CV of Ismail Ali Ismail

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Ismail Ali Ismail

20560 Tanglewood Way

Sterling, VA 20165

703.430.0572

geeldoonia@gmail.com

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POST RETIREMENT OBJECTIVES

Although I have retired from continuous service with the United Nations I still have a strong professional interest in the areas of Governance and Development Administration. I have spent my professional life in Government and in the United Nations trying to promote good governance as well as sound systems of public administration and management. My post-retirement objectives are therefore:

to work when needed with professional colleagues who are actively engaged in these areas with a view to helping the most challenged countries;
to visit and evaluate on-going and/or terminal development projects;
to assist in the preparatory studies for creating project ideas and to formulate projects;
to assist in the training of project staff as a well as members of the public services;
to provide advisory services;
To prepare reports, review documents and/or provide other professional assistance and support whenever needed.

POST-RETIREMENT SHORT-TERM CONSULTANCY ASSIGNMENT:
Served as an International Consultant in Nigeria for the Evaluation of UNDP Country Programme on Governance from 16 November to 16 December, 2006. The assignment comprised discussions with relevant federal and state institutions as well as bilateral and multilateral donors, beneficiaries and of course senior UNDP officials. It included field visits to four States. An Evaluation Report was prepared, discussed, finalized and submitted at the end of the mission.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

Senior Public Administration Officer, P5 Lusaka, Zambia

Sub-Regional Development Center for Southern Africa (SRDC) 1998--2002

My function was to create a work program in Governance, Public Administration and Management which the centre would carry out in Southern Africa.
I provided assistance, as part of SRDC, to a catchment area covering eleven countries in Southern Africa.
I emphasized my work on subregional cooperation and integration via a new hallmark program I designed for the region to be used in various aspects.
My program sought to promote the cross-sharing of experience and best practices particularly since South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana had more insights to share with other member countries.
I established a close working relationship with the local UNDP offices improving the work content and refocusing it solely on the sub-region of Southern Africa.

Senior Public Administration Officer, P5 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

ECA--Development Management Division 1997--1998

I worked as a Team Leader though the composition of my teams changed from time. The nature of the work did not change to any substantial degree but simple outputs were shared with others and carried out by the team as a whole. My job as a 'Team Leader' was to motivate the team, call them to meetings in which role specifications were
agreed upon by consensus. I also acted as officer in charge of the Division in the

Absence of the Chief of Division.

Public Administration, Human Resources & Social Development Division Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

ECA--(SPA D1) 05/1996--12/1996

During this period I provided leadership to the entire division which consisted of three sections, and a number of senior and middle-level professionals
Apart from supervising the work of my colleagues, I prepared operational briefs for the Executive Secretary since he primarily focused on restructuring the entire organization.
I attended, on a regular basis, the meeting of the senior management of ECA, forged cooperation with the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) in New York; the International Peace Academy (IPA); Transparency International; and the
International Association of Parliamentarians.

I held a conference in the ECA with the IPA on Peace in Africa and the prerequisites thereof. I also took part in the preparation of an International Symposium on Local Governance in league with DEA, UNDP and the Swedish Authorities in Gutenberg.
I presented a paper and served as a resource person and chairman for a working group. During that period, my division and DESA agreed to hold a joint conference on Governance in Africa and we made extensive preparations for it to be held in the ECA.

Chief, Public Administration and Management Section, P5 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

ECA 1994--1997

I returned on promotion to my previous division, which had been renamed "Public
Administration, Human Resources and Social Development Division”.

I worked as the Chief of Public Administration and Management Section which now included Public Finance .My level of responsibility was evidently higher and broader since I was Chief of Section and such took responsibility for the work of my professional and General Service colleagues in the Section. That included, inter alia, the provision of guidance, motivating, performance evaluation, and ensuring synergy.
I contributed papers based on studies, prepared reports and prepared the Section's programme of work.

