Independent Consultants
The following is a snapshot of our international network of senior consultants.Lois Austin
Lois has worked for more thirteen years in the humanitarian field, predominantly with the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. She has undertaken a broad range of field-based jobs which include managing and providing technical inputs into a varied range of assistance programmes for vulnerable populations in transition situations and in fluctuating and complex environments. Her fieldwork has been undertaken in the Balkans, the north and south Caucasus,Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, Afghanistan and throughout Africa. Her field and headquarters has formed the basis for a solid understanding of humanitarian issues from both policy and operational perspectives. Her work as an independent consultant has included the undertaking of assessments, real time and after action reviews, programme evaluations and the development of operational strategic directions. We worked with Lois on an evaluation of the Tsunami Recovery Programme of the American Red Cross.
Neil Bauman
Neil is an architect and information management (IM) specialist with long experience in humanitarian coordination, particularly the Shelter and WASH clusters, at global and field levels. His primary clients include the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) where he has been actively working with the shelter department since 2005 and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) which is one of the lead agencies for Information management for the WASH Cluster. Neil brings to his clients a thorough understanding of emergency response coordination and how the practices of information management, assessments, and monitoring can complement strategic decision making. We know Neil from our work with the IFRC.
Pierre Gassmann
We have worked with Pierre in the ICRC and also with the Harvard Programme on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research (HPCR). You can take a look at his extensive CV here. He worked for 24 years with the International Committee of the Red Cross, finishing his service as the Head of Delegation in Baghdad 2003 - 04. He has also been the Head of Delegation in Colombia, the former Yugoslavia, El Salvador, Uganda, Mozambique and Angola. His high-level operations management assignments at the ICRC Geneva included Head of Operations for Eastern Europe (2000-2003) and Africa (1988-1991). He received a Master’s degree in International Relations from the Graduate Institute for International Studies in Geneva and an MBA from the European Institute for Business Administration (INSEAD), Fontainebleau, France.
Sylvie Giossi Caverzasio
Sylvie is an independent consultant with 20 years of professional experience in the international affairs and humanitarian spheres. She has a particular expertise in policy and research projects, help for decision-making, communication and a specialization in protection and human rights work. She edited the publication Strengthening protection in war: a search for professional standards, a reference work that presents the results of four pioneering protection workshops attended by 100 professionals from 50 humanitarian and human rights organizations. She has broad humanitarian experience, in particular with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), both at headquarters level and in the field. Her field experience spans the Middle East, the Balkans and the Caucasus, Africa, Latin America and South Asia. She has worked alongside numerous actors involved in conflict situations, including political and military authorities and combatants/arm carriers. Sylvie has established a rigorous approach in her work s: she takes on projects where she can effectively “partner” with the client in the identification of the problem, the analysis of the issue, development of solutions and in proposing decision-making tools to bring about the desired change. This process of accompanying and establishing a partnership with the client is one that the WolfGroup particularly values in Sylvie. Her clients have included governmental and public authorities, United Nations and non governmental organisations. Sylvie has a background in journalism and public relations, and is equipped with excellent analytical and communication skills.
Dr. Thomas Gurtner
Thomas brings in over 20 years of work experience in Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific, largely with the RC/RC Movement. His most recent position was at the strategic management level, as Director Coordination and Programmes Division at the IFRC, where he managed all of the IFRC field structures and its global disaster management services. In this role he represented the IFRC to the IASC discussions around the humanitarian reform process, and the IFRC contribution to the cluster process. Thomas’ career has included lengthy field experience in complex emergencies ranging from managing relief programmes in Rwanda in 1994, to serving as Head of Delegation for the ICRC in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Fiji. Thomas has a degree in Veterinary Medicine, with courses in tropical medicine and a postgraduate degree in tropical virology. More details on Thomas here.
Nadejda Loumbeva
Nadejda’s expertise is in knowledge sharing and management using information and communication technologies, organisational learning, communities of practice, knowledge networks, electronic communities and facilitation. After having coordinated the implementation of a bank information system at an international bank (UniCredito), she has evaluated and helped to foster knowledge sharing processes and systems at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the United Nations World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. Nadejda holds degrees in Psychology (BSc/University of York), Human-Computer Interaction with Ergonomics (MSc/University College London), Business Administration (MBA/University of Geneva) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CAS/University of Geneva).
Gisela Holmen Yngrot
Gisela is an independent consultant with several years of working experience with humanitarian assistance, early recovery and development projects in emergency, post-conflict areas and developing regions (Balkans, Baltic, and Africa). Gisela is specialized in humanitarian assistance, gender and sexual based violence, and counter human trafficking. She has previously worked for Swedish Red Cross and IOM, and has recently been contracted by NRC as a camp management trainer in East Timor, Ethiopia, and Kenya. She has a Swedish MA in Humanitarian Assistance (NOHA).
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