Elvory Gandia Basson
Women in the Environment and Sustainability
Nominee's Province:
North Cape
Project Name/Description:
Municipal Youth Environmental Coordinator at the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment: Northern Cape
Elvory Gandia Basson has always had an interest in environmental affairs, and when an opportunity to make a difference in the world presented itself, she couldn’t resist it.She joined the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment in the Kai Garib local municipality in Northern Cape in 2019, where she is employed as youth environmental coordinator in the office of chief operations officer: stakeholder engagement and public awareness. Basson’s work involves coordinating environmental campaigns. These include clean-up campaigns, nurturing good relations between local and traditional leaders, and ensuring the implementation of environmental projects such as waste management and recycling.“ Making a small change in how we behave, such as to stop littering, can go a long way to make a big impact in the environment,” says Basson. A career in the environmental and sustainability field has been an eye-opener for Basson, who says she has learnt a great deal about biodiversity, living a sustainable life in harmony with the environment, and the importance of maintaining an ecological balance. Basson has gone full circle. Born and bred in Upington, Northern Cape, she went to St Anna, a convent school in Matjieskloof in Springbok. Later, she travelled to Bloemfontein to further her studies, and then off to Pretoria for work commitments, only to return to her home province recently. “It is important to return to our communities to make a difference,” explains Basson. Basson holds a BA Communication Science degree that she acquired through Unisa in 2016.