Program Management Officer, P4 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

ECA--Technical Assistance Coordination and Operations Office ( TACOO) 1986--1994

I served as Head of the Project Monitoring and Evaluation Unit, and later as Chief of UNDP and European Bilateral Projects Section.
I was responsible for the work of six professionals dealing with projects essentially from project preparation to the terminal report.
I supported substantive divisions of the ECA project formulation, preparation of project budgets and their revisions and submitted them to the UNDP as well as bilateral donors.
I played a substantial role in resource mobilization which included the preparation of reports and other documents as well as servicing the biennial Pledging Conference intended to replenish the United Nations Trust Fund for African Development (UNTEAD).
I also frequently participated in both internal and external evaluation of projects, particularly for the UNDP - exercises which also provided for the participation of beneficiary countries.
I also provided substantial support and participation to the periodic review meetings between ECA and UNDP ( African Bureau ) at the senior levels.

Public Administration Officer, P3 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

ECA 1976--1986

During this period the Public Administration and Management Section of ECA consisted of a francophone Chief of Section, whose English was very limited, an English-speaking regional advisor whose work fell under Section 20, and myself. The bulk of the Section's work, being in English, was primarily carried out by me almost single-handedly. This consisted of: carrying out field studies; preparation of papers for the meetings of the African Association of Public Administration and Management ( AAPAM ) as well as for ECA meetings and conferences; for internal discussions; and for training workshop.

Providing advisory services to government institutions;
Provision of assistance in converting the East African Management Institute in Arusha (Tanzania) to Eastern and Southern African Management Institute (ESAMI) upon the dissolution of the East African Community;
Evaluating UNDP assistance project for ESAMI in conjunction with colleagues from different departments in New York and subsequently preparing the ESAMI project in which ECA, UNDP, ILO and ITC cooperated and for which ECA became the Executing Agency and I, the Project Officer;
Being a project officer for an Indian-Financed project on Consultancy and Training on Procurement and Supply Management;
A miscellany of other duties such as contributions to the Executive Secretary's Annual report; Preparations of the Section's Programme-Budget; and review of and comments on other studies and reports and headquarters documents;



GOVERNMENT EXPERIENCE

District Commissioner Hargeisa, Zeila, & Kismayo, Somalia

1965--1969

As District Commissioner of Zeila I handled all strategic government affairs in what was then a politically tense region.
Being contiguous to Djibouti, then French-Somaliland, Zeila had strategic significance for the policies of the Somali government which actively sought the independence of Djibouti.
Hargeisa, is the 2nd largest city in Somalia and it was during this period that Somalia was going through heightened security measures in response to political tensions with neighboring Ethiopia.
Kismayo was considered economically important because it was the capital
of the Lower Juba Region which was the richest of the regions. But the district also bordered on Kenya. My main functions as DC can be summarized as follows:

political functions such as explaining government policies to the people;
advising the government on the daily “heartbeat” of the people;
executing government policies;
conducting parliamentary and local council elections;
carrying out the responsibility of a Public Order Authority;
being responsible for the internal security of the district;
administration, discipline and operationalizing the Rural Police;
the administration of customary law;
coordination of government departments in the district; and
local government tutelage.

Deputy Regional Governor Lower Juba and Togadheer, Somalia

1970--1973

A coup d'eta in late 1969 brought to power a military regime. The military quickly appointed military district commissioners and military regional governors because they knew that those were strategic positions in terms of securing the country for themselves.
In early in 1970 I was promoted to Deputy Governor for the region of Togdheer whose capital was Burao, the second largest city in Northern Somalia.
As Deputy Regional Governor my functions primarily were:

To lead and coordinate the development work of the regional departments;
To lead the team preparing the regional development plan;
To assist the Military Governor and advise him on his political functions;
To advise Military District Commissioners in matters related to their work such as customary law, project development and management; administration of staff; and financial and budgetary matters;
To advise the Military Governor on conflict resolution specially between districts;
To promote the sharing of experience between local councils and arrange for the training of their staff;
To make recommendations to the Military on the transfer of district staff in order to ensure their rotation.
To prepare the Military Governor's reports (especially periodic progress reports); and
To chair the Lands Administration Committee of Burao City - the regional capital.

