Kalim Hanna
Stevensville ,MD
Summary
Foreign Service Officer with twenty-five years of international, domestic, and academic experience in development; agriculture; infrastructure planning and construction; environmental compliance; water, sanitation, and hygiene; water resource management; climate change programming; and flood disaster mitigation and stormwater management.
Overview
28
28
years of professional experience
Work History
Economic Growth Deputy Office Director
USAID
Guatemala City
06.2023 - Current
- Serve as the Deputy Office Director for the Economic Growth Office at USAID/Guatemala with approximately $35 million in annual funding, covering a diverse portfolio of agriculture, private sector, and environmental programs including clean energy, biodiversity, climate change, and sustainable landscape activities
- Provided technical and strategic direction of the environment portfolio and directly supervised the Environment and Private Sector Team Leads, as well as the Mission Environmental Officer
- Led the design of the Mission’s clean energy activity to expand energy services and productive energy use in underserved communities
Supervisory Private Sector Officer
USAID
Monrovia, Liberia
08.2019 - 06.2023
- Served as the Deputy Office Director for the Economic Growth Office at USAID/Liberia covering a complex portfolio of Agriculture, Private Sector, Energy, Natural Resource Management, and Infrastructure programs
- Provided strategic management of the Mission’s $15 million Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) portfolio
- Served as the Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) for several large construction activities including $18 million Feeder Road and Maintenance Program; $10 million WASH and Health Clinics activity; and two separate WASH Construction Oversight and Utility Management programs
- Coordinated with USG initiatives including Power Africa, Prosper Africa and Feed the Future
Engineering Team Lead
USAID
Washington, D.C.
10.2018 - 08.2019
- Served the USAID/Haiti Mission as the Engineering Team Leader for the Office of Infrastructure, Energy, and Engineering, during a difficult transition, while the Mission was sequestered in Washington DC due to civil unrest in Haiti
- Managed a team of 2 Foreign Service Officers and 4 Foreign Service Nationals
- Led a team of engineers in the management of a diverse portfolio of engineering and construction activities; restarted stalled construction activities by chairing a Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) for the selection of implementers for the rehabilitation of two health clinics and for the selection of a contractor for a $6 million port improvement activity; led discussions with the Government of Haiti Project Management Unit regarding the management of a contentious $50 million state hospital activity; developed and implemented a Mission management plan to oversee construction activities in order to save costs and enhance staff roles
Water Advisor
USAID
Washington, D.C.
03.2016 - 10.2018
- Provided technical support to USAID Missions throughout Sub-Saharan Africa on project design, monitoring, and evaluation of WASH programs
- Developed Water Quality Assurance Plan Guidance Note and Template for use by all technical advisors and programs engaged in water service delivery
- Served as the Agreement Officer Representative for a $5.0 million USAID-USGS Groundwater Exploration and Assessment program that utilized ground-based and remotely sensed data to assess the potential for water exploration in water-scarce regions of Kenya and Ethiopia
- Served as the Alternate Agreement Officer Representative on a $12.4 million Water for Africa through Leadership and Institutional Support (WALIS) program that provided capacity building to regional and national organizations in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector
Regional Environmental Advisor
USAID
Dakar, Senegal
06.2014 - 02.2016
- Served as the Contracting Officer Representative for a $11.5 million Sahel Resilience Learning (SAREL) program that provided evaluation and learning support to USAID resilience efforts in Niger and Burkina Faso
- Served as Agreement Officer Representative for a $2.0 million Government-to-Government agreement between USAID and the Government of Mauritania to support vocational education and counter violent extremism
- Ensured that USAID Reg
- 22CFR 216 Environmental Compliance procedures upheld through review, approval, and monitoring of environmental compliance documents and programs for USAID and DCHA activities in 10 countries across West Africa, including Senegal, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania, Cape Verde, Gambia, Liberia, and Sierra Leone
- Supervised Foreign Service National (FSN) serving as Mission Environmental Officer for Senegal and limited/non-presence countries in the Sahel; evaluated performance and set work objectives for the natural resource management team
- Provided technical guidance on natural resource management, climate-smart agriculture and environmental compliance to client Missions and USAID implementers under the Resilience in the Sahel Enhanced Initiative (RISE), a $125 million 5 year program designed to improve the resilience of the most vulnerable communities in the Sahel
Regional Water Advisor
USAID
Cairo, Egypt
04.2013 - 06.2014
- Led the development, review, and approval process of a 5 year Water Strategy, which included 5 regional programs serving Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Jordan, and the West Bank
