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Roger-Mark De Souza

Global Fellow and Advisor

Term

April 22, 2013 — April 22, 2020

Professional affiliation

Former Director of Population, Environmental Security, and Resilience
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Full Biography

Roger-Mark De Souza was the director of population, environmental security, and resilience for the Wilson Center from 2013-2017. He led programs on climate change resilience, reproductive and maternal health, environmental security, and livelihoods, including the Global Risk and Resilience ProgramEnvironmental Change and Security Program, and Maternal Health Initiative.

He is currently the Chief Movement Building Officer at Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) where he oversees research to document human rights abuses and directs AIUSA’s work to grow, diversify, train, and deepen the engagement of its membership base in order to leverage the organization’s grassroots activism from the local to the global level. For the last 25 years, De Souza has held leadership positions in the non-profit sector including with Sister Cities International, the Woodrow Wilson Center, PAI (Population Action International), the Sierra Club, Population Reference Bureau, and the World Resources Institute. Over his career, he has built social, economic, health and environmental programs, teams, and movements across the world to encourage local buy-in and empowerment. His commitment to promoting inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility through allyship, service, and organizational action stems from his lived experiences, his community engagement, and his deep desire to improve the welfare of diverse populations. De Souza leads with integrity and passion. He brings to bear his contagious laugh, energy, and drive to engage others, lift their aspirations, and deliver on key program objectives. Outside his professional life, he thrives on his Caribbean heritage, loves to cook, is an avid traveler, and enjoys the outdoors with his wife, sons, and rescue dogs. De Souza holds graduate degrees in international relations and development policy from George Washington University and the University of the West Indies. His pronouns are he/him/his.

Major Publications

De Souza, Roger-Mark. “Building Resilience for Peace: Water, Security, and Strategic Interests in Mindanao, Philippines” in Water, Security, and US Foreign Policy (David Reed, Ed) Routledge (2017).

De Souza, Roger-Mark. “Beautiful, Vulnerable, Innovative: Challenges and Opportunities for the Caribbean as Incubators of Responsible Innovation” in Coastal Tourism, Sustainability and Climate Change in the Caribbean (Martha Honey and Samantha Hogenson, Eds). Business Expert Press (2017). 

De Souza, Roger-Mark. “Demographic Resilience: Linking Population Dynamics, the Environment and Security,” The SAIS Review of International Affairs, 35, no. 1 (2015) 17-27.

De Souza, Roger-Mark. “Resilience, Integrated Development and Family Planning: Building Long Term Solutions.” Reproductive Health Matters, 22, no. 43 (2014): 75-83.

Mutunga, Clive, Eliya Zulu, and Roger-Mark De Souza. (2013, September). Population Dynamics, Climate Change, and Sustainable Development in Africa. Washington DC; Population Action International and African Institute for Development Policy.

De Souza, Roger-Mark. (2009, September). “Taking Stock: Linking Population, Health and the Environment.” In A Pivotal Moment: Population, Justice and the Environmental Challenge, ed. Laurie Mazur (321-328). Washington DC: Island Press.

De Souza, Roger-Mark. (2009, June). “The Integration Imperative: How to Improve Development Programs by Linking Population, Health and Environment.” Environmental Change and Security Program FOCUS Report. Issue 19. Washington DC: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

De Souza, Roger-Mark, Geoff Heinrich, Shannon Senefeld, Katharine Coon, Peter Sebanja, Jessica Ogden, Daulos Mauambeta, Nancy Gelman, and Judy Oglethorpe. (2008, May). “Using innovation to address HIV, AIDS, and environment links: intervention case studies from Zimbabwe, Uganda, and Malawi.” Population and Environment 29(3-5): 219-246. Netherlands: Springer.

De Souza, Roger-Mark. (2008). Scaling up Integrated Population, Health and Environment Approaches in the Philippines: A Review of Early Experiences. Washington, DC: World Wildlife Fund and the Population Reference Bureau.