Olivia Bessat
Directrice operationnelle at OSEO Genève- Claim this Profile
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English Full professional proficiency
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French Native or bilingual proficiency
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Spanish Professional working proficiency
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Bio
Messager, Violaine
I worked with Olivia at the World Economic Forum in 2009. She was a Senior Manager within the Global Agenda Councils team. She was managing a team of analysts (including myself) and ensuring full and constant delivery of top quality work to serve some of the most reknown experts of the world on the most pressing challenges facing the international community. She did not count her hours to ensure everything would be completed on time and with the highest standard of quality. In many ways she was the invisible hand that ensures flawless delivery and success. Thanks to her dedication and efficiency, analysts were fully operational within hours of their arrival and she was always available to solve every problem, from the easiest to the craziest, in preparation for and at the annual summit in Dubai. I truly enjoyed working with Olivia and admire her genuine commitment to public service and public-private partnerships. I have worked with her again in different assignments in Gavi and beyond, and I have witnessed how her ability to translate complex diverging requests from partners into common ground among all partners is precious. She is a great project and team manager and I would definitely recommend her to join your team.
Messager, Violaine
I worked with Olivia at the World Economic Forum in 2009. She was a Senior Manager within the Global Agenda Councils team. She was managing a team of analysts (including myself) and ensuring full and constant delivery of top quality work to serve some of the most reknown experts of the world on the most pressing challenges facing the international community. She did not count her hours to ensure everything would be completed on time and with the highest standard of quality. In many ways she was the invisible hand that ensures flawless delivery and success. Thanks to her dedication and efficiency, analysts were fully operational within hours of their arrival and she was always available to solve every problem, from the easiest to the craziest, in preparation for and at the annual summit in Dubai. I truly enjoyed working with Olivia and admire her genuine commitment to public service and public-private partnerships. I have worked with her again in different assignments in Gavi and beyond, and I have witnessed how her ability to translate complex diverging requests from partners into common ground among all partners is precious. She is a great project and team manager and I would definitely recommend her to join your team.
Messager, Violaine
I worked with Olivia at the World Economic Forum in 2009. She was a Senior Manager within the Global Agenda Councils team. She was managing a team of analysts (including myself) and ensuring full and constant delivery of top quality work to serve some of the most reknown experts of the world on the most pressing challenges facing the international community. She did not count her hours to ensure everything would be completed on time and with the highest standard of quality. In many ways she was the invisible hand that ensures flawless delivery and success. Thanks to her dedication and efficiency, analysts were fully operational within hours of their arrival and she was always available to solve every problem, from the easiest to the craziest, in preparation for and at the annual summit in Dubai. I truly enjoyed working with Olivia and admire her genuine commitment to public service and public-private partnerships. I have worked with her again in different assignments in Gavi and beyond, and I have witnessed how her ability to translate complex diverging requests from partners into common ground among all partners is precious. She is a great project and team manager and I would definitely recommend her to join your team.
Messager, Violaine
I worked with Olivia at the World Economic Forum in 2009. She was a Senior Manager within the Global Agenda Councils team. She was managing a team of analysts (including myself) and ensuring full and constant delivery of top quality work to serve some of the most reknown experts of the world on the most pressing challenges facing the international community. She did not count her hours to ensure everything would be completed on time and with the highest standard of quality. In many ways she was the invisible hand that ensures flawless delivery and success. Thanks to her dedication and efficiency, analysts were fully operational within hours of their arrival and she was always available to solve every problem, from the easiest to the craziest, in preparation for and at the annual summit in Dubai. I truly enjoyed working with Olivia and admire her genuine commitment to public service and public-private partnerships. I have worked with her again in different assignments in Gavi and beyond, and I have witnessed how her ability to translate complex diverging requests from partners into common ground among all partners is precious. She is a great project and team manager and I would definitely recommend her to join your team.
