If not now, when?...

Greetings ! नमस्ते !! Сайн байна уу !!! ​ 

Working with diverse bureaucratic systems since the seventies, alone or with trusted global associates, I realised early that while, in some respects, bureaucracies around the world had similarities, their often interesting and sometimes opaque differences were influenced by and reflected in the particular culture from which they emanated. I termed this “ethnobureaucracy”.  It became clear that to work with diverse bureaucracies—be they in governments, non-government organizations, corporations, unorganized civil society or insurgent groups—the background cultures needed to be understood before any meaningful changes could ensue. While a truism, this revelation is disregarded by many well-meaning development professionals because of some combination of these reasons: time pressures by donor agency; ignorance or disbelief in inherent influences of cultural issues; ease of acting in comfortable, ingrained ways as opposed to more ambiguous interactions; and believing that one’s own way is ultimately the correct path. If, however, one can acknowledge differences and anomalies and learn modalities of better synchronizing planning, implementation and relationships, it will be found that sincere efforts at enhancing lives and institutions would bear fruit. These issues and their appurtenant improvements, if not solutions, fall within the ambit of Ethnobureaucratica.
Director Ivan G. Somlai
My experience has included conceptualization, design, implementation management and monitoring of strategies and projects across sectors, countries and disciplines; comprehensive programme development and management; development of a comprehensive, multisectoral global projects’ portfolio; institutional assessment to guage compatibility between the needs of a major mining company and a technical institution to train new staff up to the international standards required; de novo development of institutions and departments, including policies and procedures for administrative, academic, governance and property management functions; community development; sport development, multisport games organization, management and coaching from community to élite Olympic level; teaching management at university; security analysis and follow-up mitigation strategies; programme committee and faculty of disaster and humanitarian response training; and facilitating capacity building programmes with governments and institutions.
 
Collaboration for resource allocation and/or implementations had been with NGOs and INGOs; government ministries and concerned departments (e.g. Health, Education including TVET, Labour, Administration, Tourism, Multiculturalism); universities and private firms; International Financial Institutions (ADB, World Bank); foundations (e.g. Gorbachev Foundation); bilateral donors (e.g. CIDA, IDRC, DANIDA, SDC); educational cooperatives (AUCC, ACCC); and private sources.
 
I have facilitated workshops for counterparts on all acronymic “mot de la décennie”: RBM, PIP, PMF, MonEv etc.. Other topics have included Organizational Socialization and Its Impact on Performance; The Social Action Process; Leadership; Teamwork; Ethics; Decision Making; Motivation; Communication Skills; Management and People Change; Management of Change; Foreigners and Host Nationals Working Together; Differences in "Asian" and "Western" Management; Job Descriptions, Evaluations & Follow-up Training; Planning; Supervision; The Collaborative Partnership Cycle in International Agreements; Emergency Care Management; Participatory Research, Evaluation and Management; Results Based Management; Preparation for International Assignments; The Politics of Development; Advanced Negotiation and Conflict Mediation Technology; Increasing Public Participation in Local Government and Administration, Environmental Monitoring, Stakeholder Identification and Participation, Sustainable Development; Developing Trust in Volatile Environments; Extractive Industries and Conflict; Transition from Disaster Relief to Systematic Development.
 
Underscoring all of my work, be it with Canadian First Nations, overseas counterparts and beneficiaries, rural or urban communicants or stakeholders anywhere ….are ethical, gender-sensitive, interdisciplinary and participatory interactions.
For my aide-memoire on “Social & Smart Entrepreneurship - practices to abet improvement in any international collaboration”, please listen to Radio INSEAD Entrepreneurship, Paris, France. 
​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8qeqTCUv4A 

​For some of my thoughts on international development, please listen to my interview at the University of Victoria.
Extremists 'looking for soft targets': expert
Extremist expert Ivan Somlai discusses what would drive these types of groups to violently target innocent people.
toronto.ctvnews.ca  
I sincerely look forward to your communication and discussion about possible collaboration. ​​
Iván  Győző  Somlai

​Project Strengths & Key Collaborative Areas

Project realisation:
  • Conceptualisation
  • Proposal development
  • Implementation
  • Monitoring
  • Coordination
  • Evaluation

Multiculturalism
International due diligence for market consideration
Organizational Development (‘OD’)
  • Motivation of multidisciplinary / intercultural teams
  • Ethnobureaucratic analysis
  • Holistic, interdisciplinary, participatory approaches
  • Donor and stakeholder coordination
  • Executive leadership training
  • Conflict mitigation​
Decentralisation
Governance
Preferred sectors
  • Rural health systems and services 
  • Social forestry 
  • Ecotourism 
  • Vocational/technical education

Countries of Experience: Consulted in and/or with the following countries:

Africa: Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Libya, South Africa, Tanzania

Europe: Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Russia, ​Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom

Americas: Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Cuba, Dominica, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica*, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, USA

Australasia: Australia, Bangladesh#, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China (including Tibet), India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea (South), Korea (North), Laos, Malaysia#, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal#, Pakistan*, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam.

Antarctica..... not yet! 
Notes:
Underlined signifies managing 5-6-year bilateral-funded project.
* Signifies managing 3-year bilateral or other-funded project.
# Signifies managing IFI-funded project.
"Tafawat ast miyan i shanidan i man u tu....Tu bastan i daro man fath i bab mi shanavam"

My sense of hearing is poles apart from yours....You hear shutting of the door, I hear opening of the gate
​(Persian verse)
Iván Győző SOMLAI

Director / Igazgató / निर्देशक / Directeur/захирал 
Ethnobureaucratica
Ivan.Somlai@INSEAD.edu
http://ethnobureaucratica.weebly.com
Skype & LinkedIn : Ivan G. Somlai

Links to some of my Ethical Partners: