Christi Turner

Christi manages a nexus of outreach activities including an environmental education program, a girls’ scholarship program, a student sponsorship and mentoring program, and the production of educational films for classrooms and partner communities.

A sustainable development professional with over five years of experience in Madagascar, Christi's focus is on working with communities to improve local livelihoods while protecting the natural environment.  During her previous work as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in the Ankarana region of the northwest, she built Madagascar's first solar-powered community radio station, created a community-managed nature reserve, founded an artisans' co-op, developed a long-term research and study-abroad partnership with the University of Western Ontario, as well as a range of other initiatives to empower communities to manage their natural resources while increasing their access to education.

In Madagascar, Christi has also worked as a consultant for CARE on its coastal conservation project; as project coordinator for the Education Development Centre, writing educational radio programs for students and their parents; and as assistant manager at an ecolodge.  Most recently she co-led the Lewis & Clark College Overseas Studies Program in Kenya and Tanzania, focusing on the nexus of indigenous culture, conservation, and sustainable development.  Also a photographer, she uses her images to create awareness about conservation and development issues the world over.  Her photographs illustrate the new Madagascar Travel Guide from Other Places Publishing (2010).

She has also lived, worked and studied in Chile (as a Rotary Exchange student) and the Dominican Republic, where she earned the CIEE (Center for International Educational Exchange) Student of the Year Award for her work with nationless Dominican-Haitians and a community-run nursery school.