- Provided technical leadership in the planning, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of regional water sector activities including water and sanitation, water system modeling, water governance, climate change, and watershed management activities
- Chaired technical selection committee for the selection of two regional programs including a water utility capacity building contract and a regional hydroponics activity
- Simultaneously served as the Agreement/Contracting Officer's Representative (A/COR) for 5 regional programs, including the following: Water Information Systems Platform (WISP), a $2 million dollar Participating Agency Program Agreement (PAPA) between NASA and USAID to provide training, technical capacity, and analytical tools to participating regional ministries for the management of water resources in 5 regional countries; Modeling and Monitoring Agriculture and Water Resources Development (MAWRED) activity, a $3 million cooperative agreement with the International Center for Bio-Saline Agriculture (ICBA) to provide training, capacity building, and program assistance in the application of NASA analytical tools and climate change models; Improving Water and Sanitation Services in the MENA Region (IWSMR), a $2 million contract with Chemonics to scale out a water utility certification program in the Middle East; Hydroponic Green Farming Initiative, a $1 million program to test and scale low-cost hydroponics technologies in Jordan and the region; Groundwater Governance Study, a $1 million grant to the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) to explore reasons for groundwater overexploitation and barriers to improved management of groundwater resources in the Middle East
Agriculture Development Officer
USAID
Bamako, Mali
03.2011 - 04.2013
- Led the design team of an $80 million, 5 year, Cereals Value Chain (CVC) project
- Worked closely with USAID and Department of State colleagues to modify, suspend or transition agricultural activities, in accordance with evolving USG policy guidelines, following the 2012 Malian Coup d’État and growing instability in the north of the country, followed by subsequent military interventions and humanitarian crisis
- Served as the Agreement Officer Representative (AOR) for an Associate Award under the International Sorghum and Millet Collaborative Research Support Program (INTSORMIL-CRSP)
- The program worked with national Malian agricultural research institutes to provide capacity building and increase scientific collaboration between the Government of Mali and US universities
- The program worked with local communities to provide improved seed and training on improved agricultural practices
- Led the development of a $2 million donor-to-donor agreement with KfW and GIZ to provide irrigation infrastructure to rural communities
- Provided technical guidance and field monitoring of USAID/Mali agriculture and natural resource management activities
Senior Engineering Advisor
US Department of State
Diwaniya, Iraq
12.2008 - 12.2009
- Served as the Senior Engineering Advisor for the US State Department Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) located on the Forward Operating Base (FOB), Camp ECHO, in Diwaniyah, Iraq
- Worked closely with the Department of Defense (DOD), Department of State (DOS) and USAID colleagues to coordinate, plan, and implement provincial reconstruction efforts
- Collaborated with local Iraqi officials to assess the development needs of the province, and to determine a strategic plan of action to implement projects that would serve to stabilize the country
- Projects undertaken include the refurbishment of a central water treatment facility serving 500,000 people; the development of a GIS center and training program; and the construction of multiple schools and primary health care facilities throughout the province
Lead Engineer
Dewberry Davis
Arlington, USA
01.2008 - 09.2008
- Served as Lead Engineer for watershed modeling projects using HEC-RAS and geoFIRM applications
- Project work included the production of floodplain work maps indicating the extent of riverine and coastal flooding associated with 100-year and 500-year storm events
- Work products included finalized Digital Flood Insurance Rate Maps (DFIRM), the associated Technical Support Data Notebook (TSDN), and Flood Insurance Study materials for submission to FEMA
- Mentored junior engineers and GIS specialists in hydraulic modeling, analysis, and mapping
Water Resource Engineer
SWRF/ARCADIS
Tampa, FL
09.2005 - 01.2008
- Evaluated the hydrologic and environmental impact of a proposed 10 billion gallon reservoir included in the long-term water supply plan of East Central Florida
- Contributed to the development of the Preliminary Engineering Report (PER) submitted to the U.S
- Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), analyzing levees and floodwalls associated with a portion of the New Orleans Hurricane Protection System located within the St
- Bernard Parish following Hurricane Katrina
- Developed hydraulic models for the design of large-scale stormwater management systems, and conducted flood studies for the determination of flood elevations and the preparation of stormwater drainage reports for submission to regulatory agencies responsible for permitting in Florida
- Developed a hydraulic model used in the design of a constructed treatment wetland system
- Designed stormwater management systems for residential and commercial developments in order to meet strict permitting criteria of the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD)
