The Team

Gwyneth Williams

Skills 

  • International development administration and planning
  • Socio-economic analysis and community empowerment
  • Photography
  • Permaculture design

 

Experience

Gwyneth has travelled and lived with low income communities in many countries, and applies this understanding to her work in community development and empowerment. She has led a team evaluating local economic development projects in Central America, examined the results of policies to reduce poverty in Uganda, prepared schemes for land rights for internally displaced persons in Sri Lanka, and worked with a team to build two homes with local residents in Thailand. She has worked with several non-profits to raise funds and prepare project proposals.

 

Education 

  • MSc International Development, Administration and Planning, University College, London University, UK
  • BSc Human Geography and Planning, Cardiff University, Wales, UK
  • Course certifications in Film Studies, Photography and Permaculture

 

Languages 

English (mother tongue), French, Tagalog, Spanish

Contact Information:

Email: gwyneth@wecanworldwide.com

Dhanuka Buddhakorala

Skills 

  • Financial/Technology Data Transformation Analysis
  • Business development and management
  • Health policy and services
  • Expert Knowledge in software’s related to finance, business and data management

 

Experience 

Dhanuka combines his interest in community development and health, with economic development and business. He has undertaken research on community health (with emphasis on STD/AIDS), recommended improvements to the delivery of health services in Sri Lanka, and is the Project Coordinator to the Sri Lanka Consulate for liaison with the expatriate community in Toronto to mobilize assistance for communities in the post civil war areas.

On the business side, he works with HSBC (Global Payments Canada) to handle customer inquiries, evaluate and authorize high dollar transactions and manage reporting systems. He is also a senior partner in Herbal Tea Spa, a tea company which blends and sells specialty teas and herbs to tea and herbal stores. He plans to combine the community, health and business aspects for stronger local economic and social development.

 

Education 

  • Certification as Project management Professional (PMP – expected 2012), Project management Institute
  • BA (Hons) International Development and Health Studies, University of Toronto

 

Languages 

English and Singhalese (mother tongues), Basic Tamil

Contact Information:

Email: dhanuka@wecanworldwide.com

 

Samantha Samuel

Skills

  • International Development with a focus on women and children
  • Management and program development for social development programs including access to safe water, education and environmental adaptation
  • Extensive background in monitoring and evaluation
  • Technical specialization in community development, human rights trainings and capacity building

 

Experience:

Samantha’s combined passion for gender equality and poverty eradication can be seen through her work experience in a variety of international non-profit organizations, both in the Global North and South. She has worked on empowering marginalized women economically through microfinance initiatives in India, for programs on sustainable agricultural development for local farmers in Sudan and projects on art therapy for at-risk youth in Colombia. She is currently involved in working with grassroots movement building for Indigenous Peoples in Africa and South America with the International Indigenous Women’s Forum, where she wrote a report on the progress of Indigenous Peoples involvement in the MDGs. She presented the findings at the United Nations headquarters in New York in Spanish and English.

 

Education:

  • MSc International Development, Gender and Globalization, London School of Economics
  • BA Development Geography, King’s College, University of London

 

Languages:

English and Spanish (native fluency), Tamil and French

 

Contact Information:

Email: Samantha@wecanworldwide.com

Tamara Shogaolu

Skills 

  • Film and television scriptwriting, development and production
  • Research and analysis for documentary films
  • Program development and management of film festivals
  • Technical specialties in camera use, editing, budgeting and scheduling

 

Experience 

Tamara combines her skills in film-making with her interests in social movements through production of documentary films and videos. She was a Fulbright Scholar in Cairo, where she conducted research on social issues and the experience of women during the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, and subsequently produced an animated  documentary. She has worked as a development intern with Canana and Warner Brothers Films, and as production assistant for WE TV, was the Co-organizer for the Cairo Refugee Film Festival, and responsible for guest relations at the 2008 Los Angeles Film Festival.

 

Education 

  • MFA in Film  and Television Production, School of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California, Los Angeles
  • BA Economics, Occidental College, Los Angeles
  • Language Scholar in University of Jordan, and American University, Cairo 

 

Languages

English and Spanish (mother tongues), Arabic, French

Contact Information:

Email: tamara@wecanworldwide.com

 

David Taylor

Skills 

  • Geographic Information Systems, and application to development issues
  • Technical aspects of GIS and other computer software, and web design
  •  Building computers and hardware systems

 

Experience 

David combines his expertise with GIS, remote sensing and data analysis with physical and social development issues. He has worked on the ‘Peoples Map’ project in the UK, as an intern with the World Bank on the application of GIS to development projects and potential for GIS use by World Bank staff. He has also worked with Infotech Enterprises Ltd. on cadastral databases, and more recently, on financial processing for corporate deposits for CIBC, Canada.

His objectives are to extend the application of GIS to community, social and economic analysis, with a particular emphasis on poverty and environmental impacts.

 

Education 

  • BSc (Hons) Geographic Information Systems, School of Science, Society and Management, Bath Spa University, UK

 

Languages 

English (mother tongue)

Contact Information:

Email: david.t@wecanworldwide.com