Pato Kelesitse is now a member of CJRF’s Governing Board.
CJRF is pleased to announce that climate justice advocate Pato Kelesitse is now a member of our Governing Board. Pato joins eight climate-justice practitioners in shaping the strategic direction of the Fund.
Pato is the founder of Sustain267 and the host of the Sustain267 Podcast. This platform aims to amplify the voices of Africans in climate action, including those on the front lines, policymakers, researchers, and climate solution implementers. Her experience in advocacy includes youth and community engagement and organizing, project coordination, and movement building and storytelling.
Pato also serves as a climate action and sustainability lead at Climate Action Network South Africa (SACAN). She previously served as the coordinator of Resilient40, which is a network of over 60 young people in 29 African countries. Read Pato’s full biography.
Pato believes in the strength of collective action to address climate change, which is why she is thrilled to serve as CJRF’s newest board member.
“I feel excited and honored to serve on a board that is reshaping how funding in climate justice is done,” Pato shared. “I’m super excited to play a role in putting money in the hands of women, youth, and Indigenous communities.”
Since announcing our new governing board in November 2022, CJRF staff and board members have made tremendous strides to develop the future of the Fund. In February 2023, we gathered in Bangladesh for the first time to shape goals and priorities for the year. Board members also saw how grant partners worked directly with communities to support those impacted by climate change. Now, they continue to review insights from CJRF’s Phase 1 Portfolio review, which comes after ISET International conducted an independent portfolio evaluation of the Fund.
Working closely with CJRF’s Governing Board is Board Transition Manager Alicia Wallace. CJRF originally selected Alicia as a Governing Board member in 2022. However, her facilitation and development skills made her the ideal match to take on this new role. As a consequence, she stepped down from the Board earlier this year.
Pato’s selection comes from a shortlist of highly qualified candidates that emerged during CJRF’s recruitment cycle in August 2022. The board members selected Pato based on a combination of her experience, geographical location, and gaps in attributes that Alicia’s transition created. We are grateful for her leadership and look forward to what the board–and CJRF–will accomplish together.