2006 - 2007
Throughout 2006 and early 2007, Dr. Wuagneux served as the Senior Policy Advisor for Reconstruction and Development in Afghanistan liaising between the US State Dept. and DoD, providing guidance & coordinating activities of the US Coalition Command, staff, and subordinate commands on COIN, social/ economic/human development and civil-military/civilian relations and issues relating to reconstruction and stability. overseeing decisions translating to over $98 million per quarter.
2008
Dr. Wuagneux served as an Executive Advisor of Reconciliation & Reconstruction for the US Department of Defense, JIEDDO, and XVIII Airborne Corps in Iraq. She provided expertise relevant to Conflict Resolution, Disarmament, Demobilization, strategies to alleviate constraints to accountable/responsive governance and healthy civil-society. Supplied counsel on the Middle East economy of illegal and insurgent activities of Al Qaeda, regional jihadists and related challenges.
2009 - 2010
In 2009 - 2010, Dr. Wuagneux served as the Peace & Development Advisor for UNDP in Dushanbe. Focused on border stabilization, ethnic cooperation & reconciliation in Tajikistan and bordering nations. Including improved program design, development of early warning systems, new conflict-attending crosscutting content and relevant progress indicators and a responsive M& E system Training Manual. Conducted civil mediation & capacity building trainings (as well as ToT) for regional stakeholders.
2011 - 2012
In 2011 - 2012 she served as a Senior Policy Advisor to the US Department of State at the U.S Embassy in Moscow. Evaluated existing policy, recommended new policy improvements, and guidance related to USG programs in Russia. Reviewed systemic factors related to program utility & effectiveness, provided senior staff with relevant capacity building-assistance for the design, commission and management of multi-agency evaluations in preparation for the arrival of incoming US Amb. Michael McFaul. Served Graduate Department of Strategic Studies and Defense Analysis at Norwich University as a course developer.
Dianna Wuagneux, PhD Inducing Community Wellness: The Correspondence Between Complex Living Systems Dynamics, Collective Learning And Well-Being Based Community Development, 1997
The Basics
Become familiar with the nuts and bolts of consulting in the developing world, e.g., available sectors & types of contracts, getting organized, prep work, report writing, timelines and deadlines, project dynamics, multiple-agency environments, building a collaborative network, finding opportunities and the basics of working with other cultures.
Developing, Remote and/or
Post-Conflict Regions
Learn the fundamentals of working in exceptionally challenging environments. Such as, anticipating needs prior to departure, adapting to physical constraints, maintaining physical and psychological balance, obtaining personal and professional provisions, planning and execution in environments of significant corruption in politics, policing and rule of law, managing expectations, and working with peacekeeping forces.
Conflict Zones
Learn to work in dangerous, severely deprived and unpredictable environments. For instance, mental and physical preparation, practical communications, food & shelter, getting around, interface with US and foreign militaries, collaboration with /between donor agencies, cooperation with humanitarian organizations, emergency preparedness & best practices for maintaining safety and security.
Contrary to the popular belief that conflict, violence, and war are biologically and intrinsically part of the human nature, history teaches us that at different times and places human beings, irrespective of their faith, ethnicity, race, ideology, social class, age and gender, have always created innovative ways of living together in peace and harmony both as individuals and as groups.
She is thorough in actions and very insightful. Her knowledge in third world development and comfort in working with the military made her invaluable to the division staff while deployed. Her advice was sought after not only from the Division Commander, but from senior Afghan government officials as well. She took on tough assignments to travel the country, all to make the economy and infrastructure better for future generations. She never desired recognition for her labor of love, she only wanted to improve the lives of those affected from years of conflict.
Dianna went on to help the people of Iraq and other countries in peril. She is the most intelligent person I know, tough beyond comprehension, and dedicated to improving the world.
I was honored to have worked with her and I know you will feel the same.
I wanted to reach out to say thank you for all your help and assistance while taking the Teaching and Learning program at Norwich University. It really helped as I just completed teaching my first course for Baldwin Wallace University (BW). I was able to use the Introduction to Healthcare Informatics course I started working on during your course and use it as the basis to create the Healthcare Informatics and Big Data course. The course I taught for BW was a 3 credit course in-person elective course for their Master's of Public Health degree. Again thanks for your help while taking the course at Norwich and your willingness to be a reference for me.
As a humanitarian aid worker, part of my job is to train staff from all over the world. Multi-generational, multi-cultural, multi-lingual groups are inherently complicated, with everyone also having different expectations of methods, materials, technology, and the like. This course has really given me a great tool kit of practical things to do, but more importantly, it has given me a very solid anchoring in the principles of what makes learning happen, no matter how many variables you must adapt to. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in becoming a better teacher or trainer, no matter your industry or setting.
Dianna Wuagneux was the head of the USAID Macedonia community Self Help Initiative project where I worked as a regional coordinator for Eastern Macedonia.
During my day to day professional work, Dianna was an inspiration for my continued personal and professional development, a coach who was always with me in my work assignments. She gave all of us on the team life lessons and professional advice to be more complementary in working and communicating with citizens, politicians, public, and business sector representatives, and CSO activists.
