Allert van den Ham, Regional Director
Allert van den Ham joined SNV in 2010 as Regional Director for Asia. Before joining SNV, Allert held different positions with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, consultancy firms and the Dutch co-financing agency Oxfam–Novib.
From 2003-2007 Allert was member of the board of Directors of the Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation (Hivos) in the Netherlands. Within Hivos he was responsible for strategy, programmes & projects, knowledge initiatives and international resource mobilization. He has been founder/board member and advisor of several Dutch institutions and most recently the chair of the supervisory board of the Triodos Sustainable Trade Fund. His education includes an MSc in Human Geography and a PhD in Social Sciences from Wageningen University.
In Asia, more than 600 million people are living on less than a dollar a day. Therefore, Allert has a strong commitment in ensuring that SNV's capacity development support delivers impact in poverty reduction for the benefit of disadvantaged women and men around Asia.
Country Directors
Rolf Schinkel, Bhutan
Rolf Schinkel is based in Thimphu, Bhutan. Here leads SNV’s country programme as Country director of SNV Bhutan.
Rolf graduated at Wageningen UR as agronomist specialised in forest economy of small households. He has about 24 years of working experience of which today a 14 years with SNV. His experience ranges from providing grass root organisations with technical advisory services, via capacity building of partner organisation to management various teams.
In 1987 Rolf started his career with SNV in Mali, where he worked for 3 years as forestry advisor. The next 10 years he worked as environmental engineer and team leader with private sector companies in various countries in Europe, Africa and Asia.
In 2000 Rolf joined SNV again, now in Cameroon, where he managed community forestry projects. Here, amongst others, a portable wood mill for tropical hardwood was born. From Cameroon he brought community forestry to DR Congo. In 2007 he crossed half the world and went to Vietnam as Portfolio coordinator and set up SNV Vietnam’s Business development unit. The last one and a half year he spent in the Himalayas; First in Nepal as team leader of an innovative marketing project, then, as from July 2011, as Country director of SNV Bhutan.
Poverty is still far from being eradicated, also in Asia. Rolf is highly dedicated to the design and execution of programmes that bring down poverty and as well develop people’s capacities to decide on their own future.
Wilbert Schouten, Cambodia
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Based in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh, Wilbert is responsible for the overall management and leading of the SNV country program in Cambodia.
Wilbert has been working overseas in international development in Asia, Europe (Balkans) and Africa since 1989. He has been working with SNV since 1996. He started as an Advisor in Community-based Development in Ethiopia. After that he was a Senior Advisor Civil Society and continued as Portfolio Coordinator. He was Senior Advisor in Governance and after which he became Regional Network Leader Governance in Balkans. With more than 20 years development experience, he built up his expertise including capacity strengthening and strategic issues, advisory services, leadership, human resource management, financial management, monitoring and evaluation, resource mobilization, networking, communication and representation in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia Uganda, Ethiopia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since April 2009 he is Country Director for Cambodia.
Wilbert has a Master's degree in Social Sciences: Cultural Psychology and Development Studies at Catholic University Nijmegen (KUN), Netherlands (1988).
Megan Ritchie, Laos
Megan Ritchie started her career with SNV in 2004, first as a tourism advisor in Bhutan and then later as Sector Leader for Tourism, Portfolio Co-ordinator for Thimphu, and now as interim Country Director for SNV Bhutan.
Before joining SNV, Megan was a senior lecturer at La Trobe University, Australia and the principal consultant at Blue Gorm; a private consultancy firm specialising in capacity development of rural communities.
Megan has a passion for facilitating the empowerment of people and a special interest in rural and remote communities.
Rem Neefjes, Nepal
Rem joined SNV in Nepal as Country Director in September 2011. He served as Country Director in SNV Ethiopia since 2006 and has worked with SNV since 1993 in a variety of different advisory and management positions in Zimbabwe, Uganda and Kenya.
