Consultants

Project Management – Environment / Claimate Change Adaptation

Dr Susan Otuokon – (Jamaica / Nigeria)

Dr. Otuokon is currently based in Nigeria and is the former Executive Director of the Jamaica Conservation and Development Trust (JCDT), an environmental non-government organization delegated management of the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park by the Government of Jamaica. She successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis “Ecotourism and its Role as a Tool for Protected Area Management in the Caribbean: Case Studies from Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago” in November, 2009 at the University of the West Indies.

Dr. Otuokon has over twenty years work experience, mainly in the natural resources management field in the NGO sector or as a consultant. She was the Executive Director of the Negril Area Environmental Protection Trust (NEPT) for three years, and has worked for fourteen years with the JCDT (from 1990 to 1996 and 2002 to 2010). Dr. Otuokon has a M.Sc. in Aquatic Resource Management from the University of London and a B.Sc. (Hons) from the University of the West Indies. She has attended several training courses, workshops and conferences on protected area management, participatory planning and project development and management. Her work experience includes protected area and natural resources planning and management, environmental/sustainable development education and communications, proposal writing and fund-raising. Dr. Otuokon has been involved in national planning and policy development with respect to both natural resources management and tourism.

Project Management / Disaster Risk Management

Nicole Brown – (Jamaica)

Nicole A. Brown is an environment and development consultant. She has more than eighteen years professional experience in the not-for-profit and intergovernmental sectors working on sustainable development and poverty issues in communications, project development and management, training and fund-raising. She has a particular interest in communicating climate change and disaster risk reduction in order to build community resilence and has written and co-authored informational and training material on climate change for lay audiences.

Project Management / Disaster Risk Management

Paul Saunders – (Jamaica/Trinidad)

Paul H. Saunders has committed his professional life to Disaster Risk Management for over 20 years.  A Jamaican, he has served the Caribbean region with postings in Jamaica, Trinidad. He has worked with regional bodies, such as  CDEMA, ACS, and the IDB- Natural Disasters Network. He is a member of the UNDP Geneva-BCPR Early Recovery Advisory Team. Paul is a recipient of the Prime Minister’s Medal of Appreciation for Service to Jamaica. 

A former CEO   for the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management, in Trinidad , Mr. Saunders advised government on national disaster management issues. He also worked in the ODPEM in Jamaica for 15 years.

Since December 2008, he has been an independent contractor, working with such agencies as PAHO in Jamaica and Trinidad, the UNDP in Grenada and Guyana, and the USAID/ OFDA training programme in the Caribbean.

He holds an MSc in Natural Resources Management UWI, Jamaica. He is also a certified Business Continuity management professional.

Project Management / Social Development:

Paulette Griffiths – (Kingston, Jamaica)

Paulette has  extensive experience in all aspects of the Project Cycle Management:  assessment, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and has managed several International project/programme funds. Provided technical assistance in Social  Development Planning including development of National Capacity Strategic Plans, Operational Institutional Work Plans, and Project implementation plan.

She has established and managed Project Offices in Jamaica for the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) over 7 years. As Team Leader/Programme Manager, provided managerial and technical guidance on over 36 National Capacity Development / Poverty Alleviation Community Livelihood projects, environment, sustainable development & livelihoods. Under the governance program, support was given for the strengthening of Parish Development Committees. Developed extensive networks with key agencies working to meet social development objectives of Jamaica National Poverty Eradication Programme.

She has Caribbean experience working in St. Kitts Nevis, Dominica, St. Lucia and Jamaica on the EU Funded Project Technical Assistance in the Implementation of the “Institutional  Strengthening for Social and Economic Development” Programme (ISSED). The  overall objective was to contribute to the Economic improvement; Social  development and inclusion; Equality enhancement; and Poverty reduction.

Her research and mapping skills include mapping NSAs in Jamaica looking at assistance provided  by IDPs; policy, legislative and regulatory framework governing the NSA sector; designing Action Fiche proposal for NSA participation in development activities including Trade issues. Her research skills include use of Participatory methods while implementing Consultation with the Poor and Social & Economic  Poverty Research.