Somali Institute for Development Administration and Management (SIDAM) Somalia

Senior Training Officer 1973-1976

The Institute had the normal trilogy of functions, namely: Training, Consultancy, and Research. These three functions were interdependent. For example, research was undertaken to support both consultancy and training.
This period was supervened by a year of postgraduate study (1973/1974) in the U.K., but for the relatively brief period I worked in SIDAM, I carried out the following functions

Training of Military Governors in Field Administration;
Training of Military District Commissioners in field administration and local government;
Training of local government officers;
Consultancy work for the Ministry of Interior;
Drafted single-handedly the Local Council Administration Law for the entire Country, including "Conduct of Business"
Drafted also single-handedly the same for the City Council of Mogadishu.


ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS

University Of Birmingham Birmingham, UK

Master of Social Science (M.Soc.Sc.) in Local Government and Administration 1974

American University Washington D.C., U.S.A.

Bachelor of Arts ( B.A.) in Government and Public Administration 1965.

Universite de Grenoble Grenoble, France

Certificate in French


LANGUAGES AND OTHER TECHNICAL SKILLS

Somali ( Mother Tongue )

Other Languages:

Language Written Verbal

Arabic Fluent Fluent (U.N. Language Proficiency Certificate)

English Fluent Fluent

French* working knowledge Not Fluent

I have received French language training in the ECA, and won in 1990 a French Government Fellowship of two months' duration to Grenoble University for further language proficiency training;
I also attended in 1998 a one-month course at the same University. Both courses were of the accelerated type.

Computer Skills: Microsoft Word,

Report Writing Skills: Excellent drafting skills, Short course on managing the writing of others. Long administrative experience with report writing and analysis being the main tools of the trade.

SUMMARY OF RELEVANT WORK EXPERIENCE

Major Accomplishments

Have actually practiced the art of governance in districts and regions since the positions of District Commissioner and Deputy Regional Governor were as much political as they were administrative.
Have spearheaded and successfully managed self-help schemes while in government.
Successfully negotiated in 1978 as a team member an ECA/WHO ( Afro ) cooperation agreement on behalf of ECA.
Have contributed papers and ideas to the annual meetings of the African Association for Public Administration and Management (AAPAM). (Please see the press clipping on the last page of this resume.)
Have contributed significantly to an "International Symposium on the Making of the Eritrean Constitution", Asmara, Eritrea 1995.
Have drawn-up a programme of administrative training for Zimbabwe immediately after independence in 1980 on the request of the UNDP.
Have provided advisory services to various African governments
Have accumulated great experience in project preparation, management, monitoring and evaluation.
I was Chairman of the Joint Advisory Committee ( JAC ) of ECA for 3 consecutive years.
Was President of the ECA Staff Union for two years (1991 and 1992).
Member of APC for 3 years.
I was Vice-Chairman of APP for 2 years.

Professional Training

Study Tour to local government institutions in Egypt and Sudan, 2 months in 1975
Managing the Writing of Others (ECA workshop: conducted by a resource person from New York), 1996.
Project Analysis and Management (ECA workshop: conducted by the World Bank), 1985.
Managing for Quality in the 1990s (ECA/UN Training Service) 1992.
Managing People (ECA/Resource Persons from Geneva) 1997.
Teambuilding Workshop (ECA, conducted by the Eastern and Southern African Management Institute - ESAMI), 1998.


PUBLICATIONS

Have written a number of papers and reports all of which were published in the name of the ECA.
I had previously contributed a chapter to an AAPAM book. The Chapter was titled "Tradition Versus Modernity in Somali Local Administration". But, the book is yet to be published.
"Federal Structure for Somalia: A Upas Tree or A Panacea", in Horn of Africa Journal, Vol. XIII 2000, pp. 70-80.