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Congratulations to Board of Trustees member Samir Souidi for his breakthrough work in technology, helping people in refugee camps. Very proud of our founding Board member for the recognition of this very important, groundbreaking work.

InsideNGO honored Samir Souidi, Enterprise Systems/Software Architect at Population Council, with its 2016 Excellence Award in Information Technology at its annual conference, Achieving Global Impact, in Washington, DC, last evening.

The InsideNGO Excellence Awards were established in 2010 to recognize professionals within the development sector who are innovating, collaborating, and ensuring operational excellence within their organizations. Souidi’s nomination, submitted by Population Council’s Stan Mierzwa, Director of Information Technology and James Sailer, VP of Corporate Affairs, lauded his development of a breakthrough tool that collects data in refugee camps, allowing more timely, accurate, and extensive research to be conducted among the camps’ vulnerable populations. This type of tool had never been used in refugee camps previously, due to challenges such as low literacy levels and the multiple languages spoken by refugees, as well as interruptions in power and Internet services. Souidi’s tool has also been recognized by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID).

“InsideNGO recognizes the value that strong operational units bring to mission-driven NGOs,” said President and Chief Executive Officer Tom Dente of InsideNGO at the awards ceremony, held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. “IT plays a critical role in the NGO community—in terms of communication, data management, and innovating new products that serve people in need. Samir Souidi, through his commitment to excellence, is contributing to our shared mission of achieving global impact in addressing some of the world’s most pressing social issues.”

Winners were chosen from among 50 nominations submitted by InsideNGO member organizations across the US and internationally earlier this year. Nominators were asked to submit detailed recommendations explaining how their nominees demonstrated a commitment to NGO operational excellence. The other award winners recognized during the ceremony included:

Line Kewe of Literacy Bridge in Seattle, WA, and the Programs System Unit from Pathfinder International in Watertown, MA, (tie) for Excellence in Cross Operations
Dr. Si Thura of Community Partners International in Yangon, Myanmar, the Emerging Leader Award
Elizabeth Atherton of Nuru International in Irvine, CA, for Excellence in Finance
Ken Repp of Education Development Center in Waltham, MA, for Excellence in Grants & Contracts
Bonnie Karns of International City/County Management (ICMA) in Washington, DC, for Excellence in Human Resources
Nearly 1,100 development practitioners from 198 different organizations attended InsideNGO’s annual conference this year, making it one of the largest gatherings of professionals in the relief and development community.

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InsideNGO is a membership association of 330 international non-governmental organizations and sector experts in the international development and relief community working together to achieve global impact. We provide training and learning opportunities, peer-to-peer exchange, sector expertise, and links to industry partners to help our members build their operational and management capacity. Learn more at www.insidengo.org

From http://www.popcouncil.org/news/insidengo-honors-samir-souidi-of-population-council