She has experience with EU country evaluation; in developing and delivering training in Project  Management & Strategic planning, Transformational Leadership, Change  Management, Problem Solving and Decision Making and institutional strengthening in the Public sector; in Community Development Planning using participatory methods to develop community plans; in the following areas: log frame, Action  Fiche, Strategic Planning / Social Development Planning; Facilitation using advanced participation methods (APM); and exhibits excellent communication/presentation, networking and report writing skills.

Project Management / Grass Roots Community Worker:

Caroll Fofanah- (Kingston, Jamaica)

In Progress

Senior Training Consultant / Projects Manager:

Capt (Retd) Clive Farquharson (Kingston, Jamaica)

Clive is an experienced and versatile individual who combines a warm personality with a passion for hard work. He motivates and interacts well with persons from varying backgrounds. He has worked as a marketing manager for the past three years. A strategic resource volunteer for Abacus for communities over the past year, he has played a key role in the development and implementation of the national Emergency Affiliated Radio Service (EARS) as an instructor and strategic planner among other duties. This follows upon a thirty year management career spanning military command, then general management incorporating all disciplines but with emphasis on marketing, safety, operations and telecommunications training. A graduate of The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (UK)and the Signal Wing, School of Infantry, Warminister, (UK) he holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration and is currently pursuing the Master in Business Administration. He has international experience with the Caribbean Peacekeeping Force (CPF) in Grenada in 1983-1984 (communications, operations and logistics).

Disaster Risk Reduction / Humanitarian Response / Capacity Development: 

Pierre Willems – (Belgium / Peru)

Pierre, as RD & C/DRR Consultant and Programme Coordinator,  has  twenty five years of professional experience in  humanitarian area with a developed expertise of DRR, Emergencies and Early Recovery  programs. Experienced on scale up responses with very limited deadlines and  further establishing medium term strategies on already 22 countries, he has  provided smooth adaptation skills and multi-cultural approaches to achieve  goals designated. He has effective communication skills with participative  leadership and supportive management approaches with a marked team working  profile. As per educational background and working evolution, he has also extensive experience on capacity building, training and mentoring always  focused on increase the teams’ and organizational’s capacities.

Project Management / Environment:

Mike Cowing (Saint Lucia)

Mike is a Chartered Waste Manager and Environmental Scientist, who has undertaken numerous solid & liquid waste management projects in developed & developing countries, through Public and Private Partnerships for Urban and community based consultation, education and mobilization.

His vast array of clients include The World Bank, The Caribbean Development Bank, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, The Inter-American Development Bank, United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environment Programme, The British Government’s Department for International Development and other noted agencies and institutions, also including  private industry, national, regional and municipal governments.

His work has also spanned numerous countries: Georgia, Greece, Netherlands, Russia, UK, Ukraine, China, Iraq, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Oman, Egypt. Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, The Maldives, Guyana, Cote D’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Morocco, the Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Uganda and host of West Indian Islands. His vast experience speaks for itself.

Administrator / Projects Manager:

Fernette Williams (Kingston, Jamaica)

Fernette Williams was a practioner of the Library and Information Management for over 15 years. She started in the public library system and later ventured to the special library community. She worked as the records management focal point in the United Nations Development Programme, Jamaica Country Office briefly, where she was exposed to the practical applications of knowledge management techniques for social development. These skills were later employed within the non governmental civil society environment towards community development initiatives. Fernette worked briefly in the area of disaster and emergency management at ODPEM and now seeks to employ her knowledge and information management skills to promote mitigation and resilience at the grass root level.

Projects Development Team:

Sheika Henry (Kingston, Jamaica)

Sheika currently works as a Spatial Data Analyst however, she has taught Geography at several high schools in Kingston and has a Masters of Science Degree in Geo Information Science and Remote Sensing with specialization in Disaster Management from the University of Twente (Faculty ITC) in The Netherlands. In addition she completed a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Geography at the University of the West Indies Mona Campus. Her postgraduate thesis focused on flood scenario modeling for preparedness planning in Barcelonnette, France and her interests include the utilization of GIS and Remote Sensing in hazard and risk assessment, urban and rural development and natural resource management. Sheika is a self made woman who passionately wants to give back to her community, which was flooded for more than nineteen (19) years.

