Daniel Almagor

CEO, Engineers Without Borders
Daniel Almagor is the founder and President of Engineers Without Borders Australia (EWB) and the Managing Director of Medivax. Through his travels Daniel became increasingly interested in working with people in developing countries. After obtaining his Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering and Bachelor of Business Administration from RMIT, Daniel was frustrated by the limited opportunities for young engineers to get involved in development projects in third world countries because of their lack of experience. This drove him to establish Engineers Without Borders Australia (EWB). More broadly, Daniel saw Engineers Without Borders as responding to the engineering community's demand for ways of using their engineering skills for a good cause. In 2003, Daniel won the Churchill Fellowship to investigate EWB branches and potential projects overseas.

Engineers Without Borders' incredible growth since then prompted Daniel to be named in the 100 most influential engineers inAustralia in 2005 and was recognised in a list of the most inspiring young engineers as well as the RMIT Alumni Hall of Fame. Daniel lives in Elwood with his wifeBerry and dog ‘Pablo'. He loves the outdoors, travelling and learning about practically anything..

Lizzie Brown

Director of Education, Training and Research, Engineers Without Borders


Lizzie Brown is the Director of Education, Training and Research for Engineers Without Borders Australia (EWB). Through this role, Lizzie is responsible for coordinating EWB's education initiatives for members, university students and schools and providing support for chapter education activities.Lizzie graduated as an Environmental Engineer from The University of Queensland in 2002. Since then, she has worked as a consulting engineer in Australia and Austria, developing water quantity and quality management plans for projects in the urban development and mining sectors.

Lizzie become involved in EWB soon after its establishment in 2004 and helped set up the Queensland Chapter. She joined the EWB staff in September 2006 and now works full time as the Education Director. This year, Lizzie's work has focused on the inaugural EWB Challenge student design competition. Through this program, Lizzie has been working with nearly 30 universities and student chapters around Australia and New Zealand.

Ian Cunningham

In-Country Manager, Tenganan Water Supply Project
Project and Environmental engineer

Ian is seconded to the Tenganan community's water management organisation UPSAB on a 18 month placement to assist them with the planning and implementation of a technical solution to their water supply problems. Ian has all the juicy stories from the field and an insight into on-the-ground issues working with a community-based organisation to improve a large water treatment and distribution system. As leader of the In-Country Team, Ian also guides the other long- and short-term in-country volunteers, interaction with the Australia-based Technical Assistance Network, and the strategy of the project along side Katie, Jerome and the rest of the Project Management Team.

Session Outline

See Jerome Bowen speaker profile

Eric Campbell

Reporter, ABC Foreign Correspondent

Eric Campbell is one of Australia's most experienced international reporters. In a 20 year career he has worked in more than 50 countries, and covered some of the biggest breaking stories of the past decade. Eric was the ABC's Moscow Correspondent from 1996 to 2000, covering upheavals in the former Soviet Union as well as the conflicts in Afghanistan and Kosovo. His stories include the coming of the Taliban to Afghanistan and their ousting five years later, both of Russia's wars in Chechnya, the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo and the overthrow of Milosevic.

From 2001 to 2003 he was based in Beijing covering China, Afghanistan and Central Asia until he was injured in a suicide bombing in Kurdistan in the first days of the Iraq war. After recovering from his injuries, Eric joined Foreign Correspondent as its Sydney-based roving reporter.

Eric has won a Logie Award for news reporting and two New York Festivals world medals for environmental reporting. He was a two-time Walkley Awards finalist for his coverage of the Kosovo war.

In 2005 his book "Absurdistan" was published, documenting the highs and lows of being a reporter in some of the strangest, most dysfunctional places on Earth

Professor Andrew Markus

School of Historical Studies, Monash University

Andrew Markus holds the Pratt Foundation Chair of Jewish Civilisation. He is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and is a past Head of Monash University's School of Historical Studies . He has published extensively in the field of Australian race relations. He is the sole author of four books and the editor or co-editor of more than ten others. His publications include; Race: John Howard and the Remaking of Australia (Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2001); Building a New Community. Immigration and the Victorian Economy (editor, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2001) and Australian Race Relations 1788 - 1993 (Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1994).

