CAP Regional Vice-Presidents

• James Armstrong, Ph.D., Vice-President Americas Region

  Dr. James Armstrong is an urban and regional planner. He holds a bachelor's degree in environmental design; an M.Sc. in urban and regional planning, and a Ph.D. in urban/development planning. He began his career as a planner in the USA, Canada and for a brief spell (1975-1976) as project manager, Caroni River Basin Study, at Planning Associates Limited in Trinidad and Tobago, before joining the United Nations in various capacities. Dr Armstrong's career at the United Nations spans 25 years, initially as a consultant at the UN Centre for Housing, Building and Planning, in New York, USA. He joined the employ of the United Nations Human Settlements Foundation in 1976 as a policy officer. In 1978 the Foundation was formally incorporated into the newly established United Nations Centre for Human Settlements where he worked for many years as a technical cooperation adviser.

  As a senior technical advisor he had responsibility for the development and management of projects in urban/regional planning and development; housing; institutional development at the central and local government levels, training, as well as the provision of policy advice to senior government officials at the ministerial and technical levels. He also had responsibility for the supervision of out-posted technical personnel in various regions including parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean which exposed him to a varied experience in over 100 countries. He also worked in various countries as a UN Chief Technical Advisor assisting with the preparation and implementation of spatial development plans. He has written extensively on a number of human settlements related topics.

  He presently works as a policy advisory consultant to various governments. He sits on the board of a number of institutions. He is currently in his second term as president of the Trinidad and Tobago Society of Planners and is the current Vice-President of the Commonwealth Association of Planners for the Americas.

• Bosire Ogero, Vice-President East Africa Region.

  Mr Ogero is a planner trained in Kenya and the Netherlands. He worked in senior capacities in the Kenya Government before joining Matrix Development Consultants in 1990, where he currently works as a senior partner. While at Matrix he has specialised in strategic planning, policy analysis, decentralisation, governance, poverty eradication, deregulation, institutional analysis, local authority management and finance, shelter, as well as programme planning, management and evaluation. In this capacity he has undertaken a wide variety of consultancy assignments in Kenya and the East, Central and Southern Africa region.

  He has taken a keen interest in the development and building the capacity of planning professional bodies in Kenya and the region. He joined colleagues to found the Kenya Institute of Planners (KIP) a professional body that incorporates urban and regional planners in the country. He mobilised his colleagues to organise a high profile launch of KIP in March 2001 through a workshop with the theme- "making Kenya a planning society". He has served as honorary president of KIP from 2001 to 2006.

  He has played a key role in CAP affairs since 2001 when he attended the CAP business meeting in Australia. He has since attended all CAP business meetings and has been a regular contributor of articles to CAP News. He has also represented CAP in several UN Habitat meetings and Com Habitat meetings held in Nairobi.

  He was elected as a regional vice president of CAP in June 2002 and has held the post since then. In this capacity he has played a key role in raising the profile of planning, revitalising professional planning bodies in the region and organised a successful regional event in Nairobi. This event, attended by planners from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzanian as well as representatives of Civil Society Organisations, prepared an action plan that has since provided a road map for professional bodies in the region to engage in pro-poor planning, promote decentralisation polices and increase their relevancy to society. During the meeting the East African Association of Planners was formed.

• Catherine Kulemeka, Vice-President Southern Africa Region

  Mrs Kulemeka is a planner educated in Malawi, the United Kingdom and The Netherlands. She holds a bachelor's degree in education; an MA in Environmental Planning for Developing Countries and a post graduate diploma in Geoinformation Systems for Urban Applications (GIU).

  She began her career teaching Geography in Chichewa (1984-1987) before joining the Department of Physical Planning as a Town Planning Officer (1987-1993), where her work included:

  • Preparing urban structure (landuse) plans and detailed layout plans;
  • Liaising with relevant governmental and non-governmental organisations on policy issues pertaining to development planning;
  • Development control for both urban and rural areas of Malawi;
  • Advising the Town Planning Committees in the statutory planning areas, organisations, and individual clients on policy and other matters pertaining to physical planning;
  • Preparing development briefs for urban areas' development projects.

