Barbara is a climate change and disaster risk reduction specialist with more than 16 years of direct professional in-the-field experience. She has provides advisory services in policy and program development, program and project evaluation, training and capacity building, to national and local government agencies and international and regional organizations, including the United Nations system and NGOs with focus on disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation for resilient development, food security, gender, policy leadership and advocacy. She is specialised in programmes aiming at climate change and disaster risk reduction mainstreaming into national and sector response policies, strategies and plans.
She has used multi-stakeholder participatory approaches in Pacific countries and has proven hands-on expertise in-the-field. She worked with government and beneficiary institutions to formulate policies and implement programmes. She was responsible for the formulation of national policies, vulnerability assessment, gender, disaster risk reduction and natural hazards prevention and mitigation through the promotion of long-term strategies to adaptation planning for effective aid delivery at national and regional level. In her work she has developed funding recommendation, strategic positioning, partnership and recommended doable and realistic implementation plans, including timelines, costing and roles and responsibilities.
She holds a Master’s Degree in Global Environmental Protection and International Policies and is an active member of the Pacific Infrastructure Advisory Centre and Adaptation Learning mechanism as well as the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery East Asia and the Pacific Disaster Knowledge Network. Barbara is serving on United Nations Women National Committee Aotearoa New Zealand.
An in-depth knowledge and extensive experience of environment and development issues, including technical assistance and capacity building projects in many parts of the world, particularly in Asia and the Pacific. During my work in 59 countries, I have demonstrated a strong commitment to the use of participatory planning and evaluation methodologies at the national and community levels, including local and national sustainable development planning and evaluation. My analytical skills include highly developed policy analysis skills with experience of integrated approaches to a wide range of issues including governance, environment, natural resource management, disaster risk management, climate change, livelihoods, resilience building, community development and social policy. In my work over the last 40 years, I have shown an ability to assess complex situations in order to succinctly and clearly distil critical issues and draw forward looking conclusions, identifying practical lessons for practical application and policy development.
Over 20 years’ experience working on climate change and disaster risk reduction issues with communities, governments and international entities. Much of my work focused on building the capacities and capabilities to address adverse impacts of climate change and disaster risk reduction issues at the national, regional and international levels and in assisting countries mobilise financial, technical and human resources to implement and manage climate change activities, projects and programmes.
I have particular experience in conducting stakeholder consultations with villages/ communities, national governments and with international community organisations. I have especial skill/know-how in preparing technical and policy documents and reports relating to climate change issues and concerns. I have assisted Pacific islands countries in developing project proposals for funding and implementation of projects including Pacific Islands Climate Change Assistance Programme, national communications, national adaptation programmes of action, vulnerability and adaptation assessment, national and regional adaptation and disaster risk reduction projects, adaptation policies and/or strategies (see CV attached).
I also have experience in developing a policy and/or a policy framework such as NAPA, International Climate Change Adaptation Initiative, Pilot Programme on Climate Resilience, and Strategic Programme on Climate Resilience, Pacific Adaptation Strategies Assistance Programme, national and regional Global Climate Change Alliance programmes on adaptation and based on stakeholder engagement/consultations.
I have a good knowledge and high level of familiarity and understandings of the Pacific small island developing states government system having lived in and worked in and for the region for more than three decades. Additionally I have undertaken mentoring work with various experts with each of the countries through capacity building and training on various aspects of climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. I have a have a good command of English (oral and written) and a good level of understanding of some of the local languages.
I have the necessary track record of achievements, experience and skills to provide scientific and technical assistance and policy guidance to the Pacific SIDS. and others on climate change activities, projects and programmes.
