Iván Győző Somlai
Consultant and Independent Practitioner
Ivan has focused his professional life on social development globally in numerous sectors, through private or institutional collaborations with diverse bilateral, multilateral and commercial partners (e.g.CIDA/GAC, IDRC, ADB, WB, Gorbachev Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, OECD/ODIHR, DANIDA, FINNIDA, USAID, OCHA etc.as well as extractive firms [mines, timber], educational institutions, non-government organizations and all tiers of selected governments). His work spanned brief to multiyear contracts, remote management to full-time field management overseas.
While having worked on all continents (but Antarctica), including engagements in more fragile environments such as North Korea, Libya and Slovakia (Roma communities), his favourite focii have remained Nepal (throughout), Pakistan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mongolia (throughout), Indonesia (Kalimantan), and the Caribbean.
Ivan is quadrilingual, and has produced an eclectic range of publications encompassing human trafficking, sports, interdisciplinarity, insurgency analysis, organizational development, evaluation and tourism; regarding the latter, Ivan is an Expert Resource with the Centre mondial d’excellence pour les destinations (CED).
He was Managing Editor of the International Journal of Social Forestry (2006-2017); on the Editorial Board of the Pakistan Journal of Peace and Conflict Studies (2016-2019); Editor of EvalChat of Caribbean Evaluators International (2018-2022); currently Editorial Board of the.Journal of Government Science/Jurnal llmu Pernerintahan, Universitas Mulawarman, Indonesia (2019-present); and Editorial Board, Fascinating Pakistan, as of 2022.
Avocationally, Ivan is an erstwhile Olympian, mountaineer and Alpine Guide; and remains a passionate skier and prolific writer onerously maintaining a 5000 piece library.
Areas of Expertise: Multicultural workplace harmonization, social services delivery (i.e.education, health water, local governance), institutional assessments, governance, natural resource management , disaster response, monitoring and evaluation..... with his inherent integration of sociocultural and political sensitivity, stakeholder participation, gender considerations, interdisciplinary planning, and security in insurgent environments.