Dr. Antoine Faye is the focal point for Francophone. He is an Independent Consultant with tested expertise in Public Policy Analysis while specializing in Climate Change Economics. At mid-career as a Budget and Fiscal Analyst within the US Diplomatic Mission in Dakar Senegal, Antoine decided in 2000, to undertake a career change when he relocated in the United States of America.

To enhance his academic curriculum Antoine pursued a well sought interdisciplinary Degree named the CUNY/BA at the graduate center of the City University of New York. With that valuable credential, Antoine has been admitted to the renowned School of Public and International Affairs –SIPA of Columbia University.in New York to obtain a Master in International Affairs –Economic Political Development/Management.

Upon his return in Senegal in 2011, Antoine was an Advisor to the former Ministry of Energy Renewable to help that department to approach with much more rigor the opportunities available, both multilaterally and bilaterally and that the global concerns about tackling climate change has put in place through that a range of initiatives and funding mechanisms.
Since 2012, Antoine has used his professional skills to help organizations, institutions and governments to define and plan for implementation and execution of programs and projects.

He was, successively, the expert in renewable energy financing of the project CEADIR (Climate Economic Analysis or Development, Investment & Resilience) of USAID, the Regional Coordinator for West Africa, of the Regional Initiative for Investments in Clean Energies (RCEII; and the Chief Resilience Officer -CRO of the city of Dakar in the context of the city’s admission to the network of 100 Resilient Cities initiated by the Rockefeller Foundation. Also, as a member of the National Committee on Climate Change (COMNACC) Senegal; Antoine plays a big role in the advisory group experts that is helping the government of Senegal to reflect on all issues relating to climate change.

Erick Omwandho Opiyo, is an IT. Specialist at ARIN. He oversees the organization information systems and participates in proposal planning, design and development of project-based research systems.

He has over 13 years experience in Geoinformatics and System Development. He worked for 5 years as a GIS and Remote Sensing Specialist at ICRAF where he oversaw the development of several research project based tools like the “Africa Tree Species Finder” funded by IUCN among others and later on as consultant for UN-Habitat GLTN project where he was instrumental in the development of the first stable release version pubic version of STDM, he trained users in Africa, Asia and South America, he also worked as consultant for Cadasta Foundation as developer in Washington DC, USA.

Erick has overseen deployment of several products dealing with AI and ML as C.T.O of 8teq Solutions and Deputy Director of AI at Lima Tech Data. Erick has led the development of several mobile solutions and systems dealing with Science, Technology Indicators (STI) Dashboard at Kelop Software Solutions for various clients as a senior product consultant.

Erick holds BSc. Geomatic Engineering, MSc. GIS and Remote Sensing both from JKUAT and MSc. Software Engineering from University of Liverpool, he is currently a PhD candidate at University of Bonn, Germany.

Chidiebere Ofoegbu is a forest and environmental scientist with interest in the socioecological aspect of nature, ecosystems services and biodiversity management. He is enthusiastic about the linkages between science and policy development. His research interests focus on landscape and natural resources sustainability and ecosystem services, particularly on the economic, policy, and social dimensions of these. As a broadly trained natural resource scientist, Chidiebere is well suited to understand and communicate the connections among the ecological, economic, policy, and social dimensions of these systems within the context of sustainable development.

At the Centre for Landscape and Climate Research, University of Leicester, Chidiebere is part of the project team working on the development of landscape decisions framework for a holistic land use system that is coherent with policy goals on Net zero emissions, renewable energy uptake, climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity conservation, and multifunctional landscapes. This publication contributes to ongoing works on land use systems for sustainable renewable energy.