The consultant's key fields of expertise include Environmental Management (Env Mgt Sys, Env Audit, EIA, SEA), Sustainable Development, Climate Change (Adaptation, Mitigation, Science, Policy), Community Waste Management, Community Based Adaptation, Ecosystem-based Adaptation. Proficient project management and project performance management skills that include practitioner skills in project management in controlled environments; skills in concept, grant and full project and funding proposal writing, climate financing proposal writing, design, work planning and budgeting. Skilled in project appraisal of project aspects such as costs, timescales, quality, scope, risk and benefits; deliver of quality project products, monitoring, reporting and evaluation. Offers training and workshops on V&A Assessments that include technical and community-based tools and frameworks, socio-economic assessments, lessons learned, results-based management, survey design and implementation, M&E design and implementation, gender & climate change. Range of working experiences at different levels of development intervention - international and regional (negotiations, policy, advocacy, lobbying, media campaigns and presentation, knowledge management); regional and national (project management, policy, science, gender, adaptation, mitigation, media campaigns, public awareness) and community (CBA, EbA, V&A, negotiations, training, gender mainstreaming level, implementation, negotiation skills on climate change, waste management, attitude and behavioral change campaigning). Have on-the-ground and field experiences in 14 Pacific Island communities, particularly in Palau, Marshall Islands, Fiji, Niue, Cook Islands, and Papua New Guinea. Sector expertise areas of climate change adaptation activities and results in integrated coastal zone management, water resources management (specializing in low-lying atolls), food security, food production, agriculture, aquaculture, forestry, tourism and health.
Project Management Work for World Bank and UNDP in the areas of climate change adaptation, health and food security at the national and regional level. Meteorologists by profession with more than 20 years of GIS experience. Strong interest in International and regional conventions in relation to climate change and environment in general. Sectors of interest and involvement includes environment, health, agriculture and food security, disaster and risk reduction management, infrastructure, information and data management, parliamentary institutional strengthening etc. Had worked with other donors like AusAid, NZ Aid, ADB, Government of Italy, UNEP, FAO in particular.
Key skills: providing strategic, targeted knowledge network, evaluation and technical services to international environmental and development programs and institutional capacities. Thematic interests and work experience: project design, implementation and results based monitoring: child rights, disability mainstreaming in UN funds and programs, inclusive education sector planning, biodiversity strategic planning, disaster risk reduction , climate change and resilience, natural resources and protected area management, ecosystem services and environmental science. Policy and bottleneck analysis and implementation problem resolution including work in environment sectors, poverty alleviation and education, improved service delivery and transparent government initiatives. Advocacy interests focusing on one UN programming, education for sustainable development, education systems and planning, climate change adaptation, emergencies, disaster risk reduction and resilience. Communication: training and education experience, including organizing and leading workshops. Research: data analysis, writing/editing materials for a wide variety of audiences and preparing content for websites.
The framework for Ghana will focus on the effective utilisation of Ghana’s existing data sets and draw on institutional capacities within the county to develop the RL and MRV systems. This delivery approach goes beyond technical RL and MRV considerations and is being driven by a participatory process, exploring and strengthening national capacities within Ghana by following the key REDD+ development principles.; Design peer review of a proposed investment to conduct pilot trials in savanna fire management in developing countries, based on the success of savanna fire management in northern Australia. The peer review process is an integral part of the Government’s international climate projects investment design process which aims to ensure consistency with Australia’s climate change objectives, compliance with Financial Management and Accountability Act requirements, AusAID’s Investment Design Quality Standards and Australia’s Comprehensive Aid Policy Framework.; Current engagement includes the leading technical management role to implement the Detailed