  Between 1993 and 2003 she was Chief Town Planning Officer, Lilongwe City Assembly responsible for:

  • Preparing plans for the upgrading and development of low income housing areas;
  • Preparing plans for the co-ordinated provision of infrastructure within the city;
  • Preparing development briefs for local areas;
  • Development control for the City of Lilongwe;
  • Managing a GIS unit - supervising spatial and attribute data capture process (ensuring data integrity and quality control);
  • Co-ordinating activities of Urban Agenda 21, a programme which targeted the urban poor, assisting them achieve sustainable livelihoods through participatory approach;
  • Reviewing Environmental Impact Assessment Reports.

  Since 2003 she has worked with CADECOM (Catholic Development Commission in Malawi). It is an arm of the Catholic Church in Malawi that is responsible for development activities targeting the rural poor. She is Secretary Diocese of Dedza, largely dealing with rural development work using the basic needs approach and in the process ensuring that cross cutting issues like gender, HIV/AIDS and environment are meaningfully incorporated in all programmes. Her work currently involves:

  • Coordinating the planning, implementation and appraisal of all development projects;
  • Development project proposals;
  • Formulating strategic and operational plans for CADECOM;
  • Monitoring performance of CADECOM staff.
  • She is a corporate member of the Malawi Institute of Physical Planners and was elected as a regional Vice-President of CAP in April 2008.

• Norliza Hashim, Vice-President South East Asia Region

• A.V.G.C. Karunathilake, Vice-President South West Asia Region

  Mr. A. V. G. C. Karunathilake BA (Hons), MSc in Town & Country Planning is an Urban and Regional Planner who has devoted his career mostly in settlement Planning and development in Sri Lanka. He held several senior positions in the Government sector, as senior Manager in Charge of Colombo district, and Deputy General Manager of the National Housing Development Authority which is the apex Organization in settlement planning and development sector. As the General Manager of the Real Estate Exchange (pvt) Ltd (REEL) which is a company established under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, he was responsible in resettling 53,000 families identified as dwellers living in under served settlements (slum condition Housing) in the City of Colombo. He also was the Additional Director of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development who planned and developed the World Bank funded clean settlements project.

  Mr. Karunathilake after retirement from the public sector started to work as an advisor to the Department of National Physical Planning contributing to the preparation of the National Physical planning policy and plan which has been approved by the government. He subsequently worked as the Regional Planning Consultant to Uva province of Sri Lanka. His contributions as a consultant to the southern Transport development project was a major one, handling resettlement and physical planning aspects of the first express Highway Project in Sri Lanka. In addition he has contributed to several similar projects in tourism, housing and physical development, in a consultant capacity.

  Mr. Karunathilake one of the founder members and a Fellow of the Institute Of Town Planners Sri Lanka is the current president of the ITPSL. He was elected as the CAP Vice-President South West Asia Region in April 2008.

  He expects to work very closely with all the Planning Institutes in the CAP and especially with Institutes in the Region.

• Sonia Kirby, Vice-President Pacific Region

  Sonia Kirby is an environmental planner with a passion to make the world a better place. As a principal, she has over 10 years experience in strategic planning around Australia and internationally. Sonia has worked with Brisbane City Council's Biodiversity planning unit, in Ho Chi Miny City, Vietnam on State of the Environment Reporting, and in Victoria's Wyndham City Council as a Strategic Planner for one of the State's fastest growing LGA's. She is one of the first Honours graduates from Griffith University's Environmental Planning degree, and also completed a Masters in International Urban and Environmental Management from RMIT.