Cheryl Buchanan

Aboriginal rights activist, Aboriginal Writer and Publisher

Cheryl Buchanan studied at the University of Hawaii as a scholarship-holder. Upon her return to Australia she became involved in the Brisbane Tribal Council, and attended the University of Queensland.
During 1974 Buchanan worked as the race relations field director for the Australian Union of Students and spent several months visiting communities in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, encouraging their struggle for land rights. In 1975 she moved to Melbourne, Victoria, where she became director of the Black Resources Centre (BRC). The Centre later moved to Brisbane, and Cheryl became one of the principal campaigners for the acquittal of ‘The Brisbane Three’, two Aboriginal men and a Chilean charged with conspiracy over an alleged extortion attempt. The three were acquitted due partly to the support of BRC periodical Black Liberation from 1975 to 1977. Buchanan was one of the main contributors to this publication, writing articles on a range of issues including history, politics, education, land rights, prisons and welfare.
In 1980 she published Kargun, the first of a series of poetry volumes by Lionel Fogarty. This publication led to the development of Murrie Coo-ee, an Aboriginal publishing firm at Coominya which continues to operate under Buchanan's directorship.

Mark Henry Rubarenzya

Mark Henry is a water resources engineer with experience in the integrated management of land and water resources primarily in Australia, Eastern Africa, and Europe. The earlier part of his career was spent in East Africa bringing Rwanda and Burundi into the second phase of the Lake Victoria Environmental Management Program (LVEMP2).

His work in Europe and Australia has included planning, monitoring, and evaluation of ecosystem responses to management interventions, principally through conjunctive hydrological and ecological modeling. He also serves as a Principal Water Resources Consultant in the International Development Assistance group within GHD.

For his work on the Integrated Water Resources Management (WRM) in Uganda, Mark Henry received the VIF Award in 2007 from the American Society of Civil Engineers, the first such winner to come from Africa.

Matt Walsh

It’s fair to say that Matt fumbled his way into the development world through sheer naivety and dumb luck. Working as an Aerospace Engineer for the Air Force early in his career, he developed a strong resistance to authority and the conventional engineering way of approaching the world’s problems. This frustration lead him into the loving arms of his good friend, Danny Almagor, who persuaded him (rather too easily now he thinks about it…) to help start a little fledgling organisation called Engineers Without Borders Australia.

Since that fortuitous day, Matt went onto lead the first EWB volunteer placement with the Micro Wind Turbine project in Nepal, which in turn, lead to working with the Sustainable Energy Authority Victoria where he had the coolest job of investing tax payer’s money in bleeding edge renewable energy projects across the state. Matt now resides in sunny Perth with his equally sunny girlfriend, where he works as an energy consultant working with 91 remote area Aboriginal communities all across WA (yes, including the Kimberley!).

Matt has previously served as a Director of EWB, Victoria Chapter president, WA Chapter committee (he thinks) and is now managing the partnership with EWB’s newest Indigenous Australia Program addition, Leedal, a project to help them with remote area employment in housing construction and maintenance.

Matt is going to be giving a “warts ‘n’ all” account of EWB’s history with EWB CEO and considers himself living proof that competence isn’t a prerequisite for success but stubbornness is.

Ben Fawcett

Ben Fawcett is an environmental health engineer, development manager, lecturer and researcher with 30 years, of international experience with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the participatory planning, implementation and evaluation of both development and humanitarian programmes in Asia and Africa. Ben started his career in civil engineering, then gained an MSc in Public Health Engineering to hone his skills for use in developing countries. Since 1982 he spent two years as a consulting engineer in Mauritania and nine years with the British NGO Oxfam, firstly as a Technical Adviser, working throughout the developing world, then as Country Representative in Vietnam and finally as Manager of Oxfam’s Technical Unit.

