Biographie
Mr Oumar B. Samaké is a research and development project management expert. He has worked in several NGOs in the development field and acquired significant experience in project management and collaborative work. He has held operational positions in the various NGOs he has worked for before moving on to management positions.
Born in 1985 in Mali, Mr Oumar B. Samaké did the first part of his studies in Mali, where he obtained a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science in 2006 and a Master's degree in Economics in 2008 at the University of Bamako.
Mr. Oumar B. Samaké began his professional career in 2006 at the NGO "Réseau des Intervenants auprès des Orphelins et autres Enfants Vulnérables" on Global Fund programs to fight malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS. When the Global Fund programs ended in 2010, Mr Samaké worked as an independent consultant for two years before resuming his studies at the Graduate Institute of Development Studies in Geneva (Switzerland), where he obtained a Master in Advanced Studies (MAS) in Development Policy and Practice in 2013.
From that moment on, he chose to build the rest of his career on issues related to sustainable development. Thus, he has worked on several research and development projects/programs in agriculture, food and nutrition security (including agroecology and climate-smart agriculture), natural resource management, climate change, water and sanitation, and governance.
During his career, he has worked in close collaboration with several international research institutions (ICRISAT1, ILRI2, World Vegetable Center, ICRAF3, CIAT4, IITA5, Etc.) in the joint implementation of research projects in the West African sub-region (Mali, Niger, Burkina, Senegal, Ghana, Benin).
During his research, Mr Samaké focused on strategies and mechanisms for adapting agriculture and food and nutrition security to climate change. He has also worked on developing nutrition-sensitive agricultural value chains in Mali's agroecological and socioeconomic contexts.
Over time, he has developed solid experience working in specific contexts. He can understand complex development issues and make them accessible to different actors, which has made him a process facilitator since 2014.
His work as a facilitator has been instrumental in the success of several research and development initiatives and projects in several areas. In 2017, he led the campaign against toxic fuels in Mali in partnership with Swiss and Malian civil society organizations. He recently led the process of co-creating the "Mali Resilience Challenge" program with about thirty actors evolving on the humanitarian-development-peace nexus. For over five years, he has co-facilitated annual meetings of the community of practice of a collaborative research program on agroecological systems. He has also facilitated the yearly meetings of another community of practice on water and sanitation for about a decade.
Mr Oumar B. Samaké has co-authored several food and nutrition security publications, including "Prioritizing Investments for Climate-Smart Agriculture: Lessons Learned from Mali'', published in 2017. He also contributed to an article on raising small ruminants to overcome malnutrition entitled "Effects of Food and Health Interventions on Small Ruminant Production in Mixed Agriculture-Livestock Production Systems in Southern Mali," published in 2021.
Mr Oumar Baba Samaké is currently co-manager of the Sahelian Institute for Research and Development (SIRD) in Mali. He is also a member of the board of directors of an NGO working on food and nutrition security in Mali and a social enterprise distributing solar technologies.
1L’Institut international de recherche sur les cultures des zones tropicales semi- arides
2International Livestock Research Institute
3The World Agroforestry Centre
4Centre International pour l’Agriculture Tropicale
5International Institute of Tropical Agriculture