Nkembeteck Henry Nkwa has five years' experience in civic engagement with a commitment to building strong and resilient rural communities. He focuses on restoring rural women's sources of livelihoods that were terminated by an ancient traditional leasing system. He is currently community ambassador at the International Center for Environmental Education and Community Development (ICENECDEV). He has developed skills in Arc GIS, teaching, teamwork, leadership, and all aspects of the project cycle. After the Fellowship, he will seek partnerships to restore the over 500 sources of livelihoods trapped in the web of an ancient traditional leasing system, and build a grassroots nonprofit NGO called Rural Communities' Resilience Bedrock (RuReB). Nkemeteck is a final-year master's student majoring in Desertification and Natural Resources with a key interest in innovative ecosystem-based approaches to poverty alleviation and ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction. He featured in UNEP's 2015 end-of-year report for promoting this concept through a seminar.