7th Class, 2013-2015
Policy Placement: CRS, Baltimore, MD
Mowdou served as a Policy Analyst for Food Security and Agriculture at CRS headquarters in Baltimore. He work in the Agriculture and Livelihood unit within the Program Impact and Quality Assurance department. Mowdou represented CRS in coalitions, external meetings, and other events, tracked current trends in development issues and contributed to advocacy community discussions and knowledge sharing. He brought his field experience to these discussions, making connections between interventions in the field and US government development policies and strategies. He identified opportunities for collaboration and partnerships and conducted research on relevant topics including Climate Smart Agriculture, food security and climate change, seed systems, resilience, and agricultural market linkages. Mowdou helped draft CRS’s policy statements, develop policy positions on development issues, and communicate with partners, constituents, and collaborators. As an M&E specialist, he also contributed to concept notes and proposals and provided support to the Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning department.
Field Placement: Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
As a Food Security Analyst for Catholic Relief Services, Mowdou worked on a USDA Food for Progress value chain project known as “Soya ni Pesa” (Soy is Money), which aims to integrate smallholder farmers into the market economy. Mowdou supported the Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning Unit by developing and refining monitoring and evaluation (M&E) tools and methodology. Mowdou applied GIS technology to create household profiles of target communities and measure food security and livelihoods linkages. Mowdou also provided technical support in the development and roll out of a record-keeping database and trained staff on data analysis and application of M&E tools.
Pre-Fellowship Education/Experience:
Mowdou is an agronomist and a development practitioner who has worked extensively in West Africa and the U.S. He obtained his first Master’s degree in Agronomy, with a strong focus on irrigation systems and farming from Abdel Hamid IBN Badis university of Mostaganem, Algeria. He earned a second Master’s degree in Sustainable Development, International Policy and Management from World Learning SIT Graduate Institute in Washington, DC. This program emphasized monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and research methods and allowed Mowdou to further pursue his interest in food security, M&E and program management. Prior to moving to the U.S., Mowdou worked both as a community development agent and then regional director for a Counterpart International project aimed at promoting maternal and child health and nutrition. After coming to the US, he worked as program analyst at United States African Development Foundation in DC. A native of Mauritania, Mowdou speaks French, Arabic, and Fulani in addition to English, and is able to communicate in other African Dialects as well. Mowdou’s favorite hobby is playing soccer.