Jean-François, as National Director, will take a sabbatical from August 2025 to June 2026. He will be based at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, where he will be a Research Associate in the Department of Theology. Claire, his wife, and their boys will accompany Jean-François to New Zealand, but Claire will continue to work part-time for A Rocha remotely. A Rocha New Zealand is doing some quite innovative work to engage local communities in conservation, and they have some interesting projects underway with churches and young people. Jean-François and Claire will also have the opportunity to broaden their vision of what’s possible by spending time with them.
This time of renewal, reflection and research for Jean-François, financed by a dedicated fund set aside following a donation in 2019, will help to reduce the association’s current expenditure at a time when our finances are particularly tight. Our prayer is that it will also help to enrich our collective thinking and inform our work in the years to come.
During Jean-François’s absence, Rachel Calvert, President of the association, will be in charge, with the support of the teams and site managers in place and the other members of the Board of Directors. We will, of course, do our utmost to minimise the impact on the association’s activities during this sabbatical.