Project Management / Governance

Lawrence Lachmansingh – (Guyana)

Lawrence Lachmansingh is a Development Consultant in the areas of governance and conflict prevention, with particular expertise in conflict management, elections and civil society participation in democratic processes.  He has undertaken assignments in these areas with CIDA, NDI, The Carter Center, UNDP, and USAID over the past 15 years in 30 conflicted countries that include Cambodia, Guyana, Indonesia, Lebanon, Palestine, Sri Lanka, Sudan, and Zimbabwe.

Mr. Lachmansingh is a practitioner in the area of electoral and democratic development.  He has provided technical assistance (1998-2009) to local election monitoring groups in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Sudan, and Zimbabwe.  Mr. Lachmansingh is also a peace and democracy activist in his native Guyana.  He volunteered with and eventually headed (1997) the local election observer group – the Electoral Assistance Bureau – in his native Guyana.  Between 2003 and 2006 he managed UNDP’s conflict prevention programme in Guyana.

Lawrence has a MBA degree from Dalhousie University in Halifax (Canada) and a B.A. in Theology from the University of the West Indies (Jamaica).

Project Management / Disasters Risk Management

Donovan Gentles – (Jamaica/Canada)

Donovan Gentles entered the field of Disaster Management with the Jamaican Office of Disaster Preparedness in 1984 after completing a Diploma in Physical Planning Technology at the College of Arts Science & Technology (now University of Technology UTECH). During his tour of duty with ODP, he served at all levels of the Agency attaining the position of Deputy Director in 1991. With responsibility for the Emergency Response Unit, Donovan Gentles also managed the transition of ODP, a central government agency to ODPEM a quasi-statutory Agency.

Donovan left Jamaica in 1995 to take up the position of National Disaster Coordinator in the British Virgin Islands where he was responsible for the Office of Disaster Preparedness. His TORs included further enhancing the BVI’s Disaster Management Programme, Managing the Hazard & Risk Assessment Project (HRAP) which laid the foundation for the BVI’s Disaster Mitigation Policy and Programme. Whilst serving in the BVI, he coordinated the response and recovery efforts for at least 4 hurricane impacts during his four year stint. On completion of his tour of duty in the BVI, the government recognized his contribution with a disaster management award.

Donovan departed the BVI, in December 1998 to serve at the Regional level when he joined the staff of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) Coordinating Unit. At CDERA he initially served as the Agency’s Information Systems Manager and was responsible for managing the process of defining the region’s Strategy on Comprehensive Disaster Management (CDM). Out of this initiative, a re-alignment of the CDERA CU functions and portfolio responsibilities resulted with Mr. Gentles assuming responsibility for the Agency’s Preparedness & Response portfolio. During the 10 years he served with the CDERA CU he represented the Agency and the Region at numerous Regional and International fora.

His thirst for experiencing new environments and to further his personal and professional development, Donovan migrated with his family to Toronto, Canada in August 2008. He joined the staff of Ontario’s Emergency Management Organization (EMO) as their Strategic Planner and Review Advisor. Since joining EMO he has acquired professional accreditation and skills in business continuity planning and continuity of operations and is a member of the Disaster Recovery Institute (DRI) of Canada.

An avid Amateur Radio Operator, he enjoys reading, and spending time with family and friends. He is married with 2 boys and 1 girl.

Resource Mobilization / Project Development

Ina Ostensvig – (Norway)

Ina is a humanitarian with a background in Social Sciences and Engineering. She holds a MSc in Development Studies – Poverty, Environment and Collective Action, with a specialization in Conflict and Development. She completed her thesis on: “Interagency cooperation in disaster management: partnership, information and communications technology and committed individuals in Jamaica.”.  She has worked and studied on all continents, is solution oriented, and values diversity and heart-led leadership. Ina has experience in areas such as Human Development and Empowerment, Disaster Risk Reduction, Coordination, Youth, Gender, Drug Addiction, HIV/AIDS, and Stigma and Discrimination. Ina speaks Norwegian, English and some Spanish.

