Kumi Naidoo was one of the founders of Global Call to Action Against Poverty, in 2005, and is now Co-Chair. Since 2005, the alliance has grown into a coalition of anti-poverty campaigners from over 100 countries engaging the public to maintain pressure on leaders to fulfill their promises on aid, trade, debt, climate change and gender equality.
Currently Chair of the Global Campaign for Climate Action, of which Greenpeace is a member, for the coming months he will continue to focus in this voluntary role, generating civil society pressure and cooperation to demand a strong deal at the UN Climate Summit to be held in Copenhagen this December. This is an objective shared by Greenpeace International.
Throughout his extensive career and activism, Kumi has built up substantial expertise in campaigning, fundraising, advocacy, policy work, internal organisation management and leading complex organisational change: skills that make him an ideal leader for Greenpeace.
Kumi: "I have long been an admirer of the work of Greenpeace, from my days as a young anti-apartheid activist in South Africa and currently as a member of the Greenpeace Africa Board. The way Greenpeace works on all levels - from confrontation to cooperation with governments and corporations - is an inspiration. The mix of pragmatism and passion really gets things done and effects real change in the world. I believe that Greenpeace is one of the most precious assets the global community possesses, and plays a critical part in reversing the current fatal trajectory of our planet."
Current International Executive Director Gerd Leipold has worked with Kumi Naidoo in the past(3): "Kumi has all of the qualities needed to take Greenpeace forward and lead it in the greatest challenge the world has ever faced: climate change."
VVPR info: Dr Naidoo can be contacted for interview through Greenpeace International but it should be noted that since he will not take up the International Executive Director post until 15 November 2009 he will not speak on behalf of the organisation until then. He would however, be happy to talk about the coming climate challenge and his work to secure a strong global deal in Copenhagen to avert catastrophic climate change.
Mobile: +31646162026
Mike Townsley, Chief Editor, Greenpeace International
Mobile: +31621296918
Notes: Notes:
(1) CIVICUS plays an active role in uniting civil society organisations around the UN Millennium Development Goals. As a result of this work, Kumi Naidoo now chairs the International Facilitation Group of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty and is an active member of the Expert Panel for Partnership Planning.
(2) Kumi is not new to Greenpeace and has worked together with Greenpeace on several occasion; advocacy aimed at institutions like the World Bank, such as during the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002; consultation at various moments in the development of the Greenpeace African strategy; working closely with the leadership of Greenpeace in developing the International Advocacy NGO collective, which led to the development of the International NGO Accountability Charter; and most recently as a Board member of Greenpeace Africa where he served on the panel for the selection of the first Executive Director of Greenpeace Africa.
CV Kumi Naidoo:
Born in South Africa in 1965, Kumi Naidoo became involved in the South African liberation struggle at the age of 15. As a result of his anti-apartheid activities, he was expelled from high school. He was deeply involved in neighbourhood organisation, youth work in his community, the underground movement, and mass mobilisations against the apartheid regime.
In 1986, he was arrested and charged for violating the state of emergency regulations. He went underground for one year before finally fleeing into exile in the UK until 1989. During this time, he was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford and earned a doctorate in political sociology. After Nelson Mandela's release in 1990, Kumi returned to South Africa to work on the legalisation of the African National Congress. During the democratic elections in 1994, he was the official spokesperson of the Independent Electoral Commission and directed the training of all electoral staff in the country.
Kumi became the founding Executive Director of the South African National NGO Coalition (SANGOCO), an umbrella agency for the South African NGO community. Provoked by the fact that South Africa has one of the highest rates of violence against women, Kumi was lead organiser of the National Men's March Against Violence on Women and Children in 1997.
From 1998 until 2008, Kumi Naidoo was the Secretary General and Chief Executive Officer of CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation. With a small staff of 40, but a membership of more than 1000 organisations and individuals from more than 100 countries, CIVICUS is dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil society throughout the world. He is currently the honorary president of CIVICUS.
Kumi is a Rhodes Scholar with a D.Phil. in Politics from Magdalen College, Oxford. He also holds a BA in Politics and Law from the University of Durban-Westville, South Africa. He has published and spoken widely on issues relating to civil society, education, and resistance to apartheid.
Environmental credentials:
Board Member of Global GRI, Earth Rights International and Food and Trees for Africa.