Experience
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OSEO Genève
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Switzerland
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Government Administration
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1 - 100 Employee
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Directrice operationnelle
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Nov 2022 - Present
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Coordinatrice, Projet Les Clés de Genève
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Jun 2022 - Aug 2022
Les Clés de GenèveUn programme mis en place pour faciliter l’intégration sociale et scolaire des enfants en âge primaire. Cette première édition a été conçue pour répondre aux besoins des enfants ukrainiens et leur famille. Il s’agissait de permettre aux enfants et aux adultes de se familiariser avec les loisirs genevois et d’échanger en français. De plus des cours de français ont été organisés pour les enfants, afin de permettre un début à l’école primaire facilité. Les Clés de GenèveUn programme mis en place pour faciliter l’intégration sociale et scolaire des enfants en âge primaire. Cette première édition a été conçue pour répondre aux besoins des enfants ukrainiens et leur famille. Il s’agissait de permettre aux enfants et aux adultes de se familiariser avec les loisirs genevois et d’échanger en français. De plus des cours de français ont été organisés pour les enfants, afin de permettre un début à l’école primaire facilité.
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The Global Fund
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Switzerland
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Non-profit Organizations
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700 & Above Employee
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COVID-19 Supply chain project manager
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Jan 2022 - Apr 2022
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PATH
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United States
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International Affairs
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700 & Above Employee
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Program Officer
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Jan 2019 - Dec 2021
Seconded to Gavi, The Vaccine AllianceImmunization Supply Chain Steering Group (iSC2) Business Support Office Seconded to Gavi, The Vaccine AllianceImmunization Supply Chain Steering Group (iSC2) Business Support Office
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Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
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Switzerland
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Non-profit Organizations
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500 - 600 Employee
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Senior Manager
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Jan 2019 - Dec 2021
***Seconded from PATH***Providing thought leadership and coordination support to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and its supply chain partners (USAID, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, WHO, UNICEF, Clinton Health Access Initiative, John Snow Inc., PATH and VillageReach) to implement initiatives to save lives and protect people’s health by increasing access to vaccines through the strengthening of end-to-end vaccine supply chains in 68 countries receiving Gavi Alliance' support. Currently working on the development of the next Gavi Alliance's immunization Supply Chain strategy, a collaborative process involving country representatives as well as main agencies and partners in immunization supply chain and broader health supply chain, based on human-centered design, updating their Theory of Change, creating a Theory of Action and sound Monitoring, evaluation and learning framework. Developed the collective impact framework for the Gavi Alliance supply chain partners that is fostering collaboration among the different organizations. Designed and rolled out a country network approach in the 15 priority countries (countries accounting for up to 70% of Gavi's vaccine investments) that is helping to align immunization supply chain priorities between global, regional and country-level stakeholders. Conducted immunization supply chain situational analyses for the 15 priority countries, matched the identified strengthening opportunities with existing and planned Gavi investments, and providing oversight to the country focal teams to ensure implementation of the identified funded priorities. Facilitating connections between the immunization supply chain strengthening efforts and those of other health commodity supply chains as well as between Gavi and its Alliance partners (The Global Fund, the World Bank Global Financing Facility and UNFPA through the Inter-Agency Supply Chain Group (ISG)) to align on pathways for the integration of health products supply chain.