He has been working in development for more than 25 years, mainly in Africa, in the fields of economic planning, rural economic development, organisational and institutional support, change management, value chain development and good governance.
In SNV East and Southern Africa (ESA), Rem held the position of Head Agriculture - Economic Development, since April 2009. In this capacity he led the team in developing the SNV ESA VCD approach and in implementing more coherent VCD programmes in the agriculture sector. From 2006 to 2009, Rem was Head Governance for Empowerment (GfE), in which position he was responsible for the integration of governance (including gender) and maintaining an empowerment focus in all SNV programme activities.
Rem has a Master’s degree in Macro-Economics, with a specialisation in Development Economics and International Economic Relations from the University of Amsterdam and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Economics.
Govind Raj Pokharel, Pakistan, Indonesia and Bangladesh
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Govind brings with him over 12 years of broad working experiences in academia, development sector, private institutions, and National Government organisations in the Renewable Energy sector. Prior to joining SNV, Govind was the Executive Director of the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC), a nodal agency promoting renewable energy in Nepal under Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology. His core competencies are in Management, Planning, Coordination, Teaching, Action Research, and Network Building in Renewable Energy Sector. His academic track record includes a Graduate degree in Mechanical Engineering (1992) from Jaipur, India and Doctoral Studies (PhD) in Energy Economics and Policy from University of Flensburg, Germany in 2004.
He has worked in increasingly challenging environments that ranges from field level operations to national strategic policy direction; enabling him to understand the micro and macro contexts, and bringing matured, innovative ideas and pragmatic outlook to development of RE in the region. Govind is strongly passionate about capitalizing on the Asia Region’s potential on renewable energy through knowledge development and resource mobilisation.
Govind, as manager with a country representative role, manages the SNV programs in Pakistan, Indonesia and Bangladesh. He also works as senior advisor and sponsor manager for renewable energy in Asia. Govind is married and has two sons.
Regional Office Team
Monisha Rajbhandari, Agricultural and Forest Products Network Leader
Monisha joined SNV Nepal in June 2007 as a value chain development advisor and is currently the AFP Regional Network Leader. Prior to joining SNV, Monisha was a Business Development Specialist at the Pacific Business Centre Programme at the University of Hawaii and has worked as a freelance consultant in Nepal, engaged in work with IUCN, WWF and Tara Management.
Monisha obtained her MBA from the University of Hawaii and a graduate certificate in the Asia Pacific Leadership Program from the East West Center, Hawaii.
Rajeev Munakami, Renewable Energy Network Leader
Rajeev joined SNV in July 2009 as Senior Advisor for Bangladesh and recently has also taken up the role of Regional Renewable Energy Network Leader. His schooling is in Mechanical Engineering with a Masters in Sustainable Energy Systems and Management.
Rajeev started his working career in Centre for Rural Technology Nepal, since when he has participated in and lead a number of renewable energy programmes for both government agencies and NGOs. He has extensive experience in Community Level Energy Planning and Improved Cook Stove initiatives, and as a former manager of a national programme on Improved Water Mills in Nepal supported by SNV he is proud to consider himself as one of the first generation professionals in the renewable energy sector groomed under the advisory support of SNV Nepal.
With his experience in the renewable energy sector from the grassroots to the policy level, Rajeev now wants to contribute to strategic direction of the renewable energy sector to further build and advance the impact of SNV’s renewable energy portfolio in Asia.
Antoinette Maria Kome - Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Network Leader
Joining SNV Asia from mid-2008, Antoinette brings with her extensive knowledge of Latin America’s decentralisation processes and water reforms. Her experience involves capacity strengthening to national and local governments, NGOs and the private sector. She has been involved in the setup of several professional training courses on water management and WSS. She has published many articles and manuals ranging from irrigation management, gender, water legislation, small town´ utilities as well as water supply and sanitation in rural areas.
Antoinette´s experience has always related to learning, networks and interinstitutional collaboration. She has worked for over 10 years in developing countries as an adviser, trainer and researcher. After Sri Lanka, Senegal, Peru, and Central America, Antoinette joins SNV Asia as Regional Network Leader for Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH), covering Bhutan, Nepal, Laos and Vietnam.
