Meet-and-greet 9

Meet-and-greet hosted by Hilary Heath and Heather McGray (CJRF)

28 Sep. / 13:00 - 14:00

Hosted by
Hilary Heath/Heather McGray
Meet-and-greets are a great way to get to know some of your fellow participants in a small informal space, chat with highly experienced adaptation practitioners and build your networks. Without an in-person conference, think of the meet-and-greets as a virtual coffee break, where you can ask direct questions of the people you want to talk to! In the last two years, participants at meet-and-greets have met new partners, collaborators, donors and friends!

About the host

Heather McGray has spent 20+ years in the non-profit sector, working from local to global levels on climate change, community development, environmental governance, and education. She has served as the Director of the Climate Justice Resilience Fund since its inception in 2016. In this capacity, she oversees all aspects of a $22m global grantmaking initiative that supports climate action by women, youth, and Indigenous Peoples.

Heather previously served as the Director of the Climate Resilience Practice at the World Resources Institute. Under her leadership, Climate Resilience at WRI grew from a one-person project in 2007 to a cross-cutting practice with ten teammates across India, the US, and Brazil. Heather also worked for two years with The Access Initiative to ensure that citizens have the right and ability to influence decisions about natural resources. Earlier professional experience includes research on environmental management in China; research and advocacy on ISO 14000 environmental standards; coordination of an urban education and development network in New Haven, CT; and management of educational exchange programs for the Yale-China Association.

Heather holds a Master's of Environmental Management from Yale University and a BA from Oberlin College. She studied and taught at Yunnan University and Shanxi Agricultural University. She lives on traditional Piscataway and Nacotchtank land in Washington, DC.

Hilary Heath is the Program Associate for the Climate Justice Resilience Fund. Prior to joining the CJRF, Hilary was a Researcher and Junior Consultant for the United Nations Development Programme's Gender Equality in Public Administration initiative. Hilary also worked with the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Latin American Studies, publishing articles for their web-based venue, Panoramas.

Hilary holds a Master's of International Development from the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, where she studied Human Security and obtained a certificate in Latin American Social and Public Policy. Hilary also holds a Bachelor's degree in History from Wingate University.

Funding Partners

CARE International works in 100 countries, helping millions of the world’s poorest people find routes out of poverty and achieve social justice.

https://www.care-international.org/

GRP is an inclusive and diverse partnership of organisations joining forces towards a world where vulnerable people and places are able to thrive in the face of shocks, uncertainty and change.

https://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/

CJRF builds voice and power in the communities hit first by climate change. To survive and thrive on a warming planet they need voice, power, and the opportunity to innovate. CJRF helps these communities create and share their own solutions for resilience.

https://www.cjrfund.org/

Irish Aid invest in research that builds evidence on how poor people and countries can best adapt, reduce risk, and build their resilience to withstand future set-backs and disasters.

https://practicalaction.org/

Practical Action works with communities to develop ingenious solutions in agriculture, water and waste management, climate resilience and clean energy. Then we share what’s proven to work with others, so many more people can change their world.

https://practicalaction.org/

GAYO is a youth-led gender-balanced advocacy organisation who work directly with local communities to reduce the vulnerability of groups that are at risk to climate impacts, through youth empowerment, skills development and public education.

https://greenafricayouth.com/

International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)

IIED is an international policy and action research organisation delivering solutions to sustainable development challenges. Working with partners across the globe, IIED links local priorities to global challenges.

https://www.iied.org/community-based-adaptation