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UNICEF
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United States
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Non-profit Organizations
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700 & Above Employee
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WHO-UNICEF immunization Supply Chain Hub project management consultant
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Jul 2015 - Dec 2018
Working jointly with UNICEF's programme and supply divisions and WHO, support the development of the immunization supply chain Hub by providing project management:• Design and update a Work Breakdown Structure and related Gantt chart to coordinate the activities, track and report on progress, achievements, delays and manage resources to ensure completion of deliverables in due time, • Ensure coordination of all the working groups created to drive each Hub's workstreams: development of Terms of Reference for the group, inclusive membership, encourage information sharing and organise biweekly consultations to monitor progress,• Lead the monitoring and reporting effort to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for the grant allocated to the immunization supply chain Hub• Ensure the coordination and make proposal to the Hub teams to organise face-to-face consultations
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Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
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Switzerland
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Non-profit Organizations
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500 - 600 Employee
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Consultant, Immunization Supply Chain
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Jun 2014 - Jun 2015
• Conduct interviews with francophone country stakeholders (Ministries of Health, UNICEF and WHO country offices, implementing partners) to assess technical assistance received for health strengthening systems and new vaccine introductions• Provide advice and support to the GAVI Immunisation Supply Chain’s Private Sector Working Group (membership, process, alignment with GAVI’s private sector engagement policy)• Provide project management support to the working group on People and Practice (P&P), the human resources component of the Alliance’ Supply Chain strategy• Draft, develop and translate guidelines and application form for the Cold Chain Rapid Response Fund, a $2 million fund to support urgent cold chain needs required for the introduction of Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccine (IPV), and member of the Fund Committee to review applications received• Contribute to drafting the communication strategy for the Alliance’ Supply Chain strategy• Produce the Alliance’ Supply Chain communication material, coordinating efforts from cross-organisational team, communication specialist and design agency.• Provide quantitative analysis to update supply chain and new vaccine portfolio costs figures
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Consultant, Cold Chain Readiness, Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) introduction
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Jan 2014 - May 2014
Cold Chain readiness work:• Review and collect cold chain capacity data to summarize the cold chain readiness of up to 70 countries for new vaccine introduction, for example from Effective Vaccine Management (EVM) reports, global database, cold chain inventories, mission reports• Prioritize a list of countries for cold chain equipment acquisition or technical assistance with a cross-organizational team (World Health Organisation –WHO, United Nations Children’s Fund – UNICEF, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, PATH, the Clinton Health Access Initiative - CHAI)• Produce a cold chain readiness situation report for each of the 70+ countries Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) applications review:• Design IPV application review tool to ensure in-depth and systematic analysis of applications from developing countries• Review 26 applications received and provide comments and recommandations to in-house country responsibles• Attend Independent Review Committee sessions and provide inputs to discussion when needed• Follow up on actions identified with both internal and external contacts, and track responses received• Provide quantitative analysis for vaccine presentation required, Vaccine Introduction Grant (VIG) amounts and calculation, and target population numbers
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PATH
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United States
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International Affairs
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700 & Above Employee
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Consultant, Vaccine refrigerators life cost model tool
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Jun 2014 - Dec 2014
• Update life cost model tool with latest vaccine refrigerators technical information and prices from the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s Performance, Quality and Safety (PQS) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Supply Division’s catalogue• Conduct analysis on CAPEX and OPEX calculation method contained in the tool for each refrigerator’s category• Provide updated results of life cost calculations for a comparative analysis of the different refrigerators available to developing countries
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World Economic Forum
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Switzerland
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Non-profit Organizations
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700 & Above Employee
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Senior Manager, Grow Africa
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Mar 2012 - May 2013
• Event management: Overall coordination for the Grow Africa Investment Forum, an Africa-based two-day event and Grow Africa sessions during flagship Food Security related events, in Africa (Ethiopia, Tanzania and South Africa) and Europe (Rome, Italy and Davos-Klosters, Switzerland)• Public Figures and Country delegation support: Engage and tailor agenda of high level stakeholders (heads of UN agencies and programmes) and country delegations led by Ministers of Agriculture of the 8 Grow Africa countries (Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda and Tanzania). Work jointly with the African Union Commission and the NEPAD Agency to align Grow Africa’s agenda to the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) key priorities.
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Senior Manager, Global Agenda Council Team
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Jul 2010 - Feb 2012
• Team leadership and Talent acquisition: Manage a team of 3 Research Analysts and a Team Coordinator; responsible for Human Resources in the team, including recruitment, on-boarding and training programmes, evaluation process and career development plans. • Strategy: Design jointly with the Senior Director, Head of Team the GAC team strategic framework and objectives• Event Management: Selection, invitation, session design for the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meetings (held in People’s Republic of China; United Arab Emirates; Switzerland)• Facilitation and relationship management: Engage the foremost experts on Intellectual Property Rights and facilitate their exchange.
