Rory ClarkProgramme Leadership · MEL · Agroecology

Experience

Leadership shaped by delivery.

Twenty years in senior management, including grant-funded programmes across South Africa and Lesotho since 2012. This history brings together programme leadership, training, farm operations and the development of ImbewuField.

Explore selected work Download CV
Rory Clark facilitating a seed-saving workshop for Biowatch stakeholders and champion farmers at Julia Road in Durban
Seed-saving workshop · Biowatch stakeholders and champion farmers · Julia Road, Durban

Leadership in practice

In the room, on the site and accountable for what follows.

My work has repeatedly joined facilitation to delivery: explaining the system, listening to the people who must use it, then carrying the learning into plans, budgets, implementation and reports.

Follow the fieldwork sequence

Core capabilities

From strategy to the work on the ground.

Lead delivery

  • Programme & project leadership
  • Operations & team leadership

Build capability

  • Training & facilitation
  • Stakeholder relationships

Learn from evidence

  • Learning, evaluation & adaptation
  • Evidence & reporting systems

Connect field & systems

  • Agroecology & food security
  • Digital product development
The Green Guy organic seed packets arranged on a wooden display stand
Organic seed range · June 2015

The Green Guy · Seeds & nursery

Growing plants. Supplying shops. Selling from my own nursery.

I supplied organic seeds and seedlings to retail stores through The Green Guy. From my own nursery, I also sold seedlings, herbs, bagged trees and other plants directly to the public.

Seedling trays on raised benches with trees and plants behind them in The Green Guy nursery
The Green Guy nursery · 2012
Organic seedlings and herbs displayed for sale at the Waldorf market
Seedlings & herbs · Waldorf market, 2013

Earlier life · Divine Life Society

Living and training at the ashram.

I spent about three years living, volunteering and training as a monk with the Divine Life Society in South Africa. In September 2012, I returned with my son to the Sivananda International Cultural Centre, where I had lived.

Entrance to the Sivananda International Cultural Centre
Sivananda International Cultural Centre · Return visit, September 2012
Residential quarters at the ashram, with yellow railings and a planted courtyard
The residential quarters where I stayed · Photographed September 2012
Rory holding a pumpkin vine in the vegetable garden at the Hare Krishna Centre in Port Elizabeth
Hare Krishna Centre, Port Elizabeth · January 2012

Helping grow the temple garden.

I helped plant vegetables at the Hare Krishna Centre in Port Elizabeth. Here I am holding one of the pumpkin vines.

Career history

A timeline from factory floor to field systems.

Roles, own businesses, programmes, nonprofit milestones, courses, films and side projects on one line, dated to the month where the records allow. Select any item for its detail.

Roles13

Own businesses5

Nonprofit milestones5

Programmes & projects39

Study & credentials10

Films & products5

Side projects2

Earlier work and study

  • Volunteer · trained as a monk · Divine Life Society (about three years, at roughly ages 23 to 26)
  • Factory Supervisor · Unikem (before Divine Life Society)
  • Store Representative · Merchandiser · Cocell (about two years, Durban)
  • Waiter · Mugg & Bean (ten months, Durban)
  • Restaurant work · Aubergines (six weeks, Durban)
  • Floor Assistant, casual · Makro (three months, Durban)
  • Ceramics training, including wheel work · Lusiba Ceramics (five months)

Roles in detail

Selected responsibilities and career periods. The early-career periods are based on my own account.

012025 — PresentVienna, Austria · sites in Southern Africa

ImbewuField

Founder · Product & Learning Systems Lead

Building a pilot-stage platform for farm planning, learning and records, with selected workflows designed for offline use.
  • Connects site analysis, water, earthworks, planting, structures and phasing in one reporting workflow.
  • Designed for entry-level Android devices and field conditions where connectivity cannot be assumed.
See the product work →
022022 — 2024KZN Midlands, South Africa