Rajendra Shakya, Head of Administration
Rajendra joined SNV in 1992 as Project Administrator in Nepal. He joined SNV/ Biogas Support Programme as Programme Administrator in 1994. He became the Country Administrator of SNV/Nepal in 1996. He served as the Business Economics Manager (BEM) in SNV/Albania from 2000-2002. He came back to Nepal in 2002 and joined SNV/Nepal again as Coordinator Administration & Services. He was appointed as Head of Regional Administrative Centre – Himalayas in January 2005. Since September 2006, he is working as Regional Head of Administration – Asia.
Before joining SNV, Rajendra was involved in several things e.g. import/export business in China, working for a UK based multinational company in India, construction and restaurant business in Nepal etc. He has a Diploma in Science and also studied Psychology (Masters level). Sports and traveling are his favorite pastimes.
Khuat Quang Hung, Regional PR/Communication Coordinator
Hung is a multi-skilled communications professional with 12 years’ experience in both the development and private sectors. Before joining SNV, Hung spent four years as PR Manager (Mekong Region) for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Before that, he served as PR/Communications Manager for World Vision International in Vietnam, as well as holding positions with UNDP and WWF and leading his own PR agency in Hanoi.
With a Master's Degree in Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion from Leipzig University (Germany) and a degree in Marketing Communications from Asia International University, Hung is experienced in communication auditing and planning, media relations, internal communications and crisis management. Hung is highly interested in communicating SNV's positive impacts on people's lives across the region.
Bui Thu
Dung (Dzung), Regional Management Assistant
Dzung has more than 10 years of working experience in the development field, with different international organisations such as DANIDA, GRET, World Bank funded projects in the position of Training and Development specialist. Before officially joining SNV in June 2006 as Regional Management Assistant, Dzung worked for SNV Asia as Training Coordinator for Regional training programmes. Dzung is convinced by the noble goals of the development work, and is committed to contributing her part to a better life of underprivileged people in Vietnam and Asia.
Dzung holds bachelor degrees in English, Russian and Economics. With a strong interest in human resource management, she is now studying a Master Degree in Human Resource Management from Villanova University, Philadelphia, USA. Dzung hopes to help build the human capital of SNV in Asia as it is one of the most valuable assets of our organisation.
Misja Brandenburg, Regional Financial Controller
Misja started to work for SNV in Cameroon as a Financial Manager (BEM) in 1998 and moved to Bolivia in 2001 to work again as a Financial Manager and later as Head of Administration & Logistics of the Region Latin America.
Since 2007 he is the Regional Controller of SNV Asia, based in Ha Noi Vietnam.
Before joining SNV, Misja worked in the private sector: first shortly in Holland for a plastic manufacturer of and later for a Dutch Logistics company in Hungary (1994-1998) as Financial Manager. He has a degree in Business Economics and did several post graduate studies in the field of Management, Control and Organisation.
Mai Thi Thanh Thuy, SAP Finance Administrator
Thuy joined SNV in 2003 as Book Keeper/Logistic Officer. She then moved to the Biogas Project office and worked there as Project Administrator. Thuy returned to SNV in May 2005 and started working as SAP Finance Administrator since June 2006.
Before joining SNV, Thuy worked for private companies, including Ha Tay Brewery Limited and PEPSI international Co.
Thuy obtained a Bachelor Degree in Accounting at Hanoi Financial Academy and a Diploma in Accounting at Sydney New South Wales Business College. She is married with two children.
Le Bich Nga, SAP HR Administrator
Nga started her career with SNV upon her graduation from university in 1996, first as a Secretary, and then as a Regional SAP Administrator until now.
Nga loves to work in development field, where a lot of poor people get a chance to improve their livelihood.
Nga holds a Bachelor in Foreign Languages. She likes traveling and having fun while working.