Andre Grant

Senior Technical Officer - Centre for Appropriate Technology

Andre Grant is Senior Technical Officer at the Centre for Appropriate Technology working from their north QLD office.  CAT is a national Indigenous non-profit organisation that leads the field in facilitating community and sustainability based solutions to remote Indigenous communities.  One of CAT’s most well known projects is the award winning Bushlight program which has designed and installed well over 100 solar RE systems in remote Indigenous outstations and small communities. A key focus of Andre’s work at CAT is on community engagement techniques including, participatory community planning, development mentoring and participatory design. After gaining a Masters in Sustainable Development, Andre and colleague Ben Roche went on to develop the national high school sustainability program, the Sustainable Living Challenge in partnership with the United Nations Environment Program and the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.

They also established a community engagement unit at the University of New South Wales aimed at delivering student lead service learning community development projects. Andre has several years experience living and working in Indigenous communities in the NT and across QLD from the desert to the Torres Straits; has published a few papers on Education for Sustainability as a tool for social change towards a sustainable future; and is a key author preparing a chapter on community engagement in a new National Indigenous Infrastructure Guide currently under production through CAT and due to be published next year. Andre was born and grew up in the remote Orkney Islands of Scotland and has a degree in Physics… but that was a long time ago.

Simon Longstaff

Maylin Evanochko

Maylin Evanochko  Bsc.BEng Biomedical (Hons) Flinders University

EWB overseas volunteer – Cambodian School of Prosthetics and Orthotics

Maths and Mechanics course facilitator

Maylin Evanochko graduated as a Biomedical Engineer from Flinders University, Adelaide in 2007.  Majoring in Electrical and Electronics engineering with a strong medical science background, her keen interest in the field of Prosthetics and Orthotics saw her undertake an undergraduate internship with the German prosthetic innovators Otto-Bock Healthcare in 2006.   As pioneers of the renowned C-leg, Otto-Bock provided valuable exposure and experience with micro-processor controlled artificial knee-joints as well as myoelectric devices and other high-tech prostheses.

In 2007 her honours project explored the use of Inertial Measurement Units for wirelessly measuring movement of the human spine during a paramedics log roll in cases of suspected spinal injury.

Prior to her overseas placement with EWB she spent most of 2008 with the Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science (now SA Pathology) as a clinical engineer in the Calibration and Testing Laboratory providing engineering services for research, pathology and hospital equipment in the Adelaide metropolitan area.

At the end of 2008, Maylin travelled to Cambodia with fellow EWB volunteer and Biomed engineer Bianca Tong, to continue EWB’s work with the Cambodian School of Prosthetics and Orthotics (CSPO) in Phnom Penh.  With her passion for maths and love of teaching she volunteered as a Maths and Mechanics course facilitator for the clinics first year students.  Maylin was involved in developing and delivering the Maths and Mechanics courses alongside the Cambodian Lecturer to a class of students from Cambodia, Iraq, Nepal and PNG where language and cultural differences along with a class of enormously varying educational backgrounds were all part of the challenge. These tailored math and mechanics courses have now been used in another newly opened clinic in Indonesia as EWB continues to support the CSPO with the delivery of the curriculum there.

Pip Chandler

Pip has worked for a number of years as a consultant for a range of NGOs and development companies in the areas of evaluation, learning, communications and advocacy. Prior to working in international development, she worked in film, television and interactive media, bringing her love for storytelling and all things creative to the field of development. She specialises in using creative and participatory techniques such as Digital Storytelling, Participatory Video, and Photo Voice as tools for community engagement, evaluation, and advocacy. Pip has a Master of International Development & Environmental Analysis, and a Bachelor of Arts (Communications), and has worked in Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Papua New Guinea, Nepal, Thailand, Timor-Leste, UK, Germany and Australia.

Jady Smith

Jady has more than 15 years experience in managing and implementing environmental projects in Australia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Maldives. Specific skills include training and capacity building, development of participatory education approaches, community mobilization and evaluation. He also has a background in biodiversity policy and eco-tourism.

