Shazre and Peter speak to Dame Jo da Silva about pragmatic optimism and the need to focus on solutions, not problems.
Jo da Silva is the Global Director of Sustainable Development at Arup, leading the firm’s activities to address the climate, biodiversity and equity crises through creating safe, inclusive and resilient communities whilst safeguarding the planet. Jo earned global recognition as an engineer who has applied knowledge and design expertise to improve safety, promote inclusivity, and enhance resilience of communities, cities and infrastructure globally. She has also worked extensively in crisis and disaster contexts for NGOs, UN agencies and multi-laterals. In 2007 she founded Arup International Development to enable Arup to direct technical excellence and creativity to improving human development outcomes in the global south. She was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire in 2021 in recognition of her contribution to international development.