Advisory committee

The role of the Advisory Committee, and, more specifically, of the members of the Advisory Committee, is fairly straightforward and simple. It is to give advice to the Task Team and staff on the implementation of the project.

The members of the Advisory Committee are, as a rule, employed by one of the Partners or Collaborators, and/or they are Supporters.

The members are, in alphabetical order:

Lakhsara Mint Dié

Affiliation and institution: Individual consultant.   Email: lakhsara@hotmail.com. Cell phone: +222 630 7007. Telephone: ?. Fax: ?. Postal address: ?, Nouakchott, Mauritania. URL: ?.

Lakhsara worked for the GTZ project Projet Synergie CDD/CBD that closed in 2004. She was responsible for setting up the GLIN (see Page Collaborators) focus on Mauritania, including preparing GLINS's Mauritania site (see Page Links).

Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Ely

Affiliation and institution: National Coordinator, PDRC, Mauritania.   Email: pdrc2@yahoo.fr. Cell phone: ?. Telephone: ?. Fax: ?. Postal address: ?, Nouakchott, Mauritania. URL: ?.

Mohamed works for PDRC, a World Bank project that started in 2004 and that works in the area of community development. It covers the whole country.

Monika Pottgeiser

Affiliation and institution: ?, GTZ.   Email: akosiwa@t-online.de. Cell phone: ?. Telephone: ?. Fax: ?. Email: akosiwa@t-online.de. Postal address: ?, Nouakchott, Mauritania. URL: ?.

Monika lived in Aioun (where the TFT project office is located) for several years, working on a GTZ project. She has recently returned to Mauritania.

Philippe Rekacewicz

Affiliation and institution: Sr Geographer Cartographer, UNEP/GRID Arendal.   Email: reka@grida.no. Cell phone: +47 992 78 815. Telephone: +47 370 35 714. Fax +47 370 35 050. Postal address: Longum Park, Service Box 706, NO-4808 Arendal, Norway. URL: www.grida.no.

Philippe has worked for several years on environment and poverty linkages in Africa, using cartography and GIS. This includes a recent project in Mauritania.

Jon Rustand

Affiliation and institution: Manager, Geodatasenteret AS.   Email: jon.rustand@geodatasenteret.no. Cell phone: +47 975 64 434. Telephone: +47 370 35 600. Fax: +47 370 35 601. Postal address: Service Box 714, NO-4808 Arendal, Norway. URL: www.geodatasenteret.no.

Jon mainly works with GIS and relevant software applications, including ArcView.

Tara Shine

Affiliation and institution: ?, Technical Section, Development Cooperation Ireland.   Email: tara.shine@dfa.ie. Cell phone: +353 86 171 2130. Telephone: +353 1 408 2038. Fax: +353 1 408 2884. Postal address: Bishop's Square, Redmond's Hill, Dublin 2, Ireland. URL: ?.

Based on detailed fieldwork partly in the TFT project area, Tara has written a PhD thesis on the ecology and biodiversity of the various types of ephemeral wetlands found in this part of Mauritania.

Thomas Sommerhalter

Affiliation and institution: ?, GTZ.   Email: sommerhalter_thomas@hotmail.com. Cell phone: +?. Telephone: +?. Fax: +?. Postal address: Programme GTZ Lutte contre la pauvrete, Tahoua Nord, LUCOP-TAN, B.P. 225, Agadez, Niger. URL: ?.

Thomas was the Director for GIRNEM, a GTZ project located in Aioun and that closed in 2004. GIRNEM's mission overlapped to a large extent with that of TFT, tematically as well as geographically. He was involved in discussing the TFT from the very beginning. TFT has taken over his house in Aioun (complete with an assorted menagerie of animals, including a swimming pool with catfish, 3 land turtles plus their annual and multiple offspring, one house cat plus a variable number of feline hangers-ons and, last but certainly not the least, Rambo the dog). The property serves as residence for expatriate staff and consultants as well as visitors, and as offices for expatriate and local staff.

Andrew Stancioff

Affiliation and institution: Sr Associate / Associé principal - Spécialiste en Systèmes d'Information Géographique (SIG) et évaluations environnementales, Stone Environmental Inc.   Email: astancioff@stone-env.com. Cell phone: +1 202 431 6867. Telephone: +1 202 686 0620. Fax: +1 202 6868 0640. Postal address: 3724 Ingomar Street NW, Washington D.C., 20015 USA. URL: www.stone-env.com.

Andrew has been living in and/or working on Mauritania for a number of years. He specializes in GIS and environmental evaluations.

Hans-Werner Wabnitz

Affiliation and institution: Lawyer, individual consultant.   Email: hw@wabnitz.com. Cell phone: +?. Telephone: +?. Fax: +?. Postal address: ?, Montpellier, France. URL: ?.

It was Hans that initially came up with the idea of what later became TFT, and began discussing it with Lars T. Soeftestad. As the World Bank's operational lawyer for Mauritania he traveled widely in Mauritania (and West Africa and the Sahel more generally), and began discussing TFT with people early on. As a German he had close connections with GTZ and got key GTZ staff, and gradually also the organization, onboard early on. He was TFT's first Task Team Leader. He retired from the Bank in the Fall of 2004, and will, from his new base in Montpellier, France no doubt continue to provide advice and guidance.