In the Asian region Jady has over 7 years experience specifically working in Cambodia, 2 years working in Vietnam and 1 year in the Maldives. The sensory overload of Asia has been a heady mix to combine with work. Over this time he has been exposed to an array of environmental management issues, none of which seem to have simple solutions, but all of which can be assisted through effective education linked to practical actions.

Having already completed a Master of Science with Honours in Environmental Education, and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Environmental Management, he is currently enrolled in a PhD linked to environmental education in Cambodia, however there have been significant areas of distraction including work.

Bunthan Keat

As Country Manager for Live & Learn in Cambodia, Bunthan oversees the implementation of all program activities in Cambodia.

Bunthan was graduated Master Degree in Agricultural Science and Rural Development in 2006, Cambodia. His qualifications in Agriculture and Rural Development have given him a strong foundation in rural development and its analysis and assessment, particularly in Cambodia. He has more than 9 years experience in running projects with Crop Production Company, Mlup Baitong, ICC and Live & Learn Cambodia.

Through this work Bunthan has extensive experience undertaking Monitoring and Evaluation activities under large projects funded by the Asia Development Bank and European Commission – including school education programs, human rights education, and social development programs.

Furthermore, Bunthan has overseen volunteers under various programs including under Australian Volunteers International and VIDA programs, and Engineers Without Borders Australia. He has also supported short term, capacity building volunteerism within the offices of Live & Learn and Mlup Baitong in Cambodia.

John Lasich

John co-founded Solar Systems in 1992 and created the concepts which have been furthered by the company over the last 17 years to produce the world’s most efficient solar power technology. He is the key inventor of the proprietary ‘Dense Array CPV’ technology being granted 9 patents with 16 pending.  He sets the Company’s technical strategy and leads the R&D department. John has 30 years of practical experience in ‘mainstream’ and ‘renewable’ energy industry sectors. His experience also includes the sale, design, construction, project management, commissioning and operation of significant energy projects in Australia and overseas.

John has a BSc and is currently completing his PhD thesis in the field of concentrator/photovoltaic power cogeneration. He has been an invited speaker at a number of international conferences on solar energy and has published 16 papers on solar technology. John is a member of the International Electro technical Commission (IEC) standards committee for PV concentrator systems.

Chris Nelson

Chris Nelson is a development economist and the Director of the Performance Systems and Support Branch at AusAID. In this role, he is responsible for the quality reporting system, annual program reviews and evaluation support for the agency. Prior to this role, Chris worked with AusAID’s Asia program in an evaluation support capacity. He has held various positions in private, public and academic fields including time with the OECD in Paris, the University of Mozambique and the Institute for Sustainable Futures in Sydney. In each of these roles, Chris has maintained a particular interest in how development can better bridge the nexus between the private and public sectors and how developing economies can avoid rent-seeking behaviour. He is in the last stages of completing a doctorate on using alternative methodologies for effective evaluation.

David Hobbs

David currently works as a Senior Rehabilitation Engineer at Novita Children’s Services in the Division of Research & Innovation, where he applies his skills as an engineer to develop new technologies and systems to help people with a disability. He has worked in the disability sector since 2001 and in the international development sector since 2003, when he and two other Biomedical Engineers initiated a grass roots educational project in Cambodia that continues today.

With degrees in Physics and Biomedical Engineering, David is a Churchill Fellow (2003) and a Fulbright Scholar (2008) and was named Engineers Australia’s Young Professional Engineer of the Year in 2004. He currently sits on two National Professional Boards and served on the EWB National Board from 2004 until 2007. David was also awarded an ABC-Australian Academy of Science Media Fellowship in 2005 to undertake an intensive ‘Science in the Media’ training course to learn how to communicate science and technical ideas within the mainstream media.