Design Document for establishing the Kenyan National Carbon Accounting System for the land sector. This programme will put the national system in place over the next 3 years with an emphasis on sustainability and Government of Kenya ownership and functionality.; Facilitation and documentation of the design, performance and specifications for the National Carbon Accounting System for Kenya; Leadership, technical and project management to a team of 12 assessing feasibility and designing a project to support the sustainable management and sustainable financing of the Leuser Ecosystem, Aceh, in line with the focus and priorities of the German Environment Ministry (BMU) International Climate Initiative with the Indonesian Government through KfW; Provision of technical guidance, planning and management support for fire management in peatlands of Central Kalimantan. A wide ranging and evolving assignment that includes research and development on fire management in peat lands, establishing a Fire Management Expert Panel, fire investigation & planning to reduce the impact of fires on Green House Gas emissions
Member - Australian Institute of Emergency Services
Member – National Competency Standards for Emergency Management
Member – Development Team (Understanding Emergency Risk Management Training Course
Qualified Trainer and Assessor in Disaster Management
(Certificate IV Workplace Training (Category Two))
Manage the response to the 2010-2011 flooding and cyclones
Manage the response during the flooding of the State Capital, Brisbane
Manage response to Cyclone Yasi and major flooding in South West Queensland in 2012
Establish a consulting business to provide response services to national, state and local governments, business and industry, agencies and community groups involved in disaster/emergency management
Establish comprehensive disaster risk management programming including risk management and mitigation strategies
Wrote guidelines for risk management in the Pacific Island Countries
Comprehensive Hazard and Risk Management (CHARM) guidelines were adopted in the region by the various Island nations
Drafted the Queensland Guidelines for Cyclone Shelter Operations which included his findings from the USA and the experience he gained while managing the flooding and cyclones across Queensland in 2010 to 2012
Building resilience to disaster in the community, economy, infrastructure and the environment
Implement risk studies leading to Risk Management Planning and Mitigation Planning across Queensland and the Pacific Island Countries
Provide operational advice ranging from standard operating procedures to whole of government multi-agency response
Knowledge and Management Specialist
Climate Financing Specialist
Disaster Relief/Management Specialist
Environmental and social safeguards specialist
Economist [Cost-Benefit Analysis of CC]
Director at the Solomon Islands Financial Intelligence Unit
Community Trainer Specialist
Capacity Building Specialist
Credit Control Supervisor at National Bank of Solomon Islands
Manager Finance at DIDAO Development, Solomon Islands
Countries of Work Experience: Solomon Islands
Education and Researcher for the University of New Caledonia
Countries of Work Experience: France, Austria, Germany, New Caledonia
Description: Funded by French Minister of overseas this project aims at discovering and modeling the dynamic of dengue epidemics. This study focuses
on New Caledonia and Nouméa city.
Description: Funded by CNRT (National Center of Technological research), this project studies quantification of upstream flows and their impact on downstream
transport of solid matter in different geomorphoclimatic contexts.
Description: Funded by French National Research Agency (ANR), this project aims at providing to geologists a semi--automatic and complete process for monitoring soil erosion. This process will be based on multi--temporal very high
resolutions satellite images coupled with digital elevation model (DEM), sensor data and/or expert knowledge. The project will focus more precisely on two important aspects of this process: segmentation of satellite images based on collaborative methods, and construction of descriptive (patterns, clustering, …) and predictive (decision trees, …) spatio-- temporal models. New methods, algorithms and softwares on environmental data will be proposed to assist
experts in their knowledge discovery.
Collaboration in the dry forest program with Agronomic Institute of New Caledonia
Description: This project funded by KNS (Koniambo Nickel SAS) is a preliminary project on environmental data warehousing and knowledge discovery. It aims at investigating spatial and temporal data warehouses (SOLAP: Spatial On-Line Analytical Processing) solutions on an hydrological and marine databases. It involves the implementation of a data warehouse in order to cross thematic data: hydrogeological data, marine data etc.
