Curriculum Vitae:
Gillian Sykes
Contact Details
Phone: +27 21 671 1402
PO Box 46830, Glosderry, Cape Town, 7702
Fax: +27 21 671 1409
South Africa
Cell: +27 84 457 7554
gillian@pdg.co.za
Personal
Date of birth:
7 June 1975
Languages:
English (excellent); Afrikaans (fair); Spanish (basic)
Education
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Master of Public Policy (specialisation in Environmental Policy), Simon Fraser
University, Vancouver, Canada, 2011
Master of City & Regional Planning (with distinction), University of Cape Town,
SA, 2000
BA in Economics, and Environmental & Geographical Science, University of
Cape Town, SA, 1995
Fields of Specialisation
Gillian is an urban planner and policy analyst, who specialises in environmental
economics and policy. She has over 10 years of experience in municipal policy in
South Africa, working across all spheres of government. Her previous work for
PDG has focussed on municipal tariff policy, and her current focus is on
integrating environmental and urban sustainability issues into the municipal
budget environment.
Work experience
April 2014 - Present: PDG, Cape Town, South Africa
Director at PDG (since Oct 2015) focusing on the environmental and urban
sustainability practice areas.
June 2011 – Aug 2013, BC Utilities Commission, Vancouver, Canada
Senior Regulatory Analyst, focussing on development of new regulatory rules for
the emerging competitive alternative energy sector.
2008 - 2009: Cape Town, South Africa
Independent consultant focussing on environmental research and policy
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Curriculum Vitae: Gillian Sykes
2001 – 2008: PDG, Cape Town, South Africa
Consultant specialising in municipal tariff modelling, and municipal policy across
water, sanitation, waste, electricity and public transport.
Information on earlier employment history available on request.
Key projects
Environment
2015/2016, Green Asset Registry for Gauteng for the Gauteng City
Region Observatory, University of Witwatersrand
Proposed possible methods of developing a municipal green asset registry, to
support improved integration into municipal planning processes.
2015/2016, SA National Environmental Information Metadata Phase 1,
for Strategic Environmental Intelligence, Department of Environmental
Affairs
Researched and coordinated Phase I of a process to develop, populate and
maintain a complete, current and accurate catalogue of environmental metadata
in South Africa.
2015/present, Assessment of the
Environmental Management for SALGA
role
of
local
government
in
Developing a position paper on the role of municipalities in environmental
management, including the development of a draft legal protocol, costing
benchmarks based on the legal requirements, and a related set of Environmental
Indicators.
2014,
Evaluation
of
environmental
programmes
for
Dept
of
Environmental Affairs: Information Management and Sector Coordination
Involved in a design evaluation of the Environmental Programmes Branch of the
DEA), focussing on the Natural Resource Management (NRM) and Environmental
Protection and Infrastructure Programme (EPIP) Chief Directorates (CD’s).
2008/2009, Msunduzi Environmental Management Framework
Prepared a specialist input on value of ecosystem goods and services and their
relevance to the development of an environmental management framework for
Msunduzi Municipality.
Urban sustainability
2015/present, West Coast Regional Implementation Framework, WC
Department of Environmental and Development Planning
Sub-consultant advising on the development of a Regional Implementation
Framework (RIF) for the West Coast.
2015/present, West Coast Industrial Development Plan, WC Department
of Economic Development
Led a team in developing infrastructure and resource demand projections based
on current large industrial proposals, to identify possible resource or
infrastructure constraints and support improved inter-governmental planning.
2014, Mossel Bay Growth Options, WC Department of Environmental and
Development Planning
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Curriculum Vitae: Gillian Sykes
Led a team including GAPP, Setplan and Anchor Environmental Consultants to
assess the financial and non-financial impacts of sprawling vs. compact growth
options for the settlement of Mossel Bay.
Public Finance
2006/2007, Ethiopia Finance Strategy for the Global Water Partnership
Organisation
Assisted in the development of a financing strategy for the water services sector
in Ethiopia as part of a European Water Initiative Country dialogue progress, and
as input into a Multi-Stakeholder Forum.
2005/6, Africa Water Finance for the World Bank, Water Services
Partnership
Developed a spreadsheet based Sector-wide investment financing tool (SWIFT)
for the World Bank, WSP-Africa, focussing on the water supply sector. The model
was applied in 3 contexts, namely the Mozambiquan, Zambian and Kenyan water
supply sectors.
Publications
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Mjoli, N, Sykes G & Jooste J, 2009, Towards the realization of Free Basic
Sanitation: Evaluation, Review and Recommendations, Report to the Water
Research Commission, WRC, No. TT 422/09
Sykes G & Kholisa M, 2006, Investigation into the sustainability of rural water
financial flows, Report to the Water Research Commission, WRC 1609/1/06
Genthe B, Herold CE, Haarhoff J, Hosking S and Sykes G, 2004, Feasibility of
Water Fluoridation for South Africa, Report to the Water Research
Commission, February 2004 TT 222/04, ISBN 1-77005-108-2, Pretoria.
Palmer Development Group, 2004, Guidelines for Economic Regulation of
Water Services in South Africa, Report to the Water Research Commission,
March 2004 TT229/04, ISBN Set 1-77005-162-7, Pretoria.
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