Kargun Yagan Koolamurinee

My name is Kargun Yagan Koolamurinee Fogarty, people call me "Moojidi" or Mooj for short. I am 28 years old and have 4 proud children to my loving partner. My Fathers people are Mitti Mitti clan of the Munanjali mob,Yugambeh Nation. We have strong family connections to Yuggerra People (Brisbane area) and Kutjela People (Charters Towers). My Mothers people are the Nyurun clan of the Gwamu (Kooma) Nation (Bollon area). I have been learning traditional ways of my people since my earliest memories. I have been performing traditional dance since I could walk.

I have since performed at literally thousands of different venues locally, nationally and internationally. I see this as my main job in life, to teach others about our beautiful and rich culture - Through this sharing will come understanding. I now work as a Student support officer at St Peter Claver College Riverview, Queensland. I have established a dance group within the school and now 30 or so young dancers perform in the troupe. I teach these Indigenous students about their culture through corroboree, art and crafts, music and most importantly - values.

Andrew Lane

Andrew is one of only a few Indigenous Architects in Australia.  Andrew has focused his professional career on Indigenous housing and infrastructure and is committed to working with indigenous communities in regional and remote communities in Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

Andrew is currently involved in the delivery of a $39M Chronic Disease Centre and $5M Helipad for the Thursday Island hospital. Andrew has recently completed delivery of a $4.6M indigenous housing program focused on assisting Indigenous Housing Organisations to improve their housing stock (and improve environmental health benefits within those houses), This work was carried out in Normanton, Burketown, Camooweal, Mount Isa, Cloncurry, Julia Creek, Dajarra, Boulia, Bedourie and Birdsville.

Claire Dixon

Claire is the Reconciliation Action Committee Member for the Victorian Chapter of EWB and an active member of the EWB Indigenous Focus Group. She is further entangled in the EWB web through her role leading GHD’s corporate partnership with EWB. She has over 6 years national and international experience in water and wastewater, which has included a stint in Cambodia as a Water and Sanitation Adviser with World Vision.

Lizzy Skinner

Lizzy began her career working at Melbourne Water where she developed quite a reputation for disappearing for up to months at a time. One such disappearance took her to Kooma country to assist with land management projects.  in return, Lizzy was offered the unique experience and education into Indigenous culture in Australia; more inspired by this education than her formal engineering/science she jumped off the mainstream engineering ship.

Here a passion for travel took her to southern Namibia working with farmers on sustainable practices. Her return home saw her EWB adventure began as coordinator of the Indigenous Australia Program.

Bianca Tong

Bianca was born and raised in Kingston, Canada. Bianca has a BA Math from the University of Waterloo in Canada, where she had a chance to work on various bioinformatics internships in Toronto, and an 8-month proteomics internship in Dublin, at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

After graduation, she did a stint as a financial risk analyst in Toronto. Realizing she was entirely not cut out for the banking world, Bianca cut her ties to the financial world, and backpacked her way down to Melbourne to undertake a Masters of Biomedical Engineering, from the University of Melbourne. Bianca started volunteering with the Melbourne Uni EWB chapter after being enticed by pizza, and has been stuck into it ever since. The EWB wiki is a project Bianca spearheaded before the secondment to Cambodia.

Bianca is currently Director of Instrumentation Development at Bioscience Applications in Melbourne, a small niche biomedical engineering firm

Jai Allison

Jai is an environmental engineer with SKM. He gets paid to undertake projects involving water sensitive urban design and storm water harvesting, but his other passion is EWB local projects (which he doesn’t get paid for) and Jai is soon to be our 2010 South Asia Field Officer.

Michael Cathcart

Dr Michael Cathcart divides his time between teaching at the University of Melbourne and working on projects for ABC radio and TV. He was the host of ABC TV's history series Rewind and last year presented the 2-part documentary Rogue Nation. He is the author of Defending the National Tuckshop, a study of conservative responses to the Great Depression and he produced an abridgement of Manning Clark's 6-volume epic A History of Australia. His latest book is The Water Dreamers: The Remarkable History of our Dry Continent (Text 2009).

