Framework contracts

I am a Data and Evaluation expert, former journalist, with 18 years of professional experience, currently working as Evaluation, data and knowledge expert, in the core team of MELDEA project, providing help desk evaluation support DG INTPA and DG NEAR. Following an education at the European School of Brussels II, he graduated in Journalism at the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve (UCL, École de Journalisme de Louvain), and worked for 4 years as a journalist in Brussels covering EU News. This was followed by 7 years working in the management of International Development projects for consulting companies, and 7 years working as an expert in evaluation, data analysis, communication and knowledge management for the evaluation helpdesk technical assistances with DG INTPA, DG NEAR and FPI, which is his current assignment.
In the past 7 years, he has applied his data analysis skills and knowledge of EU Project Cycle Management to the field of developmental evaluation, with the objective to improve evaluation practices and learning from evaluations in the EC institutions. He has an excellent knowledge of EU Policies and guiding principles of Team Europe initiative, Strategic Planning and Programming Cycle (SPP), Financial Guidelines and EU funding mechanisms, and an excellent knowledge EC financial and contracting procedures (PRAG, INTPA Companion), Intervention Cycle Management guidelines, internal reporting and monitoring.

Alexandre Castellano.

Born in France on 16 May 1975.

Nationality: French and Italian

Education: MSc in Biology in Italy and MSc in Public Health Nutrition at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Position: from 2020 to date - DG ECHO Head of Office - Pretoria - South Africa - for the Southern Africa and Indian Ocean Region.

Previous positions: from 2000 to 2012 working with various NGOs dealing with emergencies and innovation technologies in seven African countries – from 2013 to 2016 policy officer with ECHO in the head quarter dealing with Food Assistance, Nutrition, Cash-Based Transfers and Innovations. From 2016 to 2020, ECHO Technical Assistant for the Southern Africa and Indian Ocean Region.

Key interest: Innovative Technologies applied to humanitarian response.

Freelance expert, highly experienced in implementing and managing EU-funded programmes and projects in the fields of support to civil society, democratic governance and human rights, with a special focus on Africa (Western and Central) and the EUROMED region.

I am a senior executive with 20+ years of experience in programme management, trade and investments, with a strong track record in EU- and donor-financed projects. I have worked extensively in Ukraine, the EU and partner countries, implementing programmes that supported democratic transition, institutional strengthening, private sector development and European integration.

As founder and director of EuroExpert, I have led advisory projects under EU4Business, GIZ and other donor initiatives, supporting SMEs, business associations and civil society to access EU markets, improve competitiveness and build cross-border partnerships. I also co-founded the European-Ukrainian Bridge e.V., an NGO with 11 offices across Europe, mobilising civil society and fostering EU-Ukraine integration.

My career includes senior management roles in international companies such as KAEFER and Hilti, where I directed multimillion-euro operations, negotiated investment projects across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and built international teams. I also managed operations of an IT company in the US, leading digital transformation and organisational development.

I am fluent in English, German, Ukrainian and Russian, with working knowledge of Polish and Czech. I am an active member of the Professional Government Association of Ukraine (PGA Ukraine), engaging in governance and policy dialogue. My expertise lies in designing and implementing EU programmes, managing multi-stakeholder processes, and building sustainable partnerships between the EU, Ukraine and neighbouring regions.

I am particularly interested in contributing to projects under DG NEAR and DG INTPA, focusing on trade, investment, digitalisation, civil society support and resilience building in Eastern Partnership and Central Asia countries. My motivation is to bridge business, government and civil society for long-term impact.

I am a Sustainable Development Practitioner with a diverse expanse of interests and subsequent expertise, which are founded on a keen understanding and appreciation for the significance attributed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

A Master Degree Holder thoroughly familiar with various aspects of procurement, administration and management in both the private and public sectors, and in a highly professional and multi-language (Arabic, English, and French) environment.
Long experience in operations, procurement, logistics, administration and projects management,
Ability to handle organised knowledge, and to scan the organisational and subject matter environment,
Ability to work with senior people in a substantive way, applying interpersonal and organisational skills and maintaining productive relations with staff and people from other units and agencies,
Ability to manage various teams, assessing conflicting demands, determining priorities, following-up, ensuring that work is done correctly, meeting goals and on time.
I completed the following Certificates:
Strategic Diploma in Public Procurement, CIPS 4
The Leadership Development Pathway
Working at UNDP in Countries under crisis conditions, such as Syria and Lebanon, I was able to operate over a multitude of portfolios, projects and agencies, including the projects under fast track and those dealing with the Syrian crisis, with initiatives to resolve complex cases and fast effective delivery of Projects’ milestones.
With over 20 years of professional procurement experience, including 2 years’ experience as International Procurement Specialist at the UNDP Syria Office and 10 years of experience serving as the head of procurement unit at the UNDP Lebanon Country Office, I have directly supervised the offices procurement teams and managed the procurement processes of portfolios of several subprojects worth 100 of millions of dollars.
With the start of the Syrian crisis, I managed to adapt to the sudden increase in work volume whereby the UN is engaged in one of the largest crisis response operations in the world. From an average yearly delivery of around 20 million USD per year prior to the Syrian crisis, I managed the procurement operations worth around 65 million USD of delivery per year. This covers procurement related to small, medium, ad large scale physical infrastructure project, individual consultancies, as well as medium and large-scale services projects. This has contributed to the positioning of UNDP at the forefront of the response to the implications of the Syrian crisis
In the course of the challenging recent 4 years at the Banking Sector in Lebanon, and through my commitment and dedication, I was able to handle the extraordinary workload and huge number of administrative processes, despite the continuous new introduced changes to procedures and market crisis situation.
All tasks that I handled and managed at UNDP and then at the private sector, entailed dedicated efforts in executing transactions until reaching the requested results and outputs.