Marie Venner is a longtime public sector/non-profit researcher for the National Academies in the US, who has since left paid work to concentrate more fully on the urgent transitions we face worldwide. Her undergraduate degrees are in International Affairs/Sustainable Development and Environmental Conservation (CU-Boulder), with theology, history, and anthropology on the side. Her graduate degrees (UNC-Chapel Hill) are in Planning and Public Administration. Her subsequent work focused on policy and best practices at all levels, local and international. 

She agrees with Caleb: being in a community with people a continent away is so easy today and such a blessing. We can do more than we ever thought. A better world is possible. Marie is committed to helping Emmah and Emmah’s Garden extend their expertise and leadership more widely in Africa. She has started LoveZimbabwe in the US, partnering with work already being done through LoveZimbabwe.org in the UK. Both Chinamhora, Zimbabwe, and Nyandoche Ibere, Kenya, are communities of about 2000 with many of the same issues and challenges