TheJourneyVolume1 - Book - Page 114
#NextGenUNDP
Aliou Mamadou Dia
TOG O
matter what. I know that life is a lifetime challenge. In the
Quran Surat 90.4, Allah says that “he created mankind
for a perpetual combat.” I strongly believe that everyone
has his burden but what counts is how you carry it. As
Nelson Mandela once said: “It doesn’t matter if you win
or lose”. The important thing is how you made it and
what you feel about it, and I have made an oath to myself
that I will not walk out of anything, without giving all my
soul and whatever I think is my limit and keep going.
MY UNDP JOURNEY
Joining UNDP has fulfilled my childhood dream of
becoming an international civil servant, fighting against
poverty, inequality, exclusion and as responding to crises.
Most importantly, dedicating myself to serving people and
helping them build resilience for a better future.
Before I was appointed Resident Representative in
April 2019, I worked as UNDP Africa Team Leader for
Resilience Building, Climate Change and Energy at the
UNDP Regional Service Centre for Africa (RSCA) based in
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Prior to that, from 2012 to 2014,
I was UNDP Regional Resilience Advisor for Eastern and
Southern Africa, based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
COVID-19 has brought to
the fore fundamental weaknesses
of development agencies’
operating models, approaches, and
use of instruments.”
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Between 2009 to 2011, I worked with the United Nations
Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) as Regional
Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience Advisor for West
Africa, based at the ECOWAS Commission in Abuja,
Nigeria.
With more than 15 years of experience working on
resilience, fragility, crisis response in complex emergencies,
as well as environmental sustainability, climate change,
and access to energy, I have supported many governments
in Africa with the implementation of National Development Plans through a very comprehensive, risk-informed
development approach.
In the field of Crisis Response and Recovery, I have led
UNDP Africa engagement and response in many parts of
the continent following the Ebola crisis in West Africa and
severe drought and famine in the Horn of Africa.
I have led UNDP’s response to the El Nino crisis in
Eastern and Southern Africa and developed its Africa