Alastair Nelson, Managing Director
Alastair is a strategic and values-driven conservation leader with 30 years’ experience living and working across ten countries in the Horn of Africa, East and southern Africa.
After 20yrs’ working for NGOs in remote sites and sometimes challenging situations, including investigating wildlife crime convergence and the financing of terrorist and organised crime groups, he returned to South Africa in 2019 to establish Conservation Synergies as an organisation that tackles challenging conservation problems using innovative approaches. He is particularly motivated and driven to develop practical approaches that reduce and build resilience to corruption, and to find ways to improve safety and security for wildlife and local people.
He likes to run to preserve a delicate link to sanity.
Dr Lindie Botha, Technical Consultant
Lindie has worked in the NGO sector since 1998, gaining experience in Europe, West, East – and Southern Africa. She has designed, managed, and evaluated award-winning projects at the frontline of societal problems: biodiversity conservation, wildlife crime, inequality, healthcare and human rights. She specialises in qualitative research, organisational capacity building, training and development, and CLA processes (Learning, Collaboration & Adaptation). Also offering expertise in ethical law enforcement, social safeguards and organisational resilience in the context of countering wildlife crime.
Lindie loves the great outdoors and explores it on foot, motor – and bicycle.
Alison Blair, Director of Operations and Grants Management
Alison Blair has 25 years’ experience in various business sectors.
Her background is in marketing and management with medium-sized companies, and in establishing and running her own small businesses. Her expertise is in taking strategic objectives and turning them into practical management, marketing, and communication plans and systems. Alison’s various entrepreneurial endeavours have given her practical experience in establishing functional and accountable management operation systems.
Growing up in the Lowveld bordering Kruger National Park, Alison was fortunate to spend significant time in wild places, resulting in a love and appreciation for wildlife and nature conservation. She is a single Mom to a teenage boy and loves being active and taking part in various running and triathlon events.
Sandile Mdoko, Research Analyst
Sandile holds 10 years’ experience working in various public sector institutes, such as Department Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, South African National Biodiversity Institute, CapeNature, Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency and the National Research foundation. His expertise include research, monitoring, stakeholder engagement and management of protected areas.
Sandile has a passion for cycling and running but the birth of his daughter recently is his greatest achievement.
