APN Assembly 2018

Guest of Honour

Paramasivum Pillay Vyapoory is the fifth vice president of Mauritius currently serving as the acting President of the country. Previously, Barlen Vyapoory was the High Commissioner of the Republic of Mauritius in South Africa with accreditation in Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Swaziland, and the SADC. Barlen holds a BSc Honours degree in Agriculture from the University of Mauritius, an M.Ed degree from the Sam Houston University, USA, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Curriculum Development from the University of Nairobi, Kenya.

He has had a successful career as a Senior Lecturer at the Mauritius Institute of Education (MIE) from 1976 to 1995, the year in which he took early retirement from the MIE and joined active politics. Barlen has also contributed in many ways to the cultural landscape in Mauritius through his active role in the organization of cultural activities at the workplace and in social institutions.

Key Note Speaker

Maurice Makoloo is the Regional Director, Ford Foundation, Office for Eastern Africa. Maurice joined the Foundation on January 16, 2012. Previously, Maurice was the Director of the Institute for Law and Environmental Governance (ILEG), a leading environmental research and advocacy institution based in Nairobi that has been a longstanding grantee of the Ford Foundation. At ILEG, Maurice initiated and led a range of research and advocacy campaigns to advance sustainable development and effective governance over natural resources. As a legal practitioner, he has prosecuted many public interest cases on behalf of local communities and other vulnerable groups.  He also served a six-year term as the secretary to Kenya's Public Complaints Committee on the Environment, a position to which he was appointed by the Minister for Environment and Mineral Resources. Maurice also served as the inaugural Convener of the Environmental Law Committee of the Law Society of Kenya.