The next wave isn’t extraction . . . it’s regeneration
Sustainability is a story. We built a way to step inside it.
Kudizi was founded because as educators we know that sustainability is a complex interconnected story, and what better way to understand a story than to take part in it?
So Prosperity Village took root and flight.
Behind the design is 50 years between us in classrooms, in the field and in staff and corporate training rooms. We have seen what happens when joy and hope are brought to sustainability, people lean in.
come work with us
Co-Director:
Candida Hillman
MSc. BSc. PGCE
Stratford Upon Avon, England
Linkedin
Candida
I grew up in Wales, spending as much time outdoors as I could, and that love of nature has shaped everything since.
After studying coastal wetland and estuarine biology at the University of Hull, I moved to Zimbabwe. My master’s research in tropical hydrobiology and fisheries showed that DDT and heavy metals were building up in Harare’s drinking water. Living there and travelling across southern Africa taught me a great deal about the world and my place in it.
I trained as a teacher, planning to return to Africa. Instead, I joined St George’s School in Maida Vale after it had tragically lost its headteacher. As head of science, I helped bring the school out of special measures and achieve a 99% pass rate.
For the next twenty years, while raising three children, I kept teaching, often working with young people who found it hardest to fit in. Speaking up for the unheard and unseen has always been at the heart of what I do. My wish for a fairer world has kept my focus on children and the environment, and my children’s book, Come With Me and Plant a Tree, brings the two together.
Co-creating Kudizi with Rachael draws on everything I’ve learned: science, lab skills and communication, alongside Indigenous knowledge, world history and the perspective that comes from travel. Together we’ve built a game that makes this knowledge accessible to everyone, bringing me closer to my purpose: to leave the world a better place than I found it.
Co-Director:
Rachael Passant-Coy
BSc. PGCE
Leysin Vaud,
Switzerland
Linkedin
Rachael
I grew up in a coastal village in Scotland, where learning happened outdoors. It taught me to think in systems and gave me a deep love of nature. That passion carried me through school, from the Keep Britain Tidy campaign to Eco-Schools and Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards.
After studying zoology at Bangor University, I spent two years in conservation, from species protection in Rarotonga to marine projects across South-East Asia and Australia. As a divemaster mapping reefs off Flores, Indonesia, I watched a tourist boat drop its anchor onto a two-metre table coral, destroying it in seconds. When I confronted them, they said they simply hadn’t known. That was the moment I decided to become an educator.
Since my PGCE at Lancaster University, experiential learning has been at the heart of my teaching. I have woven outdoor learning and sustainability into every school I’ve worked in, introduced Eco-Schools and the International Award at Le Rosey, and led expeditions for students aged 5 to 19 across Bolivia, Africa and South-East Asia. As author of Pamoja’s online IB Biology course, I have built fieldwork into the curriculum, from rocky shores to deserts and mangroves.
Today I lead outdoor learning and citizen science at Leysin American School, which holds the Eco-Schools Green Flag.
Co-creating Kudizi with Candida brings it all together, with one aim: to share hope and wonder, and make a lasting impact on the incredible world we inhabit.