11 December 2008 - How does international migration affect ACP rural development? - Profiles of panelists and discussants

 

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H.E. Mrs Marcia Gilbert-Roberts – Embassy of Jamaica

 

 

Marcia Gilbert-Roberts has been in the Jamaican Foreign Service for over 32 years.

She is currently Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium and the European Communities as well as non-resident Ambassador to other European Countries and Permanent Delegate to UNESCO.

Immediately prior to the assumption of her current assignment in Brussels she served as Ambassador in Germany.

Her passion is to seek to ensure that the Jamaican Foreign Service strives to effectively and efficiently strengthen the links between Jamaica and the rest of the world in respect of trade, social and economic development, political dialogue as well as cultural exchanges. and other European countries.

 

Her personal motto: “I am just an ordinary person, committed to doing an extraordinary job”.

 

 

Peter Hansen - Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)

 

Dr. Peter Hansen is an anthropologist and researcher at the Migration Unit at the Danish Institute for International Studies. His research has focused on return migration among members of the Somali diaspora and examined the ways in which return is negotiated within transnational socio-economic and cultural fields. His ongoing research project focuses on African sending states and their diaspora policies, diaspora organizations and collective remittances to Africa (focusing in particular on Tanzania). He has researched and published widely on migration, diaspora, transnationalism, remittances and development processes in Africa in general and Somaliland in particular.  

 

 

Tamara Keating – International Organization for Migration (IOM)

 

Tamara Keating has been working for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) since 2004. Her main focus has been on migration and development and in particular, on the MIDA programme, as well as on capacity building in combating trafficking in human beings in Europe and in Western Africa. Before joining IOM, she worked at the European Parliament and at the Helmut Schmidt University in Hamburg, Germany, where she also completed her doctorate degree in political science and economics. She studied at the Universities of Passau, Germany, and Paris I – Sorbonne, France.  

 

 

Robert W. Meins - Inter-American Development bank (IDB)

 

Robert W. Meins is a Remittances Specialist at the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) of the Inter-American Development bank (IDB) in Washington DC. He responsible for broad range of activities including quantification and analysis of remittance flows to Latin America and the Caribbean, dissemination, and project development. He leads a technical cooperation with the African Development Bank focused on sharing MIF experiences with the AFDB and is responsible for the development of line of activity on improving remittance services through new technologies. Robert regularly speaks at think-tanks and academic institutions, and is regularly quoted in the international press.

 

Robert holds a Dutch "Doctoraal" degree in International Relations from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. His specialization being in International Political Economics, specifically on remittances and anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) as well as the oil & gas sector.

 

Prior to joining the IDB Robert was founder and chairman of the Foundation for International Migration and Development (FIMD), dedicated to bringing together government, migrant organizations, academia and the general public and sharing knowledge on issues of migration and development.

 

 

Ken Kéloutahng Ndiaye – Horloge du Sud

 

Ken Kéloutahng Ndiaye has a multidisciplinary educational background. He has a bachelor’s degree in social sciences from ULB, a PME-start degree from ICHEC and is a graduate of INSAS (performing arts and audiovisual techniques) and Mudra Africa (Dance-Theatre-Music)

 

He also studied journalism at ULB and law at the Faculties St Louis. Ken was a researcher in socio-anthropology at ULB, and he has worked as trainer for Belgian Cooperation for 16 years. He is also a scientific and cultural contributor to the Royal Museum of Africa, in particular as regards Diaspora and schools.

 

He is active in the associative sector, in particular as regards sub-Saharan Africa, and was president of the CCAEB (Advice for African Communities in Belgium (Federation of sub-Saharan Associations)

 

He founded and has managed for 11 years the SPRL “Plus au Sud” which owns the “L’Horloge du Sud (cultural hospitality)” trade name and the Bissap juice “Safsap” brand.

 

 

Hansjörg Neun - CTA

 

Since May 2005, German-born Dr Hansjorg Neun, became Director of CTA. He holds a PhD. in social and economic sciences. He is the author of a thesis on "transfers of technical cooperation development projects to developing countries". With considerable field experience in Africa (especially in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and Egypt), Dr Neun has managed projects and major programmes for German and European technical development agencies. He is also skilled in negotiating with governments, donors and international institutions. In addition, he has a wide-ranging knowledge of rural development, food security and natural resource management issues.