Dr Richard Denniss

Economist, author and public policy commentator

Dr Richard Denniss is the Executive Director of the Australia Institute. He is an economist with a particular interest in the role of regulation. Prior to taking up his current position he was an Associate Professor at the Crawford School of Economics and Government at the Australian National University where he continues to hold an adjunct appointment. Richard has also worked as Strategy Adviser to the Leader of the Australian Greens, Senator Bob Brown, Chief of Staff to the Leader of the Australian Democrats, Senator Natasha Stott Despoja, and lectured in economics at the University of Newcastle.
Richard has published extensively in academic journals, is a frequent contributor to national newspapers and was the co-author of the best selling Affluenza (with Dr Clive Hamilton) and is the co-author of the forthcoming An Introduction to Australian Public Policy: Theory and Practice (with Dr Sarah Maddison

Evan Thornley

CEO Better Place Australia

Evan Thornley is the CEO of Better Place Australia. Better Place Australia is part of a global company dedicated to zero emissions driving.  Their vision is to enable the mass adoption of electric vehicles in Australia by providing the infrastructure and services that make it easy, affordable and attractive for motorists to adopt and drive electric vehicles. It’s quite a vision.

The benefits of this transition for Australia may be dramatic: from cleaner air and lower emissions, to a stronger economy with more jobs and a healthier future for the car manufacturing and renewable energy sectors.
Canberra has been selected for their first city-wide roll-out of the Better Place electric vehicle infrastructure in Australia.
What will you be driving in 2030?

Jan Owen

Since 2002 Jan Owen AM has been an executive director of Social Ventures Australia (SVA).    Jan was also the  founder and inaugural chief executive of the CREATE Foundation.  With over  25 years experience in the non-profit sector, including  cross-sectoral partnerships.  Jan serves on the boards of Social Firms Australia, the CREATE Foundation, the International Women’s Development Agency, Inspire Foundation and the International Board of Advisors of the Medical Knowledge Foundation and the author of  ‘Every Childhood Lasts a Lifetime’ (1996).

Mike Evans

Don Henry

Don Henry, Executive Director, Australian Conservation Foundation

Don Henry has been executive director of the Australian Conservation Foundation, Australia’s leading national, not for profit environment organisation, since 1998. Previously based in Washington DC, he served with The World Wildlife Fund as director of the Global Forest program (1996-98), and as director of the WWF Asia-Pacific and South Pacific programs. In Australia, Don Henry has held the post of director at  both WWF- Australia the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland. His honorary positions have included commissioner with the Australian Heritage Commission and president of both the Australian Committee for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Moreton Island Protection Committee.  He holds a Global 500 Environment Award from the United Nations Environment Program for his services to conservation.  Most recently in 2008, Don was named Equity Trustees’ Not For Profit 2008 CEO of the Year. The prestigious award recognises outstanding leadership and is the pre-eminent award for the not-for-profit sector.

Jan Owen

Jan Owen AM has been an Executive Director of Social Ventures Australia (SVA) since 2002. Prior to this, Jan was Founder and inaugural Chief Executive of the CREATE Foundation. She has more than 25 years experience in the non profit sector, including establishing and operating numerous organisations and cross-sectoral partnerships. Jan serves on the boards of Social Firms Australia, the CREATE Foundation, the International Women’s Development Agency, Inspire Foundation and the International Board of Advisors of the Medical Knowledge Foundation. She is the author of “Every Childhood Lasts a Lifetime” (1996).

SVA works with innovative non-profit organisations to increase their growth and impact to drive transformative social change. SVA’s activities are focused on three areas – supporting a selected portfolio of non-profit organisations, consulting to the broader non-profit sector and developing social sector partnerships.

Mai Siriphongpanh

Mai graduated from the Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, and was awarded her MBA in December 2002. She joined the management training with DDD Phnom Penh in July 2003 and returned to her native Laos to set up the new DDD office in December 2003. In July 2004 she participated in a mini-MBA program called Global Social Benefit Incubator that was organized by the Santa Clara University for humanitarian ventures. Her knowledge of business management and her leadership skills all contribute to her great success in motivating and engaging staff in attaining their goals

Chris Murdoch

Chris Murdoch was Associate Partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Management Consulting Services and led the business strategy practice in Australia and New Zealand prior to joining the Opportunity International Australia team. He has over 15 years’ consultancy experience in strategy development and implementation focused on leading Australian products and distribution businesses.

