Samuel de Castro
[email protected] Phone contact in Brazil (55 61) 8121 1341 Brasilia
Education University BA, major in Linguistics, Literature and Translation in Portuguese, English; good knowledge of Spanish; intermediate level of French; basic knowledge of Italian and Arabic; post-graduate training/experience in International Relations at Agencia Brasileira Cooperacao, Brazil´s Ministry of External Relations; and significant experience in the United Nations´ food aid agency (WFP) in Brazil and various countries of Africa and the Middle East.
Professional Experience 1978 – Joined the World Food Programme in Brazil on 06 November 1978 after a six-year experience in the field of tourism as tour guide, hotel manager, translator/interpreter and private language tutor. 1979/82 – period as bilingual secretary in WFP Brasilia: During my first Fixed-Term appointment as bilingual secretary with WFP Country Office in Brazil; I was recommended as professional staff member in 1982 by the then WFP Director, Brazil. 1982/85 – administration and startup in Programme matters in WFP Brazil: Administrative/Programme Assistant, helped the Country Office to organize the first International Afro-Brazilian Workshop on ‘Uses of Food Aid in Emergencies & Development Project/ Operations’ held in December 1985 in Recife and Aracaju, Northeast Brazil. 1986/89 – Multifunctional experience at WFP in Brasilia, plus extensive and varied training o Programme/Special Assistant to Country Director I performed for three years the duties of admin/programme/logistics/shipping assistant; helped in appointment and training of office staff. o Directly participated in the expansion of Brazil’s portfolio from 16 to approximately 150 million US dollars. o Participated in WFP Logistics Course tailored to project officers at ODNRI in Slough (UK) in November 1987. o Informally invited to temporarily head the Country Office in Cape Verde for 6 months in 1989. o Assisted in setting up a Wheat Monetization system for WFP projects in Brazil (3 years negotiation, 10 years implementation: 1986/96) o Coordinated Seminar on Reinstatement of Rural Development Project BRA/2540 in Minas-Gerais State , SE Brazil o Helped plan/implement emergency operation EMOP BRA/3359 and design 3 ‘Quick Action Projects’ in the Northeast o Coordinated a WFP-organized Logistics Workshop at Vicosa University in Minas Gerais State. 1990/96 – Programming experience in WFP Brazil o As National officer (G-7/8) assumed expanded programming responsibilities acting at times as ‘Project Officer’ in absences of international staff. o Helped coordinate WFP-organized Workshop on Project Design, Monitoring and Evaluation, Recife (1992) o Organized 30 M&E seminars and coordinated the Mid-term Evaluation of BRA/2794 Rural Development Project in Northeast Brazil from 1988 to 1996. o Carried out more than 250 monitoring field trips to the 9 northeastern states in areas covered by the development project BRA/2794 in the same period. o Received informal invitations by the CDs for transfer to Angola (1990) Afghanistan (1993), Bolivia (1996) o Assisted in setting up and phasing out, on occasions headed a WFP area office in Recife (1990-92) o Co-managed a Rural Development Project in 2,000 communities of Northeast Brazil; co-managed a School Feeding Project in North and Northeast Brazil, each valued at 60 million dollars (testimonial letters from Country Directors at the time available, on request). 1997/1999 – consultant’s contract with ABC of Ministry of External Relations (Itamaraty) o International Advisor for Technical Cooperation at Agencia Brasileira de Cooperacao/ABC of Foreign Affairs Min. o Participated in Project Design & Implementation seminars organized in Salvador, Brazil and in Montevideo, Uruguay o Organized a Technical Cooperation Mission to Guyana in mid 1998 o Helped create the original web pages of ABC’s Internet site: http://www.abc.mre.gov.br/
1
o o
Acted as translator/interpreter as needed. Organized visit and accompanied WFP’s Regional Manager in ex-post evaluation of rural projects in Brazil in late 1998.
1999/2001 – Consultancy mission in Angola o Upon invitation of one of the WFP Regional Directors, accepted a Consultancy mission offer in Angola to act as Programme Officer/Head of Sub-Offices in the provinces of Malange, Cuando Cubango, Huambo, Uige and Lunda-Sul o Contributed to streamlining beneficiary registration as well as Monitoring and Evaluation systems countrywide, Angola o Received and provided Vulnerability Assessment and Mapping (VAM) training in November’99. o Participated in Rapid Needs Assessment in May 2000 of war-stricken Angolan provinces. o Contributed to FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply mission of 2001 as HOSO in Uige province. o Acted as Area Security Coordinator in Malange, Huambo and Lunda provinces. March/August 2001 – Contract with LWF-WS in Angola Served as Planning/Monitoring Officer at the Lutheran World Federation/LWF/World Service’s Country Office in Angola (duties/responsibilities as level P4 at UN); later opted to interrupt contract and accept another invitation by WFP to serve in Iraq. September 2001– March 2003 – special mission in Iraq as International Observer and Reports Officer and HosO in Dahuk o Invited by the Head of Iraq Unit/Cairo re-started in WFP CO Iraq as WFP International Observer in Baghdad, and Programme Officer/Reports March’02 in Northern Iraq o March’02-March’03: WFP Programme Officer/Reports to North Coordination Office o Organized reports/writing workshops to national/international staff in late 2002. o Helped to streamline the reporting system for the North Coordinator Office o Helped in security issues before arrival of Security Focal Point for the Northern Iraq from July/October 2002 o Headed the Dahuk, Kurdistan, sub-office in February/March during pre-war contingency/preparedness period. March to December 2003 – Larnaca, Iran, Amman and Rome at the service of Iraq’s Oil for Food Programme o March/April 2003– Relocated to Larnaca and for temporary mission in Iraq, acted as Country Office Reports Officer o June 2003– returned to Baghdad and Erbil, Northern Iraq, on 10 June 2003, also acting as Reports Officer o 9 September 2003– relocated to Amman, where Country Office for Iraq functioned until December 2003 o Early November 2003 – joined CO Reports Unit invited by the Country Director for Iraq, being transferred to Rome. o 21 December 2003 – was relocated on TDY to Rome, where temporarily headed the Reporting Unit until May 2004 o December 2003 – organized/participated in Lessons Learned Workshop on Iraq Programme Activities in Rome Transfer to Eritrea – as Head of Massawa sub-office o May 2004 – Country Director Patrick Buckley and Deputy M. Mbaye invited me as Head of Sub-Office in Massawa o July 2004 – after a period of home leave, took over as Head of Massawa SO on 1stst July 2004 for a 2-year mission. From July 2004 to June 2006, while in Massawa, participated in the following WFP-organized training seminars: o o o o o o o
September 2004 – Results Based Management training held in Massawa, Eritrea November 2004 – Programme Quality and Policy Training held in Kampala, Uganda June 2005 – Monitoring and Evaluation/AAR – organized by Headquarters, held in Asmara, Eritrea June 2005 – Enhancement Commitments to Women (ECW) workshop held in Keren, Eritrea June 2005 – RBM refreshment course held in Asmara, Eritrea August 2005 – M&E workshop organized by CO/Eritrea held in Asmara. November’05: Standard Project Reporting/SPR workshop in Kampala.
From May 2006 to April 2008 – transferred back to Angola, I served as Programme Officer/Head of Sub-Offices in Huambo, Kuito, C.Cubango, and Benguela provinces, with a key role in the phase-out of WFP from Angola. I was transferred to Sudan to assume as Head of Office in Aweil, South Sudan as from April 2007 to April 2008. I temporarily halted my career resigning from WFP to return to Brazil for special family purposes. I am currently performing as free-lance consultant and translator at Banco Central do Brasil.
2