Our special guest today is Dr. Thomas J. Hopkins, who is deeply involved in Development/Strategic Planning. He has worked on these efforts all over the world and is the author of an unlimited number of reports, the last being “Capacity Assessment Guidelines: In a Systems and Strategic Management Context, about Somalia and Nairobi. His publications have ranged from “Teaching Evaluative Research in Developing Countries: Practice before Theory” to “Wood Energy Consumption and Resources Survey.” Dr. Hopkins has taught in places as familiar to us as Fordham and Columbia Universities and in places as distant as the University of Zambia. Our subject today is “Modern Africa, Is this Region Making Progress, and How Do Developmental Planners Make an Impact.”

Dr. Hopkins has a Doctorate Degree, Columbia University (New York) in Social Policy and Planning; along with Masters and Undergraduate degrees from Loyola University of Chicago, and Illinois State University. He has 30 Years experience in the Policy/Planning field (domestic and international). He is a Former University Professor (in USA and Africa) specializing in Social Policy/Planning and Evaluation Research and a former UN senior official for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP/OPS) New York and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Nairobi, Kenya. His special skills include Program planning, evaluation and analysis surveys, project preparation, baseline studies, needs assessment, strategic planning and operations/management research.

During February – March 2006 He was a member of the UNDP/World Bank Somalia Joint Needs Assessment Mission and participated in the “Local Government” field visits Capacity Assessment in the three major regions of Somalia – Somaliland, Puntland and Central/Southern Somalia. I designed and presented my report “Capacity Assessment and Development Guidelines: In a Systems and Strategic Management Context”. He has worked recently in Pakistan on citizens’ participation and community empowerment.  He has worked on the Nile Basin Initiative, which is a program regarding eight countries in East and Central Africa.