Siphesihle Mbhele

Siphesihle Mbhele holds a Bachelor of Social Sciences Honors degree in Public Policy and a Bachelor Social Sciences in Government Business and Ethics degree, both obtained at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, He is currently pursuing a Master of Philosophy in Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies at the University of the Western Cape.

Before joining PLAAS he worked as a Project Coordinator at the eThekwini Municipality, Area Based Management Unit (City Managers Operations Office) in Durban KwaZulu-Natal. He has also worked as a Research Assistant at the African Centre for Migration and Society at the University of Witwatersrand under the “Promoting Social Cohesion and Preventing Collective Violence” Research Project.
Siphesihle is also passionate about youth development, social and environmental justice. His current work focuses on violence and conservation with a particular interest in small-scale fishing communities. His interests also include natural resource governance and youth positionality in rural conservation settings.

He is a member of the Presidential Climate Commission's Youth Leaders Caucus and 2035 NDC Gender Advisory Working Group. He is also the founder and co-host of “Activating Youth Activism” Podcast which is a for the youth by the youth podcast which aims to bring together voices of young people in various sectors to hold innovative and solution driven conversations.