Hellen Nansikombi
Manager, Natural Climate Solutions, VCS Program Management
As Manager, Natural Climate Solutions, VCS Program Management, Hellen supports the development and implementation of new methodologies and projects, especially those related to AFOLU. Hellen also provides technical guidance and support to the Program Management Team and Verra program users, especially in the AFOLU sector.
Prior to joining Verra, Hellen worked as a carbon specialist at Fairventures. There, she developed afforestation, reforestation and revegetation (ARR), REDD+, and improved forest management (IFM) projects. Additionally, Hellen was involved in developing a new ARR methodology. Before that, she worked at the Thünen Institute of International Forestry and Forest Economics in Hamburg, Germany where she planned, organized, and executed research on forest governance, land use patterns, drivers of deforestation and reforestation, policies, and incentive-based mechanisms for addressing deforestation and degradation and forest ecosystem services including carbon sequestration. She also provided evidence-based policy advice for climate action and investments in forest conservation, livelihood improvement, and sustainable forest management. Hellen also supported projects to develop carbon accounting methodologies and establish their social and environmental impacts in her previous role as a research assistant with the Department of Forestry at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda.
Hellen holds a Ph.D. in forest sciences from the Technical University of Munich in Germany and a master of science in tropical forestry and management from the Technical University of Dresden in Germany. She is currently based in Kampala, Uganda. In her free time, Hellen enjoys reading, traveling, and nature walks.