Bart weetjens biography

Bart Weetjens is a.
Bart left APOPO to deepen his meditation practice and explore its relation to social change.
Biography.

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Bart Weetjens

Bart Weetjens’ organization APOPO is training HeroRATs to save human lives by detecting landmines and Tuberculosis (TB). APOPO tackles difficult, expensive and dangerous humanitarian detection challenges with a low-tech, locally sourced and sustainable technology based on the keen sense of smell of trained giant African pouched rats. These so-called HeroRATs empower BoP populations in Sub-Sahara Africa and South-East Asia, providing them with a local and appropriate technology that makes them less dependent on expensive imported equipment and expertise.

APOPO is a Belgian NGO with headquarters in Tanzania, where research and development, animal breeding and training, and staff development occurs. APOPO has operational mine action projects in Mozambique, in Thailand at the Cambodian border, and is starting in Angola. So far, over 2.6 million square meters of land have been reopened and returned to the communities. In the process, thousands of landmines, unexploded ordinance, light arms and ammunition have been cleared and dismantled. The landmine detection tec

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APOPO

NGO that trains landmine- and tuberculosis-sniffing rats

APOPO (Dutch: Anti-Persoonsmijnen Ontmijnende Product Ontwikkeling, lit. 'Anti-Personnel Landmines Detection Product Development'^[1]) is a registered Belgian non-governmental organisation and US non-profit which trains southern giant pouched rats^[1] and technical survey dogs to detect landmines and tuberculosis.^[2] They call their trained animals 'HeroRATs' and 'HeroDOGs'.^[3]

History

APOPO started as an R&D organization in Belgium in the 1990s, working with the support of research and government grants to develop the concept of Detection Rats Technology. As a pet owner, Bart Weetjens, one of the co-founders, came across an article about gerbils being used as scent detectors. He believed that rats, with their strong sense of smell and ability to be trained, could provide a better means to detect landmines. Weetjens's former university lecturer Prof. Mic Billet, the founder of the Institute for Product Development at Antwerp University, fully

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Biography

I am a Zen Buddhist monk and social entrepreneur. Graduated in Product Design from Antwerp University, and with a vision to empower the most vulnerable communities of subsistence farmers in sub-Sahara Africa, I took the initiative to train giant African rats (AKA HeroRATs) as sustainable detectors in response to the global landmine problem.

20 years after its inception, apopo.org has become one of the leading social enterprises in the world, recognised and awarded by networks like Ashoka, the Skoll Awards and the World Economic Forum.

In 2015, I transitioned from my executive role to focus on the practice of Zen. In the same year I got involved in The Wellbeing Project which aims to catalyze a culture of inner wellbeing for all changemakers.

While exploring the relationship between personal growth and social innovation, I recently co-founded a new initiative innerpreneurs.org which is a brave space for entrepreneurial leaders to fulfil their noble life purpose.

Regional Focus

Eastern and Southern Africa, Europe, North America, South America, Southeast Asia