Organizational & International Development Professional

Last served as Supervisory Food for Peace Officer for advancing USAID/Food for Peace humanitarian and  food security assistance awards in Burkina Faso and Niger, serving as Activity Manager for five awards valued at $250 million. Fully experienced in FFP business processes including emergency award management, mixed modalities including vouchering, cash transfer mechanisms as well as making and managing annual OYB requests. Have previously authored extensive program policy planning and management documents in numerous settings, including Country Strategies, designs, rapid assessment, evaluations, Mission Orders, position descriptions, performance appraisals, organizational development and learning initiatives, as well as statements of work.   Knowledgeable practitioner of USAID programming policies, working effectively among senior, inter-Agency representatives and multi-cultural professionals, with particular interest in advancing modalities promoting development ethics and cooperation

Areas of Expertise

• Applying Promising, Contemporary Methods for Co-Design and Implementation, advancing FFP’s Refine and Implement protocols, shaping formative research & program start-up for advancing adaptive Development and Food Security Activity (DFSA) implementation.
• Promoting Increasingly Client-Responsive Humanitarian Assistance programs that subscribe to tenets of 2016 Grand Bargain Agreement among Humanitarian Actors and strive to foster practical partnerships and enhanced accountability with Food for Peace humanitarian partners
• Managing community stabilization, community health, rural development, & biodiversity efforts
• Diagnosing and Designing Organizational, Team & Leadership Development Interventions
• Strategic workforce planning, recruitment, development and placement of new USAID Officers, through USAID’s enhanced Pilot Personnel System.
• Promoting a Systems Approach to Organizational Development, Learning & Adaptive Management

U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

USAID/Washington; Ukraine; West Bank/Gaza; Haiti; Uganda

Food for Peace Officer, March, 2017-March, 2020: Serves as Agreement Officer Represenative for eight awards valued at $250 million for Burkina Faso and Niger, key investments in collaboration with USAID’s Sahelian RISE and Sahel Development Partnership to enhance food security and counter violent extremism.

Program/Project Development Officer, September 2001-2017:  Performs USAID Program/Project Development Officer duties including strengthening strategic planning, design and evaluation protocols, fostering adaptive program management practices, and driving initiatives to align staffing, structures and systems required to advance enhanced program execution. Key contributions:

• Provided USAID’s Program Policy, Planning and Learning Bureau the guiding architecture for enhanced professional support and development opportunities for becoming stronger development leaders to more than 300 Program and Project Development and Evaluation Officers based in Missions
• Broadly revised professional, development management competencies of Program Officers and facilitated the hiring, training and placement of 30 new Program/Project Development Officers in 20015-2016.
• Designed, awarded and managed USAID’s first, $15M ‘whole-system’ M&E and Learning contract, promoting technical and social interventions for enhanced learning and adaptive, strategic implementation
• Co-authored and commissioned @$500 million in numerous, complex multi-sector designs and evaluations
• Fostered practical USAID’s development cooperation relations with Uganda’s Office of Prime Minister, Ministry of Finance and other key development partners
• Commissioned analytical studies, including future scenario planning, gender, cost-benefit and institutional analyses for USAID/Uganda’s 2016-2021 Country Strategy used within specific program planning designs.
• Designed and facilitated Team Development retreats for Program Offices in several USAID Missions
• Prepared programming policy and budget reviews for NSC, State Department and USAID policy makers
• Re-directed large USAID portfolios to address especially deleterious, natural and political emergencies
• Conducted design and award work stream analysis in Ukraine to reduce activity award time by three months

 Acting Senior Development Officer, Regional Command/ North, Mazar el Sharif, Afghanistan

Served as USAID’s Acting Senior Representative for advancing Civ-Mil cooperation in nine provinces in northern Afghanistan, supervising @ 25 USAID staff based on PRTs, designing and directing USAID/North’s $300 million stabilization strategy, 2010-2011, Key Contributions:

• Recruited, deployed and supervised USAID representatives embedded within PRTs in northern Afghanistan
• Closely liaised with European and American military professionals for advancing ‘clear and hold’ operations within key terrain districts; brokered life-support living arrangements with RC/North and Kabul counterparts
• Oversaw creation of USAID’s RC/North-based professional team monitoring and developing new programs

 RESEARCH TRIANGLE INSTITUTE

Team Leader and Local Governance Consultant, Morocco, 2001

Led three-month consulting team in the development of improved, Strategic Development Planning and Investment methodology for local government officials and representatives of civic associations. 

