Key Skills & Expertise

Full-spectrum international event planning and logistics; high-level stakeholder engagement across levels from Heads of State to grassroots non-governmental organizations (NGOs); cross-cultural and diplomatic negotiation and protocol management; venue, travel, and vendor contracting; media relations and press facilitation; and training and facilitation, including master-of-ceremonies duties. Ms. John holds a B.A. in Industrial Psychology and Communication from the University of South Africa (UNISA).

Operational Advice, Project Design, Management & Implementation

As Founder and Director of Zena John Consulting (2001–present), Ms. John has delivered more than 180 diplomatic and development-focused events across 27 countries over 25 years, managing conception through full project delivery for gatherings of up to a thousand attendees, training workshops, conferences, seminars, forums, summits, and international exchange visits. Her scope of work covers venue selection and contracting, air travel and ground transportation, event branding, registration, interpretation and simultaneous-translation logistics, on-site facilitation, stakeholder and vendor liaison, media alerts, and final reporting. Recent World Bank-financed assignments (2025–2026) include the Global Knowledge Exchange Workshop (Chengdu, China), the Regional Childcare Conference for Eastern and Southern Africa and the Invest in Childcare Policy Academy Graduation (both Johannesburg, South Africa), Global Water Partnership (GWP) Twinning Studies across Cambodia, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, and Zambia, the Global Counter-Wildlife Trafficking Competency Working Group (Bangkok, Thailand), and the GWP Annual Conference (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia).

Monitoring & Evaluation

Not a core focus of Ms. John's practice; her contribution to OMGI is turnkey logistics and delivery capacity for the workshops, conferences, and retreats through which OMGI's Principals and other Associates deliver training and M&E-related capacity building.

Fragility, Conflict, and Violence (FCV) Country Experience

Ms. John's in-country event delivery includes several World Bank-designated FCV countries: Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Mali, Mozambique, and Chad. Notably, her 2016 assignments included on-the-ground logistics for Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF)-funded workshops delivered across seven African countries, including Burkina Faso and Mali, run in partnership with the World Bank and Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI).

Trust Funds

Provided on-the-ground event logistics for World Bank Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF)-funded regional workshops across seven African countries (2016), and for numerous Global Water Partnership and Global Wildlife Program events funded through World Bank-administered trust and grant facilities.

Relationships with Donors & International Organizations

Clients and partners include the World Bank Group, the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS, via Cities Alliance), the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD, via USAID), the UK's Department for International Development (DFID/UKAid), Germany's development agencies (GIZ, InWEnt), the Global Water Partnership (GWP), USAID directly, Cities Alliance, the Urban Land Institute (ULI), and the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Notably, her earliest World Bank assignments (2001–2007) provided on-site logistics for the “Assuring the Quality of Bank Operations in Africa” (AQBOA) workshops across Ghana, Ethiopia, Senegal, Tanzania, Tunisia, Namibia, Zambia, Mozambique, and South Africa, the same flagship program designed and led by OMGI Principal Dr. Richard Cambridge, giving OMGI a direct, corroborated link between a Principal and this Associate on the Bank's founding operational-quality training program.

Sectoral Experience

Event and conference logistics spanning health, early-childhood policy, wildlife and biodiversity conservation, water resources, urban development, agriculture (including the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme, CAADP), governance, and gender.

Countries Worked In

Botswana, Benin, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Laos, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mongolia, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, USA, Zambia, plus Bhutan, Cambodia, Panama, Chad, Thailand, China, and the United Kingdom through her recent event portfolio.

Academic & Teaching Experience

B.A., Industrial Psychology and Communication, University of South Africa (UNISA), 2008. Beyond her events consultancy, Ms. John is also a published poet, author, editor, and researcher, with credits including “Beyond Spice: Poetry Collection” (2016), “Sanctum: Poetry Collection” (2022), and co-editor credits on anthologies of South Asian and South African women's poetry and writings of South Africans of Indian origin.