Speaker
Dr Francis Okello
Secretary General
ICSD
Launch of the ICSD Africa Branch
Biography
Dr. Francis Ogojo Okello is a Director, Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, Learning and Adaptation at Panagora Group in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA. Panagora provides development consultancy services in international health, development and learning. He is a recognized expert in research, monitoring
and evaluation of international development projects. In the past 25 years, Dr Okello has worked in leadership roles for several US-based development organizations and companies that implement global development projects funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).Before joining Panagora, Dr Okello was the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Director for USAID’s global Medicines, Technologies and Pharmaceutical Services (MTaPS) Program implemented by Management Sciences for Health (MSH) in partnership with FHI 360. From 2016 to 2020, he was the Chief of Party for USAID/Ethiopia’s USD 17 million Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Services (EPMES) contract implemented by Social Impact. In this role, Dr. Okello supported USAID/Ethiopia with country strategy development, independent performance evaluations, studies and assessments, and the integration of Collaboration, Learning and Adapting (CLA) strategies into project implementation and management. He has previously worked for the following: Abt Associates (2014-2016) as Principal Associate/Deputy Research Director for the Global SHOPS project and Principal Investigator for the AstraZeneca Kenya Healthy Heart Africa project; FHI 360 USA (2007-2014) as Senior Technical Officer, FHI 360/Ethiopia as Deputy and later its Country Director and Chief of Party; Chemonics (2004-2007) as Operations Research/M&E specialist and later director for Project Planning and Monitoring; Abt Associates, Bethesda, USA (2002-2004) as the Anglophone Africa Regional Research Manager; Population Services International/Uganda (1999-2002) as Research Manager and country representative of Research International East Africa Ltd’s office in Kampala, Uganda (1995-1999). In addition to US-based support to global projects, Dr Okello has provided in-country research, monitoring and evaluation technical assistance to development projects in 12 sub-Saharan Africa countries, two in Asia (the Philippines and Bangladesh) and two in South America (Columbia and Surinam). Dr Okello has a passion for social development, mixed-methods research, implementation science and promoting data use in development programs. He received his Bachelor of Arts (Sociology & Social Administration) and Master of Arts (Sociology) from Makerere University, Uganda, and PhD in Sociology from Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, Australia
Prof Manohar Pawar
Professor of Social Work, President
ICSD
Launch of the ICSD Africa Branch
Biography
Manohar Pawar is professor of social work at the School of Social Work and Arts, Charles Sturt University (NSW Australia); is the President of the International Consortium for Social Development; and is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Community and Social Development published by SAGE. He has over 35 years of experience in social work education, research and practice in Australia and India. He has implemented both national and international research projects. Prof Pawar has authored over 160 publications, including more than 20 books and monographs. He has also received several honours and awards.
Dr Chathapuram Ramanathan
University Of West Florida
Launch of the ICSD Africa Branch
Prof Gordana Berc
Associate Professor
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Law, Department of social work
Launch of the ICSD Africa Branch
Biography
Gordana Berc, Ph.D. is an associate professor at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Law, Department of social work, Croatia. She is a social worker and has 16-year experience in teaching micro social work area: counseling, social work in education, and family issues. She teaches on undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate social work programs. Berc published more than 30 scientific articles and reviews in national and international journals, books and other publications. Her current research interests are related to families and youth social issues, spirituality, and social services (like counseling). Gordana Berc in 2008 completed six-month Junior Faculty Development Programme, funded by the United States Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. In 2012 she was a KAKI fellowship awardee, Council of Social Work Education and she spent a summer semester as a teacher of social work at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, USA.
She is a member of International consortium of social development where she serves as a director for special projects and as the president of ICSD European Branch.
Prof Asok Sarkar
Chairperson-ICSDAP, Professor and Head
Professor and Head – Department of Social Work
Launch of the ICSD Africa Branch
Biography
Professor Asok Kumar Sarkar presently serves as Head, Department of Social Work, Visva-Bharati, Sriniketan-731236, West Bengal, India. He is also Chairperson of the International Consortium for Social Development Asia Pacific branch. He is an alumnus of Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Formerly, he worked as Principal, Institute of Rural Reconstruction, Visva-Bharati, Sriniketan, India & Head, Department of Social Work, Assam University, Silchar, Assam. He has authored and edited books such as NGOs: The New Lexicon of Health Care (Concept), NGOs and Globalization: Developmental and Organizational Facets (Rawat), Human Development and Sustainability: Challenges and Strategies (Atlantic), Welfare of Disadvantaged: Exploring Community Development Approach (Concept), and Contextualizing Peace- Experiences of Contemporary India and Neighboring Countries (Manak). His forthcoming co-edited book includes ‘Women’s Empowerment and Non-Governmental Public Action in South Asia’ (Palgrave Macmillan). He is the founding editor of ‘Journal of Social Work and Social Development’, a UGC-CARE listed journal (of India) and served from 2010 to 2017. His areas of research interests include maternal morbidity, reproductive health, health care, NGOs and social evelopment.
Prof Leila Patel
SARCHI (Chair)
University of Johannesburg
Launch of the ICSD Africa Branch
Biography
Leila Patel is professor of Social Development Studies and holds the South African Research Chair in Welfare and Social Development, University of Johannesburg. Leila is the founding director of the Centre for Social Development in Africa (CSDA) from 2004 -2018. She has published widely on issues of social development in South Africa and internationally and is the recipient of both national and international awards. In 2020, she received the National Research Foundation’s Science for Society Gold Medal Award (2020) and Katherine Kendell Memorial Award (2020) for distinguished scholarship and for her contribution to social work education and social development. Her research interests include social welfare policy, poverty and hunger, social protection, gender, care, the social services and children, youth and families. She has wide experience in academia, research, teaching and fulfilled various roles in government, civil society and private sector social involvement initiatives. She was South Africa’s first director general of social welfare after apartheid and has played a leading role in the development of welfare policy in South Africa. Her forthcoming edited volume will be published by Edward Elgar titled Social Protection and Social Development in the Global South.