 CARE INTERNATIONAL / USA

Assistant Country Director/Programs, Cambodia and Madagascar, 1995-2000

Deputy Asia Regional Director, New York/Atlanta, 1993-1995

Provided supportive supervision to managers and local staff in the administration of program portfolios. Monitored program performance, contractual compliance, and fiscal issues. Key Contributions:

• Directed strategic and annual organizational development and implementation plans for two CARE $15 million/annum country programs. Plans increased staff’s appreciation as to how CARE's objectives, core values and managerial competencies manifest in program operations, and the technical, managerial, and inter-personal competencies necessary to realize program objectives.
• Introduced ILO’s Integrated Rural Accessibility Planning (IRAP) design to enable Malagasy authorities to provide rural areas increased access to goods, services, and improved living standards.
• Redesigned $10 million Integrated Conservation and Development (ICDP) program in Madagascar. Reassessed program strategies and restructured key staff job descriptions to support directly advancing project objectivesand developing core competencies for national park staff.
• Supervised USAID/CARE-funded reproductive health project through which immunization rates increased from 46% to 69%, and contraceptive usage from 11% to 22%.

Designed, wrote proposals, and received funding for programs, including:

• $6 million USAID-funded Cambodian Environment Management project for Cambodia's Ministry of the Environment; subsequently managed Chief of Party and implementation.
• $800,000 UNFPA-funded reproductive, sexual health project for single adolescents and young adults, principally for workers among 12 Cambodian garment factories.
• $10 million USAID-funded rural road and transportation rehabilitation project, harnessing and training private sector contractors and piloting systems for user fees and regular maintenance.

• Facilitated numerous workshops: strategic planning, team development, project design, monitoring and evaluation, performance management, & management development.
• Supervised $500,000 OFDA-financed management of cyclone preparedness and vulnerability project in Madagascar, strengthening villages’ food security and emergency response capacities
• Delivered improved programmatic and administrative oversight services to CARE Asia programs, providing assistance with strategic planning, staffing and regional program development, developing improved planning and budgeting systems that fostered greater organization efficiencies.

SAVE THE CHILDREN / USA

Rural Development Advisor, Philippines, 1989-1992; Program Associate, Westport, CT, 1988-89

Strengthened program performance and operating objectives; trained over 35 national staff in organizational management, community development, and critical-reasoning skills. Key Contributions:

• Secured $1.500, 000 for natural resource management project, designing farmer-managed, grassroots extension systems and introducing integrated pesticide management principles, collaborating with Rockefeller Brothers Fund, FAO, IIRR to resolve constraints related to improved farm production and marketing practices.
• Designed and Implemented a PACT-funded continuous monitoring, process documentation research project, headed by University of the Visayas, for enhancing Save’s community mobilization techniques

ROBERT R. NATHAN ASSOCIATES, Washington, DC, Aries Project Assistant, 1986 -1987          

For $6.8 million ARIES (micro and small enterprise), assembled assistance teams for USAID Missions.

U.S. PEACE CORPS — Morocco

Extensionist, 1982 to 1984.  Trained Moroccan English teachers and instructed 250 high school students.

Education and Training

AMERICAN UNIVERSITY, SCHOOL of INTERNATIONAL & PUBLIC AFFAIRS NATIONAL TRAINING LABORATORY — Washington, D.C.

M.Sc., Organization Development, (Performance Innovation thru Applied Behavioral Sciences), 2003

M.Sc., Development Management, (Public Administration and Economic Development), 1987

MACALESTER COLLEGE — St. Paul, MN   BA, cum laude, International Studies, 1982                             

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT:

• “Designing for Innovative Transformation”, Stanford University Change Lab, Kampala, 2014
• “Developing High Performing Teams, Inst. of Applied Behavioral Sciences, Bethel, Maine, 2004
• “Use of Self” & Human Relations Lab, Inst. of Applied Behavioral Sciences, Bethel, Maine, 2001-02
• Leadership Management and Development, Center for Creative Leadership, Raleigh, NC, 1998