Project Management / Hazard Mapping / Vulnerability Assessments

Aedan Earle (Jamaica)

Aedan Earle obtained a BSc. (honours) general degree in natural science with a major in geology from the University of the West Indies (UWI) in 1986. Awarded a European Union scholarship obtaining an MPhil. from UWI in 1989 for landslide hazard mapping in the Rio Minho watershed, Jamaica.

Project experience includes GIS and software modeling application in  natural hazard mapping, multi hazard risk evaluation and environmental assessments. Participated on projects with leading consultancy firms throughout the Caribbean region.

Present work involves natural hazard mapping, vulnerability and risk assessments, environmental assessments, coastal zone management, and the application of climate change monitoring methodologies.

Project Management / Agronomy / Livelihoods

Bernard Mtonga (Zambia)

Bernard 25 years professional working experience in Community Program Management, Program Monitoring & Evaluation, Designing, Implementation, Livelihoods/Food Security, Coordination, Agronomy, Donor Negotiation, Liaison and Management Skills, Agricultural and rural development, Plant Physiology, Soil chemistry, Food legumes, University Teaching, Health and Nutrition, Resource mobilization, Budget Control, Consultancy, Emergency Response and Disaster Management/Mitigation, Gender & Participatory Development, Poverty Alleviation, Livestock/Pastoral and Crop Management, agro-forestry, horticulture, Early Recovery, Planning, Advocacy, Cooperatives, Income Generation, Rapid and Detailed Needs and Environmental Assessments, Baseline Surveys, assessment, Community Participatory methods, Security Management, Community/Social Mobilization with a gender perspective, especially for the marginalized persons (women, children & the aged).

Project Management / Engineering / Shelter / Disaster Management 

Steve Hodges (Jamaica)

Stephen Hodges trained as a civil engineer and now combines being a builder with other skills such as disaster mitigation training, waste water treatment and renewable energy system design. These are combined with environmental concerns, which have lead to being on the EFJ board as a NGO representative.

For many years he worked with and later headed Construction Resource and Development Centre, doing pioneering work with communities in the fields of shelter, development standards, disaster mitigation and sanitation.

He has been involved in several post hurricane interventions in the Caribbean including builder training, housing repair and construction, drawing on mitigation work done when with CRDC.

Project Management / Agronomy / Livelihoods

Jean Baptiste Nkusi (Zimbabwe)

Jean-Baptiste Nkusi is Rwandese. His main areas of expertise are programme management/coordination, monitoring and evaluation (M&E), and food/livelihoods security. He holds a Master’s degree in Agriculture (1991) from Alabama, USA and is fluent in both French and English, with a good understanding of Spanish and Swahili. He is computer literate with easy manipulation of word processing, of spreadsheets (Excel and Access) as well as of statistical packages (SAS, SPSS and M-STAT) and of mapping tools such as ArcView and MapInfo.

He has an agricultural research background with the Rwandese Agricultural Research Institute (ISAR, in French) where he underwent short and long-term trainings at international research institutions such as CIMMYT in Mexico, KARI in Nakuru ( Kenya ), and the research station of the University of Wisconsin at Madison (USA).

Since 1994, he has been involved in humanitarian work with several international NGOs such as CARE Australia, International Rescue Committee (IRC) and World Vision in Eastern DRC and Zimbabwe (1994-1996, 2002-2007) as well as with the United Nations WFP as Programme officer in charge of Food Security/Food-For-Work/Vulnerability Analysis & Mapping (VAM) in Rwanda (1997-2002), with FAO in Abéché, Eastern Chad (July-December 2007) as Agricultural Emergency Coordinator-International Consultant, and also in Bangui, Central African Republic from May 2008 to April 2009 as Assistant Emergency Coordinator-International consultant.

Project Management / Telecommunications

Pierre Baguidy (Haiti)

Research Analyst

Elizabeth Stone (Jamaica)