About the President

  • Saturday, 18 April 2009 20:33
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it served as Regional Program Manager for SE Asia at Habitat for Humanity Asia Pacific from 15 March 2005 to 30 April 2009, a total of 4 years. 

Prior to this assignment, he worked as a Consultant on Rural Development and Governance at the Provincial Planning and Development Office (PPDO) in Bohol, Philippines and the Bohol Poverty Reduction  Management Office (BPRMO) from 02 April 2002 until his appointment with Habitat.

Dr. Pestelos worked for 12 years (1989-2001) with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) sub-regional office based in Suva, Fiji and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

He served as community development specialist and then chief technical adviser for a project in Solomon Islands. He was appointed concurrently as Country Liaison Officer for the UN System when the ethnic conflict started to intensify in the Solomons in late 1999.

While based in duty stations in Suva, Fiji and, later, in Honiara, Solomon Islands, Dr. Pestelos served in various projects (Integrated Atoll Development Project; Equitable and Sustainable Development Project; Solomon Islands Development Administration and Participatory Planning Programme). He was sent on mission to several countries in the Pacific: Vanuatu, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Palau, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Cook Islands, and to the Maldives in the Indian Ocean.

In the Philippines, he also worked in jobs related to Community Development:

  • Resident Director, Ilaw International Center, a UNICEF-assisted NGO working for closer community-local government collaboration in the planning, implementation and monitoring of child-focused services to remote rural communities (1982 to 1989);
  • Special Assistant to the President for Planning and Operations, Project Compassion, an NGO supported by both UNICEF and USAID to pilot approaches to integrated delivery of services (1977 to 1982);
  • Planning Officer, Environmental Centre of the Philippines, an NGO which assists local government units in preparing environmental plans and programs (1977);
  • Information Officer, National Green Revolution Program, a quasi-government project which promotes backyard gardening to target households and communities with child malnutrition problems;

While serving as Resident Director of the Ilaw International Center, he assumed concurrent positions in other foreign-funding projects implemented by the Center:

  • Project Coordinator, Social Mobilization Project for Child Services (UNICEF; 1988 to 1989);
  • Project Director, Remote Island Development Project (USAID; 1988);
  • Regional Manager, Integrated Agro-Marine Forestry Project (USAID; 1984 to 1986);
  • Team Leader for the Social Preparation Component, Urban Poor Project (UNFPA; 1985);
  • Training Manager, Local Resource Management (LRM) Project (USAID; 1984-1985);
  • Training Director, Central Visayas Regional Project (World Bank; 1984).

His previous consultancies, mostly on community development and participatory planning, include the following:

Project Formulation and Integrated Rural Development Consultant
Isabel Province Development Project (IPDP)
UNDP Suva (Nov-Dec 02)



Team Leader and Lead Consultant
UN Country Team for Solomon Islands
Office of UN Resident Coordinator
Suva, Fiji (Aug - Sep 02)

Resource Person on technical content and design
Group Meeting on the Post-Conflict Situation in Solomon
IslandsUniversity of Queensland, Brisbane Australia (Oct 01)

Evaluator, Palau National Integrated Rural Development Programme
Palau Community Action Agency
Koror, Palau (Oct 00)

Evaluator, Vanuatu Sustainable Human Development Programme
Ministry of National Planning
Port Vila, Vanuatu (Jun 00)

Resource Person on Community Organising
4th Regional Workshop on Health Education
South Pacific Commission
Noumea, New Caledonia (December 1990)

Consultant on Community Development and Institution
Building Training Programme Formulation
UNDP-OPS Integrated Atoll Development Project
Suva, Fiji (February - June 1989)

Resource Person on Philippine History and Participatory
Development International Course on Regional Planning
Sponsored by NEDA and the Human Settlements Centre of Israel (December 1988)

UNICEF Consultant on Social Mobilisation
Formulated the Project Plan of Action on Social Mobilisation for the 1988-1992 Philippine Country Programme (November - December 1987)

Resource Person on Community Participation
Combined Expert Group Meeting on Social Development Alternatives and Second Training Seminar in Local Social Development Planning
UNCRD Nagoya, Japan (October 1985)

Consultant on Community Mobilisation
World Bank Central Visayas Resource Management Project
(November - December 1984)

Consultant on Community Participation
ASEAN Training Centre for Primary Health Care Development
Bangkok, Thailand Assisted by WHO and UNICEF
(October 1984)

Resource Person on Community Participation
UN ACC Subcommittee on Nutrition
Conference on Nutrition and Community Participation
Bangkok, Thailand (March 1982)

Resource Person on Community Participation
Learning Exercise on Community Participation
Sponsored by UNICEF and attended by participants from India, Thailand, Pakistan. Held in Cebu and Bohol.
(September 1981)

Consultant on Community Participation
International Workshop on Rural Water Supply and Sanitation
Sponsored by UNICEF and held in Ubol Ratchathanee,Thailand
(March 1981)

EDUCATION

Ph.D. in Educational Administration
University of Bohol
Tagbilaran City, Bohol, Philippines

Master in Management
Asian Institute of Management
Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines
(Under UNICEF fellowship)

Majored in Development Communication
University of the Philippines at Los Banos
College, Laguna, Philippines

OTHER TRAINING

Local Social Development Planning
UNCRD Nagoya, Japan (1985)

Evaluation of Community-based Projects
Jakarta and Bandung, Indonesia
Sponsored by UNICEF (1985)

Planning and Appraisal of Rural Development Projects
University of Bradford
West Yorkshire, England
Fellowship sponsored by UNICEF (1982)

Integrated Rural Development
Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development
Comilla, Bangladesh
Internship sponsored by UNICEF (1981)

Planning and programming, management, monitoring and evaluation of child based programmes and projects
Conducted by UNICEF New York and Regional (Bangkok) Staff (1979)

Dr. Pestelos was born 14 April 1942 in barangay Lagalag, municipality of Tiaong, Quezon province, in the Phillippines.

Note: For some of his work outputs, see Archives.

Related Story: A Development Worker For All Seasons

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