Suzanne Smith Saulniers
Community Development Director, Community Action Program II in Iraq
Dr. Suzanne Smith Saulniers, ACDI/VOCA’s community development director for the Community Action Program II in Iraq has extensive experience in program design and management, rural community development, social and gender analysis, civil society, governance, and participatory learning and action methodologies. Previously, she worked for a variety of public sector and nongovernmental organizations, including the World Bank, Asia Development Bank, International Fund for Agricultural Development, World Food Program, UNDP, FAO, Ford Foundation, European Commission, and USAID. Dr. Saulniers has long-term consulting experience in Pakistan, Azad Jammu Kashmir, Morocco, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Peru and China. In addition, she has provided short-term technical consulting services and managed programs in 25 other countries throughout Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. Dr. Saulniers’s experience in conflict areas includes extensive training in civil society strengthening, democratic governance, community mobilization, conflict mediation and infrastructure development suitable for conflict and post-conflict situations. She is an expert in designing and managing participatory community-driven strategies integrated with governmental rural and agricultural development programs. Developing linkages with microfinance and agricultural credit systems has been an important part of her work. Dr. Saulniers earned her B.S. in rural sociology at Cornell University and has a M.S. in rural sociology and Ph.D. in sociology of development from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.