 

He also has hands-on experience of agriculture - while still very young he worked on his family's flower and vegetable market garden in Germany.

 

Before taking the helm at CTA, Dr Neun was employed as Advisor at Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

 

 

Alache Ode – African Foundation for Development (AFFORD)

 

Ms Ode is currently Vice-Chair of the African Foundation for Development (AFFORD), the largest African-led international NGO working to enhance the participation of Africans in Diaspora in development and also to challenge and provide an African perspective into mainstream development thinking.  

 

She has over 25 years working experience - 8 years in International Development (Training Development Adviser, UK; Programme Manager, Mongolia; Diaspora Initiative Manager, UK), 13 years as a University Lecturer in the UK (overlap with International development job), 11 years as a Journalist and Researcher in Nigeria. She worked with Governmental, Non-governmental development organisations, the media and educational institutions in Africa, Europe and Asia e.g. Voluntary Services Overseas.

 

She holds a degree in Political Science, with specialization in International Studies, and a Masters Degree in International Law and Diplomacy from the University of Lagos, Nigeria.

 

 

Cécile Riallant - EC-UN Joint Migration and Development Initiative

 

Cécile Riallant works as a Migration and Development Advisor and Deputy Programme Manager of the EC-UN Joint Migration and Development Initiative.  She joined the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Brussels in 2000, after three years of working as a researcher and consultant on projects funded by the European Commission in the Justice and Home Affairs area. She has managed for IOM numerous programmes and projects in the field of migration, among which the Migration for Development Programme in Africa (MIDA) and the Programme for the Return of Qualified Afghans (RQAN). From 2005 to 2008, she was the Executive Officer of the IOM Mission in Indonesia, working for the reconstruction of the province of Aceh hit by the 2004 tsunami and the reintegration of former combatants. She was supervising as well IOM country-based activities in the fields of labour migration, migration and development, migration and health, assistance to Internally Displaced Persons and counter-trafficking. Cecile holds a Ba in Political Science from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques of Grenoble, a MSc in European Studies from the University of Strasbourg and a MSc in Social Policies from the London School of Economics.

 

 

Leila Rispens-Noel – Oxfam Novib

 

Leila Rispens-Noel is programme officer of Oxfam Novib, an international development cooperation agency based in the Netherlands. She appraises project proposals submitted by Dutch organisations including diaspora organisations which initiate and support development projects in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Cameroon. Her portfolio covers migration, development, remittances, and microfinance. She also manages the capacity building program for diaspora organisations and supports the strengthening of their transnational networks. At Oxfam Novib, Leila organizes national and international experts meeting, debates, workshops, and conferences on migration and development focusing and the role of diaspora organisations in the development of their countries of origin. She facilitates in building partnerships with diaspora organizations with microfinance institutions particularly with the member organisations of International Alternative Financial Institutions (INAFI).

 

In her capacity as programme officer, she contributes to the policy debates leading to the inclusion of migration and remittances in the strategic business plans of Oxfam Novib and Oxfam International. She served as a member of the International Advisory Board of the Civil Society Global Forum for Migration and Development. She is a member of the Migrants Advisory Board of the UN-EC Initiative for Migration and Development. Before joining Oxfam Novib, Leila has several years of experience in rural and agricultural development work in the Philippines. Leila earned her degree in Bachelor of Science in Commerce major in Accounting at the Holy Cross of Davao College (Philippines) and Diploma in Rural and Agricultural Project Planning at the Institute of Social Studies, The Netherlands.

 

 

Klaus Rudischhauser - European Commission

 

Klaus Rudischhauser joined the European Commission in 1989 and took up duty in the Directorate-General Environment. Subsequently he worked on assistance to the Newly Independent State and then was Head of Unit at the Directorate-General Personnel and Administration and the Directorate-General Energy and Transport where he was in charge of the Trans-European Transport Networks.

 

Since March 2007, Klaus Rudischhauser is Director at the Directorate-General Development and Relations with African, Caribbean and Pacific States. In his area of responsibility fall amongst others:

 

- Programming of the European Development Fund (EDF)

 

- Panafrican issues

 

- Migration

 

- Governance

 

- Budget support and debt relief

 

 

 

 

 

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