Chris leads Opportunity Australia’s Strategic Services division, which provides market participation and intelligence, program design and evaluation to Opportunity International Australia, and facilitates the provision of technical services to microfinance institutions in Asia. As part of these responsibilities Chris designed and helped implement a microfinance program in India which, today, serves nearly a million clients through 14 retail partners.

Keryn Hawker

Keryn is an environmental engineer and has worked in consulting in Australia and the UK.  Her project experience includes catchment nutrient studies, hydrological assessments of wind farms and community liaison. Keryn joined the Water Research Laboratory in Sydney in 2006 where she specialised in numerical modeling of rivers, estuaries, lakes and oceans.

In 2008 Keryn was an EWB volunteer on the Tenganan Water Supply Project in Bali where she worked alongside the community assisting them to build, manage and maintain their water supply system, a truly inspirational project. Keryn’s interest in working in developing countries began when she traveled through South America in 2004 and worked in an ecovillage in Bolivia.

Keryn currently volunteers one day per week to provide technical advice on the project to clean the Pasig River in Manila (Philippines), and works with Alluvium consulting in Melbourne where she also maintains an active involvement with EWB.

Bob McMullan MP

Federal Member for Fraser & Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance

Bob McMullan is a member of the Australian Labor Party and is currently the Federal Member for Fraser. Since the election of the Rudd Labor Government in 2007, Bob is now the Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance.
Bob's career in politics started in 1975 when he became the Labor Party's Western Australian State Secretary. In 1981 he became National Secretary, based in Canberra, where he has lived ever since. In 1988 Bob was sworn in as Senator for the Australian Capital Territory . In 1996 he resigned from this position and was elected to the House of Representatives as the Member for Canberra, and following a redistribution in 1998, was elected as the Member for Fraser where he still serves today.
During his time in the House of Representatives Bob has held the Cabinet portfolios of the Arts, Administrative Services and Trade. He has also held a range of shadow portfolios including Industrial Relations, Indigenous Affairs, Small Business and Finance.

General Peter Cosgrove

Chief of the Australian Defence Force (2002- 2005)

General Peter Cosgrove was the Chief of the Australian Defence Force from 2002 to 2005 when he retired from active service. In March 2006, he was selected to lead the Queensland Government taskforce for rebuilding communities damaged by Cyclone Larry - a Category 5 tropical cyclone that devastated the Innisfail region of northern Queensland.

Peter began his career in the Australian Army at the Royal Military College, Duntroon. He fought in Vietnam where he served with great distinction receiving the Military Cross in 1971.

In 1999, as a Major General, he became a national figure on being appointed commander of the International Forces East Timor (Interfet), responsible for overseeing East Timor's transition to independence. The mission's success has made Peter Cosgrove one of Australia's most respected and popular military leaders.

After Timor he was promoted to Lieutenant General as Chief of the Army (CA) and in 2002 to General as Chief of the Defence Force (CDF). He served in this role until retiring in 2005.

In recognition of his efforts leading the Cyclone Larry Taskforce, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh announced that the new residential suburb in the Bohle Plains area of Townsville would be named Cosgrove.