  For the past 5 years, she has worked on a range of projects for the public and private sector alike. Her current interests include structure planning and community visioning, with a particular bias for environmentally respectful development. She is also involved in the PIA International Division, and her most recent efforts have seen a number of Pacific Island planners establish the Pacific Islands Planning Association". Sonia also tutors Strategic Planning Studio at Griffith University and is a recently elected member of the PIA QLD Division Committee. Community visioning and engagement projects Sonia has facilitated include the preparation of Ipswich 2020, and the Ripley Valley Community Plan. She has also provided advice on the Our Toowoomba Towards 2050 Community Plan and Beaudesert WOSP Vision.

  Sonia provides planning expertise on a range of issues including strategic planning, master planning, land use modelling, environmental planning and sustainability, community visioning and regional planning. Sonia's strategic planning experience includes the preparation of Structure Plans and master plans in urban fringe areas, design and application of land use modelling techniques, development of planning policy, and regional planning activities in metropolitan Melbourne and South East Queensland. Sonia is an effective project manager and takes pride in the delivery of projects on time, on budget, and in a professional manner. She works well in multi-disciplinary teams and communicates effectively with all stakeholders - government officers and representatives, other professionals, and the broader community.

• Chijioke Odimuko, Vice-President West Africa Region

  Dr Odimukowas the National President of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP) 2002-2004. During his tenure, the CAP membership of the NITP was resuscitated. Consequently, at Kuala Lumpur (2004) and Vancouver (2006) he was elected Vice President for the West Africa Region.

  In November 2005, a CAP West Africa Regional Workshop was held at Abuja, Nigeria. That workshop identified the following issues, among others, as relevant to the development of planning in the West Africa Region.

  • Confronting the challenge of Urbanization of poverty in Africa through pro-poor planning

    This involves planning practice that is sensitive to the basic needs of the poor, economic empowerment of the poor, and participation by and partnership with the poor.

  • Eradication and Prevention of Slum Settlements

    More than 70% of African Urban Settlements are slums. We need to find ways of renewing existing settlements and of preventing future growth of slums.

  • Adoption of new Planning Approaches, Tools and Techniques

    Planning approaches, tools and techniques in the West Africa Region are now obsolete and ineffective. We need to move away from the "top-down" mode of planning; the process needs to be more participatory, collaborative, inclusive, flexible and responsive to current ICT developments.

  • Critical Need for Capacity Building

    To achieve the "new planning" in the West Africa Region, we need a new generation of planners, equipped with appropriate knowledge and skills. The curricula of our planning schools need to be reviewed and modernized. Planners, planning institutes and stakeholders need to network more across regions for the acquisition and exchange of knowledge and skills.

  • Building of Regional and Continental Planning Organizations for Effective Partnerships in Development

    Planning communities in Africa presently exist in isolated enclaves separated by international and linguistic boundaries. We need to break these barriers to create a West African Association of Planners (WAAP) and an African Association of Planners (AAP), which will be in stronger positions to partner with regional and continental structures (ECOWAS, NEPAD, AU) to achieve sustainable urbanization and human settlements in Africa.

• Clive Harridge, Vice President Europe Region

  Clive Harridge is a director with a planning and environmental consultancy called Entec UK Ltd. Clive leads projects for many of the company's major projects including Government departments, local authorities and private companies. His specialist interests are in environmental planning and sustainable development. Clive is based in Leamington Spa and his work takes him all over the UK. Prior to joining Entec, Clive held various planning posts in local government.

  Clive was RTPI President in 2006 - the first to be directly elected through a membership ballot. He used his Presidency to champion three big issues - climate change, environmental justice and sustainable communities. Clive is a longstanding supporter of Planning Aid which provides free planning advice to under privileged individuals and community groups in the UK.

  Clive is actively involved in the international work of the RTPI and he has supported CAP for many years. He led the Institute's contribution to the World Planners Congress and World Urban Forum in Vancouver in 2006, and he helped establish the Global Planners Network. Clive is a member of the Institute's Executive Board and Vice Chair of the International Committee.

  As CAP Vice President Europe, Clive aims to work closely with planners in Cyprus, Malta and the UK to strengthen professional linkages and develop opportunities to share experience with a particular focus on small island planning.

  Clive is married with two daughters aged 7 and 6.

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