Senior Advisor Governance/Urban
Development Canadian Partnership Branch
CIDA-ACDI (Canadian International Development Agency)

NATIONALITY

Canadian

ACADEMIC STUDIES

1991-1995

Multidisciplinary Doctorate of Urban Studies (PhD), Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS) Honours: Urban planning and land management in developing countries. Thesis in progress.

1989-1994

Master of Economics (MSc), UQAM, Honours: International Development.

1987-1989

Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), UQAM, Honours: International Relations Management.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

1997-2001

Senior Governance Advisor, Canadian Partnership Branch, Social, Political, Economic and Environmental Dimensions Division, PSPO.
Analyzes, evaluates and provides technical support for CIDA-funded projects and programs relating to governance, civil society and local government building, and municipal decentralization.
Provides professional advice (sectoral, geographic and technical) to CIDA program managers and senior managers in establishing policies, positions, strategies and relations with the Canadian private, voluntary and institutional sectors: Hemispheric Summit (Quebec 2001), Istanbul +5, Cities Alliance, Sustainable Cities Initiative, Municipal Development Program and so on.

1995-97

Specialist, Municipal and Urban Development, Canadian Partnership Branch, Policy, Strategic Planning and Operations Division.
Provided technical support in evaluating a dozen CIDA projects, particularly in Rwanda (habitat, land management, villagization) in connection with the return of refugees, Haiti (decentralization and municipal management), Southeast Asia (urban environmental management) and the Philippines (decentralization and participatory local planning).
Developed official CIDA document: An Urbanizing World: Statement on Sustainable Cities.
Coordinated CIDA participation in the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II, June 1996): Organized national consultations on local governance with Canadian partners and other departments and agencies concerned, including IRDC [International Research and Development Centre], DFAIT [Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade], CMHC [Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation] and Environment Canada; Developed Canada's official position, which included integrating the achievements of other United Nations conferences and CIDA policies and strategies; Was a member and negotiator of the official Canadian delegation to Istanbul on "Capacity Building and Institutional Development" and "International Cooperation and Coordination".
Designed analytical and planning tools and policy instruments for CIDA staff and partners: Organized a workshop on municipal institutional capacity building with the Institute on Governance (IOG); directory of Canadian resources specializing in local governance, municipal capacity building, decentralization and urban planning; guide to international urban cooperation policies and programs; country/regional urban profiles (Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Americas, Central and Eastern Europe).

1994-95

Research Fellow,
UQAM/SSHRC/FLACSO Project (Central America).
Impact of globalization on urbanization, living conditions, habitat and work in Central American cities with export processing zones (Honduras, Guatemala and Costa Rica).

1992-95

Assistant Professor,
Department of Urban Studies, UQAM.
Taught Bachelor of Urban Planning courses on statistics and research methodology.

1992-94

Research Assistant,
INRS-Urbanization (Montreal)/Ministry of Planning (Rwanda).
Analyzed urban planning and land management policies in Rwanda based on UNDP and World Bank studies.