Tatsfield (Pty) Ltd · Mighty Greens

Co-founder · Director

Operational and financial leadership within an 80-hectare organic-farm enterprise developed from bare land.
  • Worked across cash flow, CAPEX/OPEX, HR, procurement, customer operations and crop-planning systems.
  • The business employed 40 people and supplied restaurants, retailers, supermarkets and catering companies.
Read the farm-enterprise case study →
032021 — PresentSouth Africa / Vienna · currently dormant

Imbewu Yoshintso NPC

Founder · Managing Director

Nonprofit leadership focused on food and water security through community-development partnerships.
  • Led strategy, finance, compliance, donor reporting and programme oversight.
  • Built partnerships around gardens, nutrition, youth development and producer market channels.
See the Manyoni garden project →
04Feb 2020 — Oct 2021Lesotho

UNDP / GEF · Government of Lesotho

Permaculture International Consultant

Established demonstration gardens and delivered practical permaculture training across three community councils.
  • Completed 20 farm assessments and established 20 permaculture gardens, including three demonstration sites.
  • Trained 190 people against a target of 80, including government representatives and lead farmers.
  • Produced the course manual, national guidelines and policy brief, with terms of reference for six Ministry supervisors.
Read the Lesotho case study →
052019 — 2022Manyoni–Mkuze, KwaZulu-Natal

African Conservation Trust → Imbewu Yoshintso · Roots Up

Project Manager · Permaculture Specialist

Connected crèche food gardens, rainwater storage, practical training and a plant nursery around Manyoni.
  • Developed gardens and rainwater storage at crèches in all three neighbouring communities.
  • Delivered five-day permaculture courses, followed by continued mentorship, and recorded a household baseline for 41 community members.
  • Established the indigenous and food-plant nursery, including around 6,000 vetiver plants for propagation.
Read the Mandlakazi case study →
062017 — 2025South Africa

Bhanu Consulting

Managing Director · Senior Programme & Training Consultant

Bhanu Consulting grew out of The Green Guy, providing programme support, training and operational consulting for nonprofit, development and commercial clients.
  • Designed learning materials and delivered agroecology, financial-literacy and business-planning programmes.
  • Led assessments, feasibility studies, enterprise budgets, implementation support and stakeholder reporting.
  • Facilitated a seed-saving workshop for Biowatch stakeholders and champion farmers at Julia Road in Durban.
Explore the training record →
07Aug 2017 — Jul 2018KwaDabeka, KwaZulu-Natal

African Conservation Trust · eThekwini Municipality

Permaculture Design & Implementation Co-lead

Co-led design development and implementation of a three-hectare community permaculture garden with Vanessa Meintjes.
  • Planning documented from August 2017; implementation and close-out February–July 2018.
  • Refined the Partners in Development layout, prepared irrigation specifications, engaged growers and supervised swales and raised-bed earthworks.
082012 — 2017South Africa

African Conservation Trust

Senior Project Manager · Training Manager

End-to-end leadership of donor- and government-funded conservation and community-development programmes.
  • Managed budgets, procurement, teams, implementation, stakeholder processes, evidence and donor reporting.
  • Designed curricula and materials, supported facilitators and used field feedback to improve later delivery.
See food-security delivery at scale →
09Approximately ages 23 — 26 · about three yearsSouth Africa

Divine Life Society

Volunteer · trained as a monk

About three years of volunteer service and monastic training—an early chapter in disciplined practice, service and community responsibility.
10Before Divine Life SocietySouth Africa

Unikem

Factory Supervisor

An early operational role supervising factory work in my father’s business, before the move into full-time voluntary service.

Teaching and qualifications

Practical learning, passed on.

My studies span outcomes-based assessment, agro-ecological farming, permaculture design and teacher training, alongside a biodynamic preparation-making workshop in the Cape. Explore the courses and certificates, or see how I teach these practical skills.

Training and mentorship View qualifications
Rory Clark surfing through the barrel of a breaking wave
Rory Clark surfing · photograph by Craig Dove

Beyond the work

Surfing outside work.

Outside my programme and training work, I surf.

Next step

See what that experience produced.

Browse 25 confirmed programmes and assignments, including eight programme cases and three site dossiers.

View the portfolio