Amadou Ba

Executive Profile

Results-driven program management specialist with 20+ years of experience in single and multi-country humanitarian relief, countering violent extremism (CVE), stabilization, human rights, good governance, and women and youth empowerment operations across West and Central Africa. Proven experience (and success) in: 1) launching new donor and project offices and new sub-programs; and 2) grant compliance, EU and USG project management, donor reporting capacity building, and cross-border coordination. Skilled in leading and facilitating the co-creation processes that are needed to design and execute complex programs with local government and civil society partners in challenging political and security contexts.

Core Competencies

Conflict Analysis & Early Warning • Stabilization & CVE • Democracy, Human Rights, & Governance (DRG) • Donor Compliance & Reporting (EU, USG) • Use of Co-Creation Processes and Events to Strengthen Stakeholder Engagement and Capacity Building • Grants Management & Budget Oversight • Proposal Development & Concept Notes • Bilingual Communication & Multicultural Teamwork

Selected Achievements

• DRG/CVE Specialist, USAID/Sahel Regional Office (Senegal) (2020–2025): Strengthened the scope and depth of the USG’s first regional DRG/CVE program, which grew from one to eight projects (and from a $7M to a $40M annual budget) for Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, and the Gambia; managed compliance, reporting, and work plan implementation as well as each project’s coordination with governments and regional stakeholders.
• Program Management Assistant, USAID/Mauritania (Mauritania) (2017–2020): Charged with co-creating the first USAID office in Mauritania with the CPM (Country Program Manager); during this five-year time period, USAID/Mauritania’s portfolio grew from one to eight projects and increased its annual budget five-fold (from $2M to $10M); some of the key short-term results and longer term impacts from this diverse portfolio of projects (that focused on youth/CVE vocational training, women’s empowerment, health, and humanitarian assistance) include:
• Convincing the wider international community (Spanish Cooperation Agency, UNICEF, UNFPA, WHO, and GIZ) to assist USAID and the Government of Mauritania in the design and execution of its first internationally recognized Demographic Health Survey in 10 years (in 2019–2020), which is still the most recent standard reference on health issues in Mauritania;
• Creating the first CVE coordination platform for international partners in Mauritania that is still fully functional and supported by the EU (2018); and
• Leading a highly successful multi-donor humanitarian response (including the EU, WFP, Red Cross/France, Save the Children) to the flooding disaster in Brackna and Gorgol (2018).
• Country Representative, Concordis International, and Project Director of the EU-funded Promotion of Human Rights and Strengthening of National Unity in the Senegal River Valley Project, executed by Concordis (Mauritania) (2014–2015): Oversaw the creation of Concordis’s first office in Nouakchott and the start-up of Concordis’s first major project in Mauritania—a $3M democracy and governance project in three regions (Gorgol, Brackna, and Traza) that was scaled up to a fourth region (Asaba) in 2015 with a parallel increase in budget (from $3M to $5M).
• Senior Program Officer, National Democratic Institute (Mauritania) (2006–2014): Created NDI’s first office in Nouakchott and the background research and design of NDI’s first nine projects in Mauritania with funding from the US Department of State, USAID, DRL, and the National Endowment for Democracy; some of NDI’s key achievements from this era include:
• 2007: Co-creation of a multi-disciplinary national youth network that continues to create regional-level activities and projects that are funded by multiple bilateral and multilateral donors;
• 2006–2007: Sponsoring the broadcast (television and radio) of the first open debates between presidential candidates in the Arab world (in 2007) as well as a new tradition of broadcasting debates for municipal candidates that started a year earlier and continues to the present time; and
• 2010: Co-creation of a platform for women as well as some targeted financial and technical assistance that resulted in the drafting and ultimate approval of a new law that made it easier for women candidates to run in democratic elections; within two years (2012), the number of women in parliament increased from one to eight and the number of women in the municipal governments increased from 10% to 30%.
• Program Coordinator, Caritas Mauritania (Mauritania) (2004–2006): Program coordination, monitoring, and reporting for donors (Secours Catholique, Caritas–Espagne, Mismo [Caritas Austria], CRS).

Education & Certifications

M.S.II, National Security, Centre des Hautes Etudes de Défense et de Sécurité, Senegal

M.S.II, Project Management, Gaston Berger University, Senegal

B.S. & M.S., Economics, University of Nouakchott, Mauritania

Languages, Tools, & Honors

Fluent: French, English, Arabic, Fulfulde, Wolof, Hassaniya

Tools: GLAAS, Phoenix/PRISM, Ariba, ILMS, MS Office Suite, ArcGIS

Honors: Two USAID On the Spot (OTS) Awards (Senegal)