Samuel de Castro

decastrosamuel@hotmail.com
Phone contact in Brazil (55 61) 8121 1341 Brasilia

Education
University BA, major in Linguistics, Literature and Translation in Portuguese, English; good knowledge of Spanish; intermediate
level of French; basic knowledge of Italian and Arabic; post-graduate training/experience in International Relations at Agencia
Brasileira Cooperacao, Brazil´s Ministry of External Relations; and significant experience in the United Nations´ food aid agency
(WFP) in Brazil and various countries of Africa and the Middle East.

Professional Experience
1978 – Joined the World Food Programme in Brazil on 06 November 1978 after a six-year experience in the field of tourism as
tour guide, hotel manager, translator/interpreter and private language tutor.

1979/82 – period as bilingual secretary in WFP Brasilia: During my first Fixed-Term appointment as bilingual secretary with
WFP Country Office in Brazil; I was recommended as professional staff member in 1982 by the then WFP Director, Brazil.

1982/85 – administration and startup in Programme matters in WFP Brazil: Administrative/Programme Assistant, helped the
Country Office to organize the first International Afro-Brazilian Workshop on ‘Uses of Food Aid in Emergencies & Development
Project/ Operations’ held in December 1985 in Recife and Aracaju, Northeast Brazil.

1986/89 – Multifunctional experience at WFP in Brasilia, plus extensive and varied training
o Programme/Special Assistant to Country Director I performed for three years the duties of
admin/programme/logistics/shipping assistant; helped in appointment and training of office staff.
o Directly participated in the expansion of Brazil’s portfolio from 16 to approximately 150 million US dollars.
o Participated in WFP Logistics Course tailored to project officers at ODNRI in Slough (UK) in November 1987.
o Informally invited to temporarily head the Country Office in Cape Verde for 6 months in 1989.
o Assisted in setting up a Wheat Monetization system for WFP projects in Brazil (3 years negotiation, 10 years
implementation: 1986/96)
o Coordinated Seminar on Reinstatement of Rural Development Project BRA/2540 in Minas-Gerais State , SE Brazil
o Helped plan/implement emergency operation EMOP BRA/3359 and design 3 ‘Quick Action Projects’ in the Northeast
o Coordinated a WFP-organized Logistics Workshop at Vicosa University in Minas Gerais State.

1990/96 – Programming experience in WFP Brazil

o As National officer (G-7/8) assumed expanded programming responsibilities acting at times as ‘Project Officer’ in
absences of international staff.
o Helped coordinate WFP-organized Workshop on Project Design, Monitoring and Evaluation, Recife (1992)
o Organized 30 M&E seminars and coordinated the Mid-term Evaluation of BRA/2794 Rural Development Project in
Northeast Brazil from 1988 to 1996.
o Carried out more than 250 monitoring field trips to the 9 northeastern states in areas covered by the development project
BRA/2794 in the same period.
o Received informal invitations by the CDs for transfer to Angola (1990) Afghanistan (1993), Bolivia (1996)
o Assisted in setting up and phasing out, on occasions headed a WFP area office in Recife (1990-92)
o Co-managed a Rural Development Project in 2,000 communities of Northeast Brazil; co-managed a School Feeding
Project in North and Northeast Brazil, each valued at 60 million dollars (testimonial letters from Country Directors at the
time available, on request).

1997/1999 – consultant’s contract with ABC of Ministry of External Relations (Itamaraty)

o International Advisor for Technical Cooperation at Agencia Brasileira de Cooperacao/ABC of Foreign Affairs
Min.
o Participated in Project Design & Implementation seminars organized in Salvador, Brazil and in Montevideo,
Uruguay
o Organized a Technical Cooperation Mission to Guyana in mid 1998
o Helped create the original web pages of ABC’s Internet site: http://www.abc.mre.gov.br/

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 o Acted as translator/interpreter as needed.
o Organized visit and accompanied WFP’s Regional Manager in ex-post evaluation of rural projects in Brazil in
late 1998.

