Paul Rowland

Biography of W. Paul Rowland Paul Rowland has more than a quarter of a century of experience in leadership roles, both in overseas postings and in his native Canada. He spent twelve years working professionally in the area of strategic and political communications, working on Parliament Hill in Ottawa and in the field from Coast to Coast before beginning an international career that has taken him to more than thirty countries on four continents. He is now a consultant with a practice in the area of democratic governance. He is also a member of the ACE Network of Electoral Practitioners, an Associate at the Centre for Democratic Institutions (CDI) in Canberra and a Fellow at the Institute for Peace and Democracy (IPD) in Indonesia. For fifteen years, Mr. Rowland served as Resident Representative of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) with postings in Serbia, Hungary and, most recently, for nine years in Indonesia. He has experience working with senior government officials including heads of state and government, ministers and members of parliament as well as civil servants and diplomats at all levels. Mr. Rowland has been an accredited international observer to more than twenty elections. In 2009, he served as Mission Director for NDI’s election observation mission to Afghanistan’s presidential elections, leading a team of more than one hundred and twenty people in a challenging political and security environment. He has worked extensively in conflict areas in the Europe and in Asia including Serbia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Timor Leste and Nepal. Recently, he has been involved in supporting the exchange of experience of democratic transitions between Indonesia and Egypt. Prior to moving to Indonesia, Mr. Rowland lived in Belgrade, serving for six years as director of the Institute’s Serbia program As an analyst, Mr. Rowland focuses on the areas of politics, governance, and aviation with an interest in defence issues.

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