Qualifications Summary

Daily analysis of political and economic events in sub-Saharan Africa. Policy relevant research and networking. Advisory oversight of start-up NGO. Graduate coursework in African governance & politics, economic development, and history. Small project design and management. Work experience and training in ESL instruction, curriculum design, and testing methodology in Africa and in the USA. Proficient with MS Office suite. Basic skills in Python, Perl, and Html. Conversational Amharic. Basic French, Spanish, and Modern Standard Arabic.

Experience

• Responsible for all content related to sub-Saharan Africa in the Oxford Analytica Daily Brief.
• Track and write analysis of political and economic events affecting the region on a daily basis.
• Commission and edit articles from Oxford Analytica's network of experts.
• Contribute to and advise Oxford Analytica’s Consultancy Practice for Africa-related projects, including written reports, presentations and small and large conferences.
• Member of Africa Seminar team at Oxford Analytica’s annual International Conference.

• Maintained and updated enterprise customer implementations of Primus software on behalf of clients.
• Developed and implemented process for maintaining, testing, and increasing effectiveness of proprietary information retrieval software.
• Participated in project design, documentation and implementation. Developed training materials and facilitated training of new linguists. Designed and maintained linguist intranet resource pages.

• Successfully designed and taught daily, weekly, and yearly ESL lesson plans for 135 Ethiopian grade 10 students in a culturally and ethnically diverse setting. Reorganized and updated grade 10 syllabus to incorporate student needs and current health and gender issues. Designed and implemented additional conversational English lessons for 300 students, grades 10-12.
• Planned and facilitated district workshop for 30 primary, junior and senior secondary school teachers to introduce student-centered teaching methodologies and needs evaluation techniques.
• As a trainer in Ambo, modeled ESL teaching methodologies and lesson planning for 38 Peace Corps trainees. Successfully taught and encouraged cross-cultural awareness and sensitivity techniques.

Voluntary

• Provide guidance and oversight for the development of operations -- internationally and for the pilot program in the Niger Delta, based in Port Harcourt. The board meets twice per year, once in Nigeria.

• Convened by Sally Healy, OBE, the group examines what drives events in Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia/Somaliland, in order to provide policy recommendations. Initial report in early 2008.

• Researched and wrote a working paper for the group, Land Policy in Rwanda: Implications for UK Policy.
• Presented findings to UK and Rwandan policy-makers for discussion at Houses of Parliament.

• Researched and wrote a 25-page report for the Business & Conflict unit, A Profile of Corporate Actors Currently Engaged in the DRC.

• Assisted with the maintenance of the periodical's web site content. This included data entry, assignment of key words, and ad hoc research.

Education and Training

• M.A. African Studies, 2004 (Merit), University of London, School for Oriental and African Studies, London, England. Additional graduate coursework in African history, University of Maryland (College Park), 2002-03.
• B.A. Linguistics and History, 1997, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH.
• Peace Corps, 1997-99, Ethiopia. Intensive training in TESL, community development, Amharic language and cross-culture. Additional training in small project design and management, gender awareness and understanding, feedback technique, and community content-based instruction.

Publications

• 2008. ‘ETHIOPIA: Polls conduct reveals government pressures.’ The Oxford Analytica Daily Brief. April 21.
• 2008. ‘KENYA: Violence clouds post-poll outlook.’ The Oxford Analytica Daily Brief. January 2.
• 2007. ‘AFRICA: Shift to domestic taxation faces challenges.’ The Oxford Analytica Daily Brief. March 12.
• 2004. 'Gender and Daily Life in Ethiopia.' The Contemporary Review. Vol. 285, No. 1663 (August). 97-101.

Other

• Quoted in various media outlets on African political and economic issues.
• Recent travel to Ethiopia (2007), Nigeria (2006/07), South Africa (2007), Zimbabwe (2006), Tunisia (2005).
• Also, Kenya (1998/99), Egypt (1999).