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Profile Alpha Barry
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Alpha Barry is International Aid / Cooperation Officer at EuropeAid, European Commission.
Personal Slogan
It always seems impossible until it’s done - Nelson Mandela.
Professional Background
- International Aid / Cooperation Officer at EuropeAid, European Commission
- Assistant Program Officer for Indonesia and the Philippines at the Democratization and Peacebuilding department of ICCO (2007-2009)
- Finance Officer at ICCO, first for South-east Asia and then the Great Lakes Region of Africa (2004-2007)
- Interim Professional for Atos Origin / KPMG Interim Management (2003-2004)
- Business Analyst for Orange (2000-2002)
Further Reading
- Essay for Worldconnectors youth essay contest: “Interesting Times”.
Links
www.icco.nl
Member of:
Youth and Young Professionals
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Weblog
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June 04 2010 |
In de kakofonie van partijslogans en oneliners willen wij een ander geluid laten horen. Wij staan voor onze verworvenheden als wereldburgers en kijken VERDER*
Think globally, act locally
A famous quote states that, “All politics is local”, and the current Dutch electoral campaign is taking this to an extreme. But how honest is this of our leading politicians in an ever more interdependent world? Several big international themes seem to be largely ignored in the debates and treated minimally. A few brief examples:
• The environment seems to have more or less disappeared from the agenda. Other than a few parties wanting to meet the EU targets and some outdoing them little has been mentioned. Minima...
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October 07 2009 |
Guinea, the country where I am from on my father’s side, is one of those small West African countries that hardly makes the news. The past months, though, this has changed. At the end of 2008 the former president, Lansana Conte, died after having been president for twenty-four years. As can be expected, this marked a huge shift in the politics of a country that has only had two presidents in its five decades of independence. In a matter of days a fraction of the military took power in a more or less bloodless coup. Which way would things go?
Unfortunately Guinea again made the news the past few days: more than a hundred and fifty civilians were killed by the security forces during a peace full rally at the main stadium of the capital, Co...
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March 19 2009 |
Recently I had the honor of celebrating International Women’s Day in Liberia, attending a large colloquium dealing with the role of women dealing with such issues as the current financial crisis, climate change, and with peace building. Liberia has Africa’s first women president, so the symbolism of holding the conference in Liberia was large. However, especially regarding the role of women in peace building, Liberia was the only logical place to hold the conference.
From the late 1980’s to 2003 Liberia was violently torn by several gruesome civil wars costing the lives of some 200 000 Liberians. At times the war spilt over, involving neighboring countries such as Guinea and Sierra Leone. A large United Nations peacekeeping force remains until today and a...
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September 29 2008 |
Undoubtedly the news item of September is the financial crisis and the massive bailout by the government of the United States (US). Rightfully so the annual United Nations (UN) meetings in New York were in light of the potential implications of this for development cooperation and the reaching of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The bigger shocks though, were the size and speed of the bailout.
700 billion US dollars is a lot of money, especially in development terms. According to the OECD, aid by the 22 members of its Development Assistance Committee (including the major donors) was US dollars 103.7 billion in 2007. To rid the world of malaria, a disease that is thought to cost Africa thousands of deaths every year and costs the continent 30 billi...
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March 04 2008 |
March 04, 2008
Sometimes the unimaginable happens. For several weeks now the international media has been dominated by a man with an exotic name and background. Recently three Dutch weeklies had his picture on their covers in the same week – remarkable as the person in question is not Dutch and was largely unknown in the Netherlands a few months ago. BBC World, CNN, and many local television stations have recounted his achievements and discussed his endeavors and qualifications. No, he’s not a terrorist, nor a dictator in a far away country. He’s also not a footballer nor a writer threatened with a fatwa. He is, unimaginable, a politician.
By now it is unimaginable that you have not guessed that I’m referring to Barack Hussein Obama, Jr., Senator in...
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October 10 2007 |
October 10, 2007
Not too long ago, I came across the report of the independent commission on international development issues under the chairmanship of Will Brandt (North-South: A Programme for Survival). This commission, which included our very own Jan Pronk as ex officio member, started its work in 1978 - the year I was born - to develop practical policy recommendations to fight poverty in the world. The German chairman ended his introduction to the report with the dire warning that, “There is a real danger that in the year 2000 a large part of the world’s population will still be living in poverty.”
Seven years later Brandt’s warning sounds eerie to me. Our plans have become either less ambitious or more realistic: in 2000 we decided to halve pov...
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September 05 2007 |
September 05, 2007
What people call ‘globalization’ is often unclear. At times the term is used to describe a (neo-) liberal economic agenda. Sometimes it describes the impact of technological development. Some see it as a socio-cultural phenomenon while others feel it combines elements from all of the above. Though this, let’s say imprecision, makes for fascinating debates, it does complicate discussions about the nature of globalization, the choices that need to be made regarding it. However, there are places where one is confronted with globalization in its full force. One of these places is Rizal Avenue in Manila, the capital of the Philippines.
Named after one of the Philippines’ revolutionary heroes, who was executed by the Spanish in 18...
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April 16 2007 |
April 16, 2007
The organizers of Africa Day, the Evert Vermeer Foundation (EVS), invited a controversial keynote speaker this year: Jerry Rawlings, former president of Ghana. His invitation was so controversial that the director of the Evert Vermeer Foundation, felt the need to justify it in an article in de Volkskrant (a summary of the article can be read on the website of EVS).
Indeed, opinions on Rawlings are understandably divided: on the one hand he seems to fit in the classical definition of an African military dictator with no less than three coups and he headed a regime which was tainted by human rights abuses. On the other hand, he more or less voluntarily handed over power twice to civilian rule and arguably helped lay the foundations that have allowed Ghana to ...
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April 05 2007 |
April 05, 2007
Not too long ago the two of us joined the Worldconnectors as new youth members. Enthusiastic as we were – and still are- we did wonder what our contribution could be to this impressive network of prominent individuals.
When discussing serious issues such as migration, international relations or the environment, would they really be waiting for our input after hearing from the likes of Sylvia Borren, Joris Voorhoeven or Naema Tahir? Furthermore, would we as youth members not simply absorb and conform to the opinions of these experienced and knowledgeable experts?
A few weeks ago we have met the current youth members who have been involved with the Worldconnectors since the start up, several communication experts (including fellow Worldcon...
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