1999/2001 – Consultancy mission in Angola

o Upon invitation of one of the WFP Regional Directors, accepted a Consultancy mission offer in Angola to act as
Programme Officer/Head of Sub-Offices in the provinces of Malange, Cuando Cubango, Huambo, Uige and Lunda-Sul
o Contributed to streamlining beneficiary registration as well as Monitoring and Evaluation systems countrywide, Angola
o Received and provided Vulnerability Assessment and Mapping (VAM) training in November’99.
o Participated in Rapid Needs Assessment in May 2000 of war-stricken Angolan provinces.
o Contributed to FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply mission of 2001 as HOSO in Uige province.
o Acted as Area Security Coordinator in Malange, Huambo and Lunda provinces.

March/August 2001 – Contract with LWF-WS in Angola

Served as Planning/Monitoring Officer at the Lutheran World Federation/LWF/World Service’s Country Office in Angola
(duties/responsibilities as level P4 at UN); later opted to interrupt contract and accept another invitation by WFP to serve in Iraq.

September 2001– March 2003 – special mission in Iraq as International Observer and Reports Officer and HosO in Dahuk
o Invited by the Head of Iraq Unit/Cairo re-started in WFP CO Iraq as WFP International Observer in Baghdad, and
Programme Officer/Reports March’02 in Northern Iraq
o March’02-March’03: WFP Programme Officer/Reports to North Coordination Office
o Organized reports/writing workshops to national/international staff in late 2002.
o Helped to streamline the reporting system for the North Coordinator Office
o Helped in security issues before arrival of Security Focal Point for the Northern Iraq from July/October 2002
o Headed the Dahuk, Kurdistan, sub-office in February/March during pre-war contingency/preparedness period.

March to December 2003 – Larnaca, Iran, Amman and Rome at the service of Iraq’s Oil for Food Programme
o March/April 2003– Relocated to Larnaca and for temporary mission in Iraq, acted as Country Office Reports Officer
o June 2003– returned to Baghdad and Erbil, Northern Iraq, on 10 June 2003, also acting as Reports Officer
o 9 September 2003– relocated to Amman, where Country Office for Iraq functioned until December 2003
o Early November 2003 – joined CO Reports Unit invited by the Country Director for Iraq, being transferred to Rome.
o 21 December 2003 – was relocated on TDY to Rome, where temporarily headed the Reporting Unit until May 2004
o December 2003 – organized/participated in Lessons Learned Workshop on Iraq Programme Activities in Rome

Transfer to Eritrea – as Head of Massawa sub-office

o May 2004 – Country Director Patrick Buckley and Deputy M. Mbaye invited me as Head of Sub-Office in Massawa
o July 2004 – after a period of home leave, took over as Head of Massawa SO on 1stst July 2004 for a 2-year mission.

From July 2004 to June 2006, while in Massawa, participated in the following WFP-organized training seminars:

o September 2004 – Results Based Management training held in Massawa, Eritrea

o November 2004 – Programme Quality and Policy Training held in Kampala, Uganda
o June 2005 – Monitoring and Evaluation/AAR – organized by Headquarters, held in Asmara, Eritrea
o June 2005 – Enhancement Commitments to Women (ECW) workshop held in Keren, Eritrea
o June 2005 – RBM refreshment course held in Asmara, Eritrea
o August 2005 – M&E workshop organized by CO/Eritrea held in Asmara.
o November’05: Standard Project Reporting/SPR workshop in Kampala.

From May 2006 to April 2008 – transferred back to Angola, I served as Programme Officer/Head of Sub-Offices in Huambo,
Kuito, C.Cubango, and Benguela provinces, with a key role in the phase-out of WFP from Angola. I was transferred to Sudan to
assume as Head of Office in Aweil, South Sudan as from April 2007 to April 2008. I temporarily halted my career resigning from
WFP to return to Brazil for special family purposes. I am currently performing as free-lance consultant and translator at
Banco Central do Brasil.