sector. Her role in PWYP Indonesia is not limited to project management, but also includes network management and knowledge product development.

Sebastian Sahla has five years’ experience working with civil society, government agencies and the private sector on natural resource governance issues. After working for the German development agency GIZ in Liberia to support the Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy, he joined the London-based consultancy Critical Resource, where he spent four years advising oil and mining companies on sustainability and political risk issues. Since July 2015, he has been working for NRGI in Myanmar on two areas: the drafting of a report titled ‘Natural Resource Federalism: Considerations for Myanmar’ and coordinating the production of weekly policy briefings to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation.

Sidra Khalid is a Program Assistant in the Capacity Development team at Natural Resource Governance. Her role is to provide effective programmatic and administrative support to the Capacity Development team. She support NRGI’s courses and fellowships. Her duties include participant selection, producing course communications materials, developing an alumni engagement strategy, providing financial management support, and engaging in rigorous monitoring and evaluation to improve courses. Sidra previously worked at ISEAL where she managed external communications including webinars, newsletters, social media and blog articles. Sidra holds an MSc in Anthropology of Development from Durham University and a Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences from Lahore University of Management Sciences in Pakistan.

Sobirin graduated from Gadjah Mada University in 2008 and then immediately involved in the work of the Desantara Foundation, an Indonesian non-government organization based in Jakarta. His career as an activist begun when he was doing action research in natural resources conflict between a cement factory and local community in Pati, Central Java. He lived there for four years to dig in many aspects of scientific, moral and philosophical questions on the case of cement factory development plan in North Kendeng Hills. This experience gave him an insight that the local community welfare is not as simple as building a factory. This helps him to understand the complex networks between the life story of community, capital and politization of scientific research.

Starjoan is the director of AFRIM's program and projects related to natural resource governance, part of her tasks is to implement, monitor and promote the knowledge, good practices and lessons of our EITI sub-national initiatives at the local level, particularly in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). In her capacity as a Board Member of Bantay Kita and as Mindanao CSO Representative to the Multi-stakeholders’ Group (MSG) of the Philippine Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (PH-EITI), she is responsible to bring the voices and concerns of civil society organizations and their communities to influence policy discourse at the national level, and for the Philippines to go beyond transparency and push forward accountability and meaningful reforms in natural resource governance. 

Su Hlaing Myint is one of Myanmar’s leading activists on environmental issues. She has ten years’ working experience in grassroot advocacy and community mobilization. In 2008, she co-founded a local NGO Grow Back for Prosperity to protect Myanmar's natural and cultural heritage by using science-based conservation measures and by collaborating with a wide range of stakeholders. Su Hlaing is a national representative of the civil society consortium Myanmar Alliance for Transparency and Accountability and a member of the Myanmar EITI multi-stakeholder group. Her hobbies include bird-watching and activities related to nature conservation.

Thein Htun is an Assistant Director with a geology background in the Department of Mines, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, Myanmar. His work includes inspection of mines site, checking of the application of mining license and issue of license. He is also contributing to increase Myanmar cooperation in the EITI with a goal to include Myanmar as a Compliant Country of EITI.

Mr. Thein Tun Aung holds a BA degree in Library and Information Studies from East Yangon University, Myanmar in 2008 and MSc in Regional and Rural Development Planning from Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand in 2015. He serves as the program manager in MATA to lead in all sector of our organization businesses. As the second highest people in the organization, he has to lead in all sector of MATA’s work. He has experience in various aspects such as M&E, Project Management and other fields.

Yee Mon Oo is a Research Associate at Myanmar Development Institute. She holds a Master’s Degree in Economics from Chiang Mai University, Thailand. She is a member of core technical team to analyse loss-making state owned enterprises (SOEs) to determine whether they should continue their operation, or they should be recommended for termination, or privatization. MDI is also a part of the study committee organized to systematically review these factories and to offer factory-specific recommendations to the government in moving forward.