Thanks to her fighting spirit and dedication to the realization of the mission of the program in Macedonia in the region where I worked over 400,000 citizens benefited directly and indirectly from the projects that were successfully implemented and held many years after the projects were completed.
She found a wise solution to every problem, always had the staff there for us, really appreciated, advised, and rewarded. It meant most to me the support and cooperation in every part of the tasks and phases (planning, implementation, procurement, monitoring, and evaluation and opening of projects and organizing events with personal attending of US Ambassadors to Macedonia and USAID mission Directors and Managers).
Personally useful and inspiring to me were the joint field visits of the projects in my region with her and USAID and the US Embassy where many of the projects included the Ambassador in person.
She had great charismatic leadership power that she used to inspire, mobilize, and develop enthusiasm and dedication in each of us according to our work potentials and personality traits.
People in the local communities in my region were amazed by her professional demeanor and knowledge while still standing firmly on the ground. She was always open to discussing, helping, supporting, and sharing experiences and knowledge with me and with colleagues and everyone involved in the field and office projects.
As the deputy commanding general of the 10th Mountain Division and the 25,000 strong task force in Afghanistan, I simply could not have completed my mission or duties without Dianna’s expertise, advice, and experience.
Dianna’s strengths are her broad experience, razor sharp intellect, and endless compassion. She combines these attributes as she performs her duties with tremendous personal and moral courage, frequently in the face of danger, achieving the greater good and doing the right thing.
I will always remember her frequent movements around the battlefield despite enormous danger. She did so because each time she visited a village, began reconstruction, or brought relief, she moved the free world that much closer to security and stability, denying terrorist sanctuary not through bullets and bombs, but through example and support. In short, she is current, has real world experience, extremely intelligent, an incredible listener, and a wonderfully compassionate coach, teacher and mentor.
Dianna above all possesses the qualities that one wants to achieve as an adult - an older sister, a mother, a friend, a teacher/mentor, supervisor or any kind of a role model.
She is a lady with an outstanding character: an excellent listener, motivator, inspirational, dedicated, very friendly, with a fine sense of humor, compassionate, tactful, mediator, problem solver, easy going but very much goal-oriented.
She is an incredible person and adaptive to any kind of people, places, situations and much more.
I am blessed to have known and worked with Dianna.
She is a leader with pragmatic solutions, high degree of leadership skills and high performance criteria. Dianna was a leader, mentor, presenter, developer, and most of all - inspiration for all of us. It is very rare to meet a person with such enthusiasm and dedication in fulfillment of her tasks, emphasizing Dianna's academic and practical skills, creativity, responsibility and devotion. Her working attitude and professionalism simply goes beyond the call of duty.
The experience and knowledge I gained by working with Dianna is priceless! Dianna is one of the really inspirational leaders that left significant mark in my life.
We have worked closely on several joint activities through which I've come to know and admire her. Dianna's project, is countrywide and complex yet she has managed the staff, budget and activities successfully.
Dianna supervised a fairly large staff of expats and locals in multiple offices. Under her leadership, they have developed a true sense of the word "team." She has ably represented her project and routinely meets with local self-help groups, farmers, local NGOs. She treats them all with the same respect, professionalism and warmth.
Dianna has an incredible capacity to relate, collaborate and coordinate with partners at different levels.
Under Dianna's guidance her teams have developed an outstanding capacity to compile, articulate and disseminate best practices among beneficiary organizations and partners.
Dianna consistently demonstrates herself to be capable and effective in this area, especially in terms of making the most of her team and the relationships she has generated with other projects and programs. It is evident that she knows her own people well and helps them to grow beyond what they believe to be their own limits.
Having spent a great deal of time with Dianna in a variety of settings, I can attest to her comfort and ability with all sorts of personalities at various levels, from farmers to Ministers and everyone in between.
Her outcomes are exemplary. It's worthwhile to note that she and her team put together a community reference book for publication to leave behind a resource for the community groups her project fostered.
I feel confident endorsing Dianna as an intelligent and capable manager… [She} actively participates in several international forums and remains abreast of relevant issues through related journals and daily contact with the Mission. She openly shares this information with her staff and colleagues in the interest of improving internal and external practices.
I hired Dianna to develop a course in comparative religion for the program in Strategic Studies & Defense Analysis at the Norwich University, student population, which consists of Special Operations Forces and related personnel. Dianna developed what I often call a “jewel” of a course. It is elegant, engrossing, timely, and challenging.
She was able to convey a great deal of content to tell a story that evolved over centuries, always making connections between the past and the present. Her selection of resources, readings and assignments was carefully chosen to expand and reinforce learning. Our students are sophisticated, highly engaged and proactive learners, and they consistently give very high evaluations for this course.
It sounds odd to say it, but one thing that struck me about Dianna right away when I met her is that I wanted to spend more time with her, and to hire her to do just about anything she wanted! Dianna listens, she is curious and engaged, and she has a great sense of humor. She has an ease and friendliness about her, yet you know that’s backed up with impressive academic credentials and worldwide experience. She is altogether quite an amazing person.
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