Anneloes Smitsman

Anneloes is co-founder and Director of One Island Institute for the Indian Ocean Region.  She is also the founding Director of ELIA – Ecological Living In Action, where she is responsible for the ELIA Schooling for Sustainability Program.  Anneloes completed a Masters degree in Law and Political Science (Leiden University, the Netherlands), and two years of PhD research on institutional design for an ecologically sustainable society (Australian National University).

Anneloes is a member of the Founding Circle and Leadership Circle of One Future One Planet. She has been leading the Global Dialogues  in Mauritius since February 2012. The first series of these dialogues focused on the preparations for the Rio+20 UN Conference. Current Global Dialogues initiatives feed into the SIDS 2014 UN Conference.

As a coach, mentor and trainer Anneloes has worked for more than 15 years with clients from around the world.  She is known for her deep commitment and love, and for transforming challenges into opportunities for growth and development. Dedicated to living an ecological and conscious life herself, she inspires people to bring forth the best of their potential and come together for the co-creation of a future and world that is Life-centered and sustainable.

Through her expertise in law and political science Anneloes worked in an advisory function with legal teams on landownership issues in cultural heritage areas in Mauritius. She has also worked with local communities in Mauritius to document and protect their cultural heritage from the times of slavery. Together with her husband they designed their own eco-house in Mauritius, which became well known in Mauritius for their application of innovative and ecological design principles.

Anneloes Smitsman was born in the Netherlands and since lived in South Africa (1996‐1997), Australia (1998‐2006) and now Mauritius (since 2006) with her husband and two children.

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