Informality and the Future of Work: Climate Change, Resilience and a Just Transition

Bassem Souissi is a Tunisian climate and environmental activist serving as the Middle East and North Africa Regional Coordinator of the Regional Network on Climate Change (RNCC) of the Hanns Seidel Foundation. In this role, he focuses on strengthening regional coordination of civil society engagement on climate action across the Middle East and North Africa. His work centers on fostering collaboration between youth, grassroots organizations, and regional stakeholders to advance climate justice, adaptation, and community-driven solutions in highly vulnerable contexts.

He is also a public policy expert specializing in environmental public policies, with a strong focus on climate governance, policy design, advocacy and implementation in the MENA region.

In addition, he is a journalist and radio producer, leading climate-focused media initiatives such as Eco Talks, where he highlights environmental challenges, sustainable practices, and local climate action stories from Tunisia and the wider MENA region. Through his work, he amplifies community voices and helps bridge the gap between citizens, civil society actors, and climate policy discussions.

Dr. Mohammed Anwar is an experienced Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) specialist who has dedicated over 20 years to advancing sustainable development, rural revitalization, and community empowerment through international projects. He holds a Ph.D. in Sustainability Leadership in Education, alongside two master’s degrees: one in International Educational Management from Ludwigsburg University in Germany, and another in Information Communication Technology for ESD from Frederick University in Cyprus. His extensive academic foundation equips him with specialized expertise in curriculum design, leadership, and deploying appropriate technology to improve the quality of life in underserved communities.

Currently serving as the Director of the Heliopolis University Centre for Rural Development—and having previously led its ESD Centre for three years—Dr. Anwar focuses on creating resilient rural ecosystems. His work is deeply committed to supporting smallholder farmers by introducing sustainable agricultural practices and appropriate technology to enhance their livelihoods. As part of the social equity, he designs and leads initiatives specifically aimed at supporting women in rural areas and empowering young entrepreneurs to launch impactful, green enterprises.

Dr. Anwar's dedication to fostering the next generation of changemakers is reflected in his role teaching a mandatory sustainable development course to all university disciplines, fostering core ESD competencies in youth. As a trusted consultant, he guides sustainability and rural development projects for prestigious national and international organizations, including UNESCO, GIZ, ASRT, Erasmus+, Zewail City, and the American University in Cairo. A frequent guest speaker at top universities, Dr. Anwar continues to advocate for inclusive rural development, youth-led innovation, and systemic gender empowerment as the cornerstones of a sustainable future.

Dr. Tine AGERNOR is a climate resilience, programme management and stakeholder engagement specialist with over 15 years of experience advancing climate action, sustainable livelihoods, environmental governance and inclusive development. His work sits at the intersection of climate change, education, informal livelihoods, social inclusion, energy transition and the future of work.

He has worked with communities, workers, women, children,youth, indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, governments, UN agencies, development partners, civil society and private-sector actors to strengthen climate resilience, expand clean energy access and advance sustainable livelihoods. His expertise spans climate adaptation and mitigation, climate-smart agriculture, ecosystem restoration, biodiversity conservation, climate governance, and gender and disability-responsive climate action. Collectively, his programmes and interventions have reached over 1 million direct and indirect participants.

Dr.Agernor has contributed to Nigeria’s National Adaptation Plan, NDC, Carbon Markets Activation Plan and Energy Transition Plan processes and participated in UNFCCC Conferences of the Parties, alongside sustainability engagements across Africa and the Middle East. He holds a PhD specialising in climate change education, has published scholarly work on innovative approaches to climate change learning, and completed the University of Cambridge Climate Law and Governance Specialisation Course.

JENNIFER OKUSIA

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR | FOUNDER

NORTHLIGHT GREEN SERVICES (NGS)

Jennifer Okusia is a Ugandan development practitioner, community leader, and climate-smart agriculture advocate committed to advancing women’s and youth empowerment, sustainable livelihoods, and inclusive local development in Northern Uganda.

She is the Executive Director of Northlight Green Services (NGS), an organisation that promotes research, innovation, advocacy, community capacity building, and collaborative solutions for justice, sustainable peace, and holistic transformation. Her work brings together land-rights awareness, community mediation, women’s participation, youth empowerment, climate resilience, sustainable agriculture, and organisational capacity strengthening.

Jennifer has extensive practical experience supporting communities to understand and pursue their land rights, particularly women, young people, and other groups facing social or economic exclusion. Through NGS, she works with community-based Land Rights Defenders, local leaders, civil society actors, and government stakeholders to strengthen land-rights awareness, prevent and resolve land-related disputes, and promote meaningful community participation in development processes.

She is also a pioneer of climate-smart dragon-fruit farming and enterprise development in Northern Uganda. Through the NGS Dragon Fruit Learning Centre in Ogony West, Gulu City, Jennifer has helped transform land affected by soil extraction into a practical demonstration, training, and innovation space for sustainable agriculture, ecological land restoration, green jobs, and enterprise development. The Centre has trained more than 300 people and supported the expansion of dragon-fruit farming among farmers, women, youth, and community groups.

Jennifer’s work promotes dragon fruit as a high-value perennial enterprise that can complement annual food crops, diversify household income, and create longer-term productive assets for women and young people. Her approach integrates organic and climate-smart production practices, soil-health improvement, water-conscious management, farmer training, practical enterprise development, and appropriate technology. She is particularly interested in how sustainable agriculture can reduce reliance on environmentally destructive livelihoods, including unsustainable charcoal production and tree cutting, while strengthening women’s economic agency and community resilience.

At the international roundtable, Jennifer will share practical perspectives from Northern Uganda on climate variability, community livelihoods, dragon-fruit enterprise, women’s empowerment, green jobs, and the role of locally led innovation in building resilient and inclusive agricultural systems.

"Jing" Chen Tsau is the Co-Founder and CEO of QuinTerra, a Malaysian social enterprise and Greentech startup focused on transforming food waste into food through circular farming. QuinTerra is incubated under SEEd.Lab, an impact-driven innovation programme by PETRONAS.

With a background in entrepreneurship and events, Jing brings a practical perspective to tackling food waste, food security and climate change.

QuinTerra is also supported by

Village Capital a programme by Moody's Rating,

Cohort 2 member of Climate Finance Innovation Lab (CFIL) a programme by the Malaysian Central Bank and United Nations Development Program (UNDP)

The winner of the 2024 Ecothon Malaysia, a competition supported by Hanns Seidel Foundation (Vietnam)

Also funded by Axiata Foundation and Hasanah Foundation, 2 of the most reputable impact foundations in Malaysia.Under his leadership gaining regional exposure across sustainability and circular economy networks. Jing regularly speaks on circular economy, sustainable entrepreneurship, urban farming and turning environmental challenges into practical business solutions.