Currently studying for a BCom in financial management, Suzette’s job involves controlling million-rand budgets. What drives her is her passion for community development. She acts as the focal point for the IUCN-SA National Committee and the Southern Africa Sustainable Use Specialist Group (SASUSG), under IUCN’s Species Survival Commission. SASUSG recently produced the first volume of Parks in Transition: Biodiversity, Rural Development and the Bottom Line.
‘I also provide financial management and administrative support to DEAT’s Sustainable Development Coordination Unit, which implements the outcomes of the World Summit,” she says.
Her pet project is the economic change, poverty and environment project at Riemvasmaak in the Northern Cape. This aims to develop ecotourism in Riemvasmaak as a vehicle for poverty reduction and sustainable resource use. Riemvasmaak’s people are compiling a book about their struggles and victories since their relocation during apartheid. Book sales will provide bursaries for local kids.
‘I was born in the Richtersveld, so I’m passionate about developing that part of our country. I love going anywhere in the Northern Cape — there’s so much space, you are free to think, to breathe!”