Liberian IT Expert Glows Globally
Story Culled from The Agenda Online
Arthur Sawmadal, Jr.Every three months, a young man returns home to Liberia, spends some time in Monrovia and drives down to Rivercess for a few days. He tells contemporaries that he runs a farm there, where he has employed a number of local folks. The farm incorporates (animals, rice, etc) The young man in question is Arthur Sawmadal, Jr. from Rivercess County on the coast of Liberia. He is the son of humble folks, his father being an (Accountant/Farmer), who scraped by to ensure that the kids got well rounded education.
For those, the release said, who do not know Arthur, the question is, what does he do for a living? Some recall Arthur as a student of Economics at the University of Liberia. Yes, he graduated some years ago, but has barely been home. Some would say that Arthur has been in the employ of the UN, perhaps as a volunteer or some emergency staff. But what has he really been up to?
The answer, the release continues, is not far away as he himself would relate that his chance came somewhere during the course of Liberia’s long running civil war he happened to get by Ghana, where he studied Computer Science and Networking. This struck up his entire program, preparing him for the herculean changes that were coming into the world, courtesy of the information age. Between there and his graduation from the UL in 2000, Arthur worked for the United Nations in Liberia., From 2001 to present Arthur has been an international expert with United Nations as a telecommunications expert, during which he traveled extensively around the world assessing, installing and upgrading telecommunications and IT infrastructure of the UN World Food Programme.
For four years this telecoms expert was assigned in Dubai, U.A.E with the WFP Fast Information Technology, Telecommunications and Emergency Support Team (FITTEST), one of the highly recognized telecommunications and IT intervention teams in the UN , the release recalled.. To stand up to the challenges of his work requirements, he later earned a Diploma in VSAT and satellite communications from Intelsat & EMC in Raistin, Germany and a subsequent Graduate Diploma in ICT Emergency Response and Preparedness Management from the Sant’ Anna School of Advance Studies, Pisa, Italy.
The release mentioned that this global leader of Liberian expert has also found time to benefit from a number of specialization courses, including Project Management and presentation, Data Communication Responder Advance Training; Advanced Wireless and Emergency Telecommunications training; and Communication, Influencing and negotiation skills training.
Other training programs he has benefited from include IT Service Management (ITIL); Cisco Installation and Configuration; and Security Awareness Training.
This new lease of knowledge placed Arthur in a new position to work in more than 30 countries in Africa, Asia and Europe, including such emergency zones as Somalia, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo and Albania.
In later years, Arthur has come to Head the Information and Communications Technology Unit for WFP in Somalia, Chad, South Sudan, Mozambique and Liberia, and has also worked as Telecommunications Coordination Officer for the UN & WFP in the following major emergencies: Iraq, Afghanistan, Mozambique floods & recently Myanmar.
Since 2007, he has been assigned in Senegal with the WFP Regional Office for West and Central Africa as the Regional Telecommunications Officer, where he provides telecommunications support and guidance for the 19 countries in the region. He also coordinates ICT interventions during emergencies, assessing the telecommunications infrastructure of the UN Offices in the region to make sure they meet the UN MOSS (Minimum Operations Security Standard) as part of the UN Emergency Telecommunications Cluster, the release pointed out..
According to the release, despite this heavy work load, he has still found time to augment his academic credentials to the extent that he anticipates completing the Masters Degree in Information Systems Management, from the University of Liverpool (United Kingdom) in September 2009. Arthur explains his professional objectives as seeking to become a “strategic Information and Communications Technology (ICT) partner and an effective leader in a dynamic and innovative setting dealing with people of all cultures and nationalities.”
The release noted that more specifically in terms of placing this wealth of experience into the Liberian development context, and considering that Liberia has recently emerged from 14 years of civil war, where the entire telecommunications infrastructure was damaged and backward in the ages, he hopes to utilize his “vast experience in contributing positively to building a viable telecommunications & IT infrastructure in Liberia through the utility of strategic and cost effective management of ICT resources.”
Arthur believes working with and for Liberia will be the heart of his life work, especially if the ordinary Liberian person can benefit from his expertise that has been so graciously accepted globally, the release said. .