Associate Member for the IPES 2006-2008Assets Engineer for Samoa Water Authority, Apia SamoaAssistant Engineer for OSM Consultant Ltd, SamoaProject Engineer for Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Suva FijiCountries of Work Experience: Tuvalu, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, FSM, PNG, Nauru, Samoa, Fiji, Palau, Niue, Cook Islands, Solomon Islands, TongaGIS Specialist, Asset Management, System Manager, Leak Detector, International Water Representative, Project Manager and Office space Designer
Building Designer, Project Manager, Quality Controller, Residential building specialist, Steel Frame designer, GIS SpecialistProvide engineering and construction advice and logistical support to Papua New Guinea for 10 new remote seismic stations Facilitate design, Tender and supervise new reservoir and tank sheds in Nauru
Facilitate design and supervise 3 Emergency Operation Center’s in Solomon IslandsFacilitate design, Tender and Supervise new Emergency operation Centre for National Government Pohnpei and supervise four EOC renovations Federated States of MicronesiaDesign, Tender and Supervise 33 water borehole rehabilitation in Kingdom of Tonga, and Provide 150 RWH to outer Islands Provided engineering advice and project design and Tender and supervision of the supply of 300 Rain Water harvesting in Tuvalu Facilitate the design, tender and supply and construction of 900 Rain water tanks to the Marshall Islands Facilitate Design, Tender and Supervision of National Emergency and Management Office PalauIn providing the specialist advice and finalize all technical and Architectural design requirements for each country project and ensure that all relevant in-country building and construction protocols are met to the satisfaction of relevant local authorities. Serve as the principal officer in charge of procurement of all materials required for project construction. Responsible for the supervision of construction of facilities and may exercise this responsibility directly or be supported by the Project Manager in this regard. Contracting the responsibility to a qualified firm within each target country. Develop full specifications for the supervision contracts Assist Water Section of SPC on procurement water and piping construction. Assist the Project Manager in all planning, development of project documentation and specifications for construction, procurement of materials and equipment and services, preparation of project costs estimates and implementation schedules, monitoring and reporting on physical progress and assisting with reporting on financial expenditure.Develop terms of reference for the Review of National Building codes and Manual for Niue & Cook Island.
Conduct assessments of knowledge systems, conduct advisory missions with the US-based endowment on knowledge management, future development, vision and strategic partnerships: New foundland government, IGA England and IGA Boston
Review annual grant proposals for community health and development in northern Newfoundland and Labrador.
Coach Junior Directors
Conceive original concept and mandate; define audience for company products and services, promote technical vision and mandate among directors
Design global knowledge management strategy on education, health and agriculture as technical advisor; providing leadership to four regional knowledge managers to implement the strategy
- Build strategic partnerships: UN regional commissions, UNDP, UNEP, UNV, UNICEF, UNESCO, IDRC, ISDR, etc
Mid-Term Evaluation Capacity Strengthening and Knowledge Management for Protected Areas Management
Activities Performed: i) Undertook comprehensive Midterm Evaluation MTE of GEF/UNDP PA program and demonstration of PA learning and ecosystems management approach ii) Conducted in-depth consultations and focus group work with key stakeholders and government planning staff. iii) Compiled evidence to support management and governance positive changes to program; conducted assessment of knowledge and learning systems. iv) Critiqued the program me indicators and all changes incurred during implementation by project staff. Suggested new indicators. v) Delivered and presented report to multi-sector and institutional stakeholders
Mid-Term Evaluation Capacity Strengthening and Knowledge Management for Institutions for Natural Resources Management
Activities Performed: i) MTE of GEF/UNDP INRM program and demonstration of integrated ecosystems management and climate change adaptation approaches ii) Conducted consultations and focus group work with key stakeholders and government planning staff. iii) Compiled evidence to support management and governance positive changes to program including assessment of knowledge and learning systems. iv) Critiqued the programme indicators and all changes incurred during implementation by project staff. v) Delivered and presented report to multi-sector and institutional stakeholders
Evidence, Coaching and Policy Research on South-South Cooperation (SSC) Principles
Developed framework and conducted assessment of IBSA Trust Fund portfolio 11 projects at various stages of completion;
Authored evidence-based policy/resource mobilization paper on the Trust Fund as good South-South Corporation with UN practice
Terminal Evaluation Capacity Strengthening and Knowledge Management for Sustainable Land Management
Activities Performed: i) Undertook comprehensive Midterm Evaluation MTE of GEF/UNDP environmental mainstreaming program and demonstration pilot sustainable ecosystems approach ii) Conducted in-depth consultations and focus group work with key stakeholders and government planning staff; conducted assessment of knowledge and learning systems. iii) Compiled evidence to support management and governance positive changes to program. iv) Critiqued the program me indicators and all changes incurred during implementation by project staff. Suggested new indicators. v) Delivered and presented report to multi-sector and institutional stakeholders
Knowledge Management (KM) Strategy/Advisor/Author - Climate Resilient Infrastructure /Coastal Zone Development
Conducted in-depth consultations and focus group work with key government and civil society stakeholders, UN and other partners, NGOs and Local Government and Engineering Staff; conducted assessment of knowledge and learning systems
Compiled evidence to support inter-sectoral knowledge management and learning strategy and provided recommendations related institutional reforms for climate resilience infrastructure and coastal zone management
Delivered and presented KM Strategy and Architecture for Climate Resilient Infrastructure to multi-sector and institutional stakeholders and inclusion into multidisciplinary Climate Change Resilience PPTA.
