.Profile of IBRAHIMA DJIBO M. DJIBO did all his university education in the north American context both in Canada (Province of Quebec) where he obtained his bachelor degree in Business Administration (Marketing) and in the United States where he obtained two Master degrees, one in Business Administration (International Finance) and the other in Political Sciences (Public Administration and Intern...ational organizations). This combination of academic background has given Mr. Djibo a unique and strong sense of globalization as early as the 1980s. After his bachelor degree he got his first experiences in private business and in a sub-regional west African organization where he evolved in trade promotion. During that public service work he had the chance at an early age to make valuable contributions to trade promotion and institution building. As one of his most durable contribution was an innovative proposal to set up a regional business school based in Dakar, Senegal called CESAG (Centre d’Enseignement Supérieur Africain de Gestion). After his graduate studies he had a short but rich experience (October 1980 to October 1982) with one of the most demanding bilateral donor, the USAID (United States Agency for International Development) as a local professional in his native country then former Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso). He was so appreciated by the top management of USAID that he was the only national to attend the senior weekly meetings at this donor agency. His work there even led to the management to propose him for a job in Washington D.C which he turned down as he was given an opportunity to head for his first assignment for the United Nations in Vienna, Austria. In Vienna he joined the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in October 1982 where he stayed until June 1989. During those six and half years Mr. Djibo accumulated one of the richest work experiences in industrialization policies, industrial rehabilitation, private sector development and institution building. As part of his achievements there should be outright mention of building solid relations between donor agencies (Canadian international Development Agency, Japan International Cooperation Agency, Swedish International Development Agency, the Commonwealth Fund, amongst others) with governments. He worked substantially with the private sectors of both developed and developing countries in the areas of new industrial ventures as well as industrial rehabilitation and identified opportunities for partnerships among industrial groups and successfully negotiated several Trust-funds arrangements (several millions of US dollars) under UNIDO’s management in Africa, Asia and Latin America. He participated in roughly 25 country reviews in all these three continents. Part of his work experience during those years was geared at industrial banks, and industrial companies in the developing countries in Africa, Asia, Middle East and Latin America. This unique work experience has offered Mr. Djibo the opportunity to travel all over the world in a multilateral context juggling with different languages and cultures. He then developed his talents for easy contacts. Through those years he has met the highest government officials and business leaders of all walks of life in all the countries visited in both hemispheres. By age 39 he had been around the world with the exception of Australasia. His keen quest for learning languages has helped him to be fluent in English and French and to have fairly good working skills in Arabic, German, and Spanish. As part of his personal career development and with the idea of caring for his small family (wife, son and daughter) he decided to move to New York city in June 1989 when he joined the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) through one of its fund called then UNSO (now CCD-Center to Combat Desertification). The move to New York was to give his wife, son and daughter more opportunities for their developments and better exposure to other contexts a move that paid off substantially for both then and now. At UNSO where he stayed almost 4 years he could work on some of the most demanding issues of environmental degradation and desertification. Although as a new area for Mr. Djibo in terms of work experience it proved to be a real exposure to one of the very important issues facing the world at large. Work achieved covered environmental assessments, environmental education programs , and as usual successful mobilization of funds with major donors to cover the programs. Again and again Mr. Djibo was praised for his achievements and was retained an extra year in that fund to help assist in furthering the goals of the fund. In March 1993 Mr. Djibo moved to central UNDP at its headquarters in New York until early 1999 and then in the field to be stationed in six (6) different countries with all sorts of development challenges and complex situations: Chad, Rwanda, Senegal, Guinea (Conakry), Central African Republic and Comoros. His work covered the main areas of UNDP’s mandate in all these countries: political democratization processes (including seven electoral processes in 4 different countries), governance issues, crisis prevention and recovery, poverty alleviation programs, fight against AIDS, environmental protection and energy, and institutional building. He was positioned in the highest levels in the different countries and again had contacts with presidents, government ministers, Ambassadors of donor countries and all constituents in development work including several national and international NGOs, grass root organizations and community organizations. That diverse exposure to all partners has strengthened Mr. Djibo’s acute understanding of working with all people in this world. Some particular achievements are worth mentioning: mobilization of funds (millions of dollars) outside the UNDP’s core funding programs, management of large funds (millions of dollars) through rigorous criteria and personal integrity, management of entire UNDP offices of tens of people in complex and difficult countries with all sorts of cultural demands, and always a sense of developing staff skills and ensuring work-life balance through some of the most innovative programs that were copied in other countries. One of the distinguished attribute of Mr. Djibo has always been his constant pursuit of team play. That has helped him gain confidence of all his colleagues and the partners in the aid arena. After his retirement from the UN system by end 2010 Mr. Djibo devoted most of his time to private sector undertakings: international consultant in partnerships development between companies in developed countries and those in Africa, import-export promotion, advisory services for start-ups in Africa, and small farming.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 10:55:24 +0000
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