- Modeled flood elevations and flow dynamics using EPA-SWMM, HEC-RAS, and ICPR simulation models
- Reviewed Environmental Resource Permit (ERP) submittals on behalf of the SWFWMD to determine compliance with regulatory requirements
- Inspected construction sites to ensure compliance with SWFWMD permit requirements
USDA National Needs Fellow / Research Assistant
University of Maryland at College Park
College Park, Maryland
01.2002 - 09.2005
- Conducted doctoral research in the development of a decision support system (DSS) designed to predict the economic net benefit of irrigation installations for agricultural fields within a given region
- The study estimated both the economic net benefit and potential irrigation water demand on a regional scale and assessed the environmental impact of irrigation on nutrient and sediment transport processes
- Project development involved the integration of an existing hydrologic model, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), with a custom program application coded to use SWAT output data to identify fields where irrigation installations will be most profitable
- Conducted research, at a Master’s level, on the use of electric fields as a means of water clarification for recirculating aquaculture systems and evaluated its potential use in aquaculture production facilities
- Served as a Teaching Assistant for a combined graduate and undergraduate Biological Materials course offered at the University of Maryland at College Park, responsible for grading written assignments, proctoring exams, and providing assistance to students in learning the required material
Irrigation Engineer
Bahá’í World Centre-Mount Carmel Projects
, Israel
05.1998 - 01.2002
- Oversaw the design, construction, and management of the water distribution and irrigation system for a terraced 60-acre landscaping/construction project on the slopes of Mt
- Carmel in Haifa, Israel
- The irrigation system design consisted of six irrigation regimes and over 50 independent irrigation control zones, which supplied water to an ornamental garden extending from the base of Mt
- Carmel to its summit, a distance of one kilometer in length and 200 meters in elevation
- The project included the design and construction of a well-pumping system and a reverse osmosis facility for the gardens and ornamental fountains
- Supervised four construction and maintenance teams comprising up to 18 personnel
- Managed 15 additional independent gardens within the vicinity of the Baha’i World Center
- Wrote Operation and Maintenance Manual for all irrigation and water distribution systems of the Baha’i World Center
- Completed final as-built drawings for irrigation and water distribution systems, and was instrumental in developing CAD standards and layouts for irrigation plans and cataloging drawings for future reference
- Served as system administrator of a maintenance management program, MAXIMO, for a campus of 600 employees and six administrative buildings
- Implementation involved the development of a management database including preventative maintenance procedures, maintenance schedules, equipment inventory, invoice/ purchase order information, and employee and contractor data
Environmental Engineer
OnSite Environmental
San Jose, CA
01.1997 - 03.1998
- Conducted various technical services as an environmental engineer including field data collection, data analysis, and technical report writing
Education
Ph.D. - Biological Resource Engineering – Specializing in Irrigation Engineering
University of Maryland at College Park
College Park12.2006
M.S. - Biological Resource Engineering – Specializing in Aquaculture Engineering
University of Maryland at College Park
College Park05.2004
B.S. - Biological Resources Engineering – Specializing in Environmental Engineering
University of Maryland at College Park
College Park12.1996
Skills
- Report writing
- Performance improvement
- Contract administration
- Workflow planning
- Clear oral/written communication
- Office management
- Team supervision
- Strategic planning
- Staff management
- Regulatory compliance
- Proposal writing
- Employee supervision
- Compliance monitoring
Professional Qualifications - Professional Registration
Professional Engineer (PE), Civil Engineer – Water Resources, Florida, 2007, PE # 67366
Timeline
Economic Growth Deputy Office Director
USAID
06.2023 - Current
Supervisory Private Sector Officer
USAID
08.2019 - 06.2023
Engineering Team Lead
USAID
10.2018 - 08.2019
Water Advisor
USAID
03.2016 - 10.2018
Regional Environmental Advisor
USAID
06.2014 - 02.2016
Regional Water Advisor
USAID
04.2013 - 06.2014
Agriculture Development Officer
USAID
03.2011 - 04.2013
Senior Engineering Advisor
US Department of State
12.2008 - 12.2009
Lead Engineer
Dewberry Davis
01.2008 - 09.2008
Water Resource Engineer
SWRF/ARCADIS
09.2005 - 01.2008
USDA National Needs Fellow / Research Assistant
University of Maryland at College Park
01.2002 - 09.2005
Irrigation Engineer
Bahá’í World Centre-Mount Carmel Projects
05.1998 - 01.2002
Environmental Engineer
OnSite Environmental
01.1997 - 03.1998
Ph.D. - Biological Resource Engineering – Specializing in Irrigation Engineering
University of Maryland at College Park
M.S. - Biological Resource Engineering – Specializing in Aquaculture Engineering
University of Maryland at College Park
B.S. - Biological Resources Engineering – Specializing in Environmental Engineering
University of Maryland at College Park
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