Cheryl Buchanan

Aboriginal rights activist, Aboriginal Writer and Publisher

Cheryl Buchanan studied at the University of Hawaii as a scholarship-holder. Upon her return to Australia she became involved in the Brisbane Tribal Council, and attended the University of Queensland.
During 1974 Buchanan worked as the race relations field director for the Australian Union of Students and spent several months visiting communities in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, encouraging their struggle for land rights. In 1975 she moved to Melbourne, Victoria, where she became director of the Black Resources Centre (BRC). The Centre later moved to Brisbane, and Cheryl became one of the principal campaigners for the acquittal of ‘The Brisbane Three’, two Aboriginal men and a Chilean charged with conspiracy over an alleged extortion attempt. The three were acquitted due partly to the support of BRC periodical Black Liberation from 1975 to 1977. Buchanan was one of the main contributors to this publication, writing articles on a range of issues including history, politics, education, land rights, prisons and welfare.
In 1980 she published Kargun, the first of a series of poetry volumes by Lionel Fogarty. This publication led to the development of Murrie Coo-ee, an Aboriginal publishing firm at Coominya which continues to operate under Buchanan's directorship.

Kylie Charlton

Kylie is a founding team member of Unitus Capital, a financial advisory firm specializing in arranging capital for microfinance institutions (MFIs) and other social enterprises benefiting those at the bottom of the economic pyramid. Working at the intersection of mainstream capital markets, social investment and philanthropy, Kylie has arranged capital for MFIs and social enterprises, advised banks and investment funds, and raised capital for specialised investment funds including playing a leading role in the development and launch of the Unitus Equity Fund I, L.P. Previously, Kylie was Vice President in the Project and Structured Finance Group at Citigroup with 11 years experience in commercial and investment banking in Sydney and New York.

Kylie holds a B.A. in Commerce (Banking and Finance) from the University of Canberra, an M.B.A from the Said Business School at Oxford University and is the 2009 Heloise Waislitz Fellow at the Asia Pacific Centre for Social Investment and Philanthropy (APCSIP) at Swinburne University.

Putu Wiadnyana

Putu Wiadnyana, Project Manager, Tenganan (Bali) Water Supply

Although Putu is only 27 years of age, he is a true village champion. He works full time as an architect in Denpasar (2 hours from Tenganan) but devotes endless hours helping his people. Putu is THE technical man in the village and is regularly called upon by the members of the community to partake in many activities including developing micro-hydro technology, consulting on the economic activities of the village including the rice and tourism industry, whilst still partaking in ceremonial duties – and there are a LOT! Putu has a fascinating vantage point, being a modern young man whilst still remaining integral in a very traditional and rich village life that has maintained many of its customs for over 1000 years.

As the UPSAB Tenganan Water Supply Project Manager, Putu has acted in many roles within the project: translator, guide, technical consultant, designer, contractor management to mention just a few. If anyone has hit a technical stumbling block the first suggestion is generally “ask Putu”. Putu certainly is also a visionary in mapping and moving towards the community’s aspirations, looking at ways the village can be more sustainable in the future.

Wayan Widia “Pak Mangku”

Wayan Widia “Pak Mangku”, Chairman, Tenganan (Bali) Water Supply Project and Tenganan head priest

Pak Mangku hails from the village of Tenganan in East Bali where he is the Chairman of the UPSAB (Unit Pengelola Sarana Air Bersih - ‘controllers of the clean water infrastructure’) and the head priest of the village. Tenganan is a historical landmark of Bali and as one of the original Bali Aga villages it has many unique customs, making it the subject of numerous anthropological studies. As the head priest and one of the elders of the village Pak Mangku holds a wealth of knowledge on the history and customs of the Tenganan people as well as being an expert in Balinese bush tucker and medicine. Pak Mangku is truly the heart of Tenganan and is much loved throughout the village, not only for his ceremonial duties and contribution to the spiritual wealth but tireless service to his people. He has been witness to a rapidly changing Bali (and a volcano eruption!) whilst still being central to a particularly strong community in Tenganan.

EWB has been working with the UPSAB and Pak Mangku since 2005, he has been instrumental in the instigation of the Tenganan Water Supply Project. Working in partnership with EWB, he continues to help his village through the provision of a better water supply to 4000 people, many who can walk over 2.5 hours for their water supply. Although Pak Mangku holds much of the historical context and knowledge of the village from the PAST he has many aspirations for the well-being of his community whilst they move to the FUTURE and both its opportunities and pressures.