Dr. Modesta Medard
Dr. Modesta Medard leads the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) National and Regional Seascape programme in the United Republic of Tanzania.
She holds a Ph.D. on Natural Resource Governance from Wageningen University (The Netherlands) under SEDEC project: Social Ecological Drivers of Ecosystem Changes in Lake Victoria.
She is an accomplished social scientist with more than 25 years’ experience in small-scale fisheries across the African Great Lakes and Indian Ocean coastal communities and has an extensive record of publications in international journals, articles and books. In her current role, Previously, as Head of Socioeconomic Research for the Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute (1991–2004), Modesta managed various projects and programmes under the European Union Lake Victoria Fisheries Projects, World Bank Environmental Management Project (Phase I), and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)–The Socioeconomics of Nile Perch.
She worked as the Manager of Community Fisheries for Eastern African Marine Ecoregion for the WWF (2004–2008) and as the African Great Lakes Project Manager with The Nature Conservancy (2015–2016) before joining WWF in May 2019 as Head of the Seascape programme.
Her primary areas of research include Fisheries Co-management, Community-based Natural Resource Management, and Governance of Natural Resources, Gender, Markets and Fisheries Globalization.
She is an invaluable Board Member to the Dar es Salaam Aquarium Foundation