Kamala Parekh, M.S.
Kamala has a Master’s in Economics from the University of Allahabad, India. Radio Journalism with a BBC affiliated International Broadcasting Company. Community Development Training: Institute of Cultural Affairs-International, Chicago, USA. Currently she coordinates village and community based activities in Maharashtra, teaches English language to non-English speaking European women in Maharashtra, trains village women and craftsmen in making and marketing local handicrafts in Zambia and India, trains government and private sector multinational organizations and NGOs in the techniques of community development through participative methods, and has coordinated an entrepreneurial development program for village youth in Maharashtra in collaboration with Village Earth.
Pilar Robledo
Pilar is currently Director of Programming and Training for US Peace Corps in Kiev, Ukraine. She’s also serves as Education Cluster Co-lead at UNICEF Pakistan. Previously she’s worked for UNHCR, Save the Children, International Rescue Committee, and IREX. She holds an MPA in Public Administration from University of Colorado, Denver and a BA in Anthropology and Latin American Studies from CU Boulder.
Vanitha Sivarajan, M.S.
Vanitha’s background includes over 10 years of conservation and water resource management with local communities, non-governmental organizations, governmental agencies, and the private sector. She has worked on natural resource management initiatives both domestically and internationally with a focus on Latin America, India, and the U.S. Vanitha’s areas of programmatic knowledge and expertise include climate change adaptation, participatory water resource management, community-based conservation, and international development.
Frank Bergh, EIT, LEED-AP
Frank Bergh is a 2011 alumnus of the Certificate of Community-Based Development Program at Colorado State University and has collaborated with Village Earth in training workshops in Community Mobilization for Engineers Without Borders USA (EWB-USA).
Luminita Cuna, M.S.
Luminita Cuna has a Master of Science in Sustainable Development with focus on Environmental Management from the University of London/School of Oriental and African Studies. Her Master’s thesis researched the impact of conservation policies on protected areas in the Amazon and their effects on the indigenous people that live in these areas.
Cynthia Ord, M.S.
Cynthia Ord holds a Masters of Tourism and Environmental Economics degree from the University of the Balearic Islands in Palma de Mallorca, Spain and a B.A. in Spanish and Philosophy from Colorado State University. Her M.S. program focused on the socio-cultural, environmental and economic impacts of global tourism.
John Straw, M.Ed.
John Straw has an M.Ed. from the University of Illinois at Chicago, focused on social justice education, and his bachelors from the University of Michigan with a degree in Spanish and Education. John has spent five years working in Honduras and Guatemala on community-based health and development projects, and the past 15 years working with Concern America, an international development and refugee aid organization, based in southern California, with health, water, and income-generation projects in Latin America and Africa
Jamie Way, M.A.
Jamie received her M.A. in Political Science from Colorado State University. Her academic work focused on Latin America, international development, political theory and indigenous rights. She has worked with Village Earth since 2008 and now holds the position of Training Director for Village Earth/Colorado State University’s online certificate program in Community-Based Development. She has also been involved with Village Earth’s work on the Pine Ridge Reservation and in the Peruvian Amazon for the past three years
David Bartecchi, M.A.
Dave received his M.A. in Cultural Anthropology from Colorado State University and has worked with Village Earth since 1998. He is now the executive director of Village Earth. Since 2000 he has been working with grassroots groups on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to recover lands for community-based bison restoration.