Created a climate infrastructure learning network - documented and shared PA - KM activities
Abyei Area Development Programme
Activities Performed: i) Produced an inception report for UNDP Khartoum concerning delivery of the requirements outlined in the ToR and a detailed evaluation with an analytical response to all key components. ii) Used qualitative/quantitative techniques to obtain information; developed new indicators to assess project outcome. iii) Conducted field visits to rural offices, meeting with relevant staleholders; visited UNDP senior management, team leaders and program officers; consulted women, children and other marginalized groups and devised other means to measure progress, effect and impact. iv) Organized a debriefing session for UNDP staff, partners and collaborators; v) Re-developed UNDP’s programming strategy
Study and Policy Paper - UNEPs Contribution to South South Cooperation- A Knowledge Management Approach
Activities Performed: i) Conducted baseline research on UNEP’s role in promoting South-South cooperation on environmental capacity building; interviewed UNEP staff. ii) Authored relevant paper for UN-wide publication. iii) Authored related policy recommendation/paper on cooperation for staff
Developing a National Knowledge Management Platform for Action on Disaster Risk Reduction
Activities Performed: i) Coordinated development of a new national policy framework and 10-year action plan on disaster risk reduction. ii) Conducted community profiling exercise to establish baseline and set targets for support; designed and wrote proposals for strategic partnerships iii) Advocated support extension to implement national strategy on community-based DRR
Instituting and Implementing a Global Knowledge Management Strategy for UNDP on Environmental Issues
Activities Performed: i) Established first Energy and Environment Practice Network, managing network budget of $1/4 M. ii) Managed network and designed monitoring and evaluation plan. iii) Organized, recruited and managed network volunteers, two professional staff iv) Facilitated the Human Rights Knowledge Network – HURITALK (2001). v) Piloted regional/sub-regional support networks – Zambia, Mauritania, Senegal, Malaysia, Costa Rica, and Bratislava. vi) Provided environmental management policy and reported to country offices. vii) Participated in global water partnership technical meeting; conducted knowledge management needs assessment. Provided recommendations to senior management concerning GWP KM reforms
UNDP Global Policy and Programme Support
Activities Performed: i) Conducted Terminal Review of UNDP Global Programmes: UNCED (1992), WSSD (1995) and Partners in Development (1995). ii) Conducted research for 2 UNDP Global Poverty Reports (1999-2000). iii) Conducted a GEF Climate Change Portfolio Review – Africa Region (1998). iv) Conducted statistical analysis of UNDP sustainable livelihood programme. v) Researched and drafted policy statements vi) Conducted and statistically represented programme research (governance, poverty, HIV and AIDS, environment, gender)
UNDP Support Programme in Indonesia
Activities Performed: i) Located and interviewed policy experts; reviewed project/policy concepts; developed briefing materials; ii) Fostered strategic partnerships with the Ministry of Education and the Minister of Religious Affairs to develop programs and projects concerning expanding access and quality of education; leveraged resources from development partners and the international monetary institutions. iii) Researched/drafted educational policy statements; developed strategic partnership with UNICEF and UNESCO; coordinated UN input for the conference ‘Education for All – Nine Most Populous Countries’. iv) Monitored/developed projects: environment, energy, women, education issues. v) Backstopped three gender projects on behalf of UNIFEM