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Project Manager, Disaster Resource Partnership
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Jul 2009 - Jun 2010
• Creation of a sound public-private partnership in response to natural disasters: Design the concept, select key representatives from the Engineering and Construction industry and from the humanitarian sector and provide a neutral platform for partnerships to emerge and flourish• Content production: Monitor the creation process of the project’s interim report, created a short video to present the Disaster Resource Partnership at the Annual Meeting, Davos-Klosters, Switzerland• Team Leadership: Manage a team of 7 Research Analysts• Facilitation and relationship management: Engage the foremost experts on Humanitarian assistance and facilitate their exchange.
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World Economic Forum
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Switzerland
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Non-profit Organizations
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700 & Above Employee
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Coordinator, Global Agenda Council Team
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Mar 2008 - May 2009
• Key contribution to setting up the Network of Global Agenda Councils, one of the World Economic Forum’s flagship initiatives: Coordinate the Nomination Process of New Members; responsible for creating the communication strategy and collaboration with in-house and external partners• Event management: Logistics and invitations management, manage general and logistics related requests from over 700 participants to the Summit on the Global Agenda, Dubai, United Arab Emirates; selection and invitation of a 90-people community at the Annual Meeting, Davos-Klosters, Switzerland• Management support: Organise team meetings and organise training and events to ensure strong team cohesion
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World Food Programme
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Italy
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Non-profit Organizations
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700 & Above Employee
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Junior Liaison Officer
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Feb 2007 - Feb 2008
• Research activities on the Humanitarian Reform and Food Aid: write briefing papers for the Director of the office, follow the latest developments on related issues, and interview key humanitarian actors. Advise on WFP’s position during food aid related negotiations at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Write a Master Thesis on the Cluster approach.• Liaison Officer’ Support: identify potential areas for partnership between WFP and partners, gather partnership data and reports to support the design of the inter-agency strategy of the office, attend humanitarian related meetings (donors, coordination, humanitarian finance) and report back to Headquarters.
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World Intellectual Property Organization – WIPO
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Switzerland
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International Affairs
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700 & Above Employee
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Conference and Documentation Assistant
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Jul 2006 - Sep 2006
• Support the preparation of the organisational switch to an on-line platform of all the key Intellectual Property related meetings and Plants patents. • Assist the team for registration and document distribution during WIPO’s Annual Meeting • Support the preparation of the organisational switch to an on-line platform of all the key Intellectual Property related meetings and Plants patents. • Assist the team for registration and document distribution during WIPO’s Annual Meeting
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European Summer University (ESU) intern
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Jul 2005 - Aug 2005
• Develop an activity agenda for the participants to the European Consortium for Political Research• Assist leading Professor in preparing background documents for International Relations modules• Participate to the discussions of the Working Group on promoting transparency in consumer industry • Develop an activity agenda for the participants to the European Consortium for Political Research• Assist leading Professor in preparing background documents for International Relations modules• Participate to the discussions of the Working Group on promoting transparency in consumer industry
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Summer Intern
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Jul 2004 - Aug 2004
• Research activities on Human Rights issues: follow the latest developments of the UN Commission on Human Rights, take minutes of discussions and send back report highlighting central issues of Paraguayan interest – especially minorities rights.• Ambassador’ support: prepare briefing papers for him on Cono Sur countries’s interests in trade, agriculture and Foreign Direct Investments.• Creation of the Mission‘s first website, with acknowledgement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs • Research activities on Human Rights issues: follow the latest developments of the UN Commission on Human Rights, take minutes of discussions and send back report highlighting central issues of Paraguayan interest – especially minorities rights.• Ambassador’ support: prepare briefing papers for him on Cono Sur countries’s interests in trade, agriculture and Foreign Direct Investments.• Creation of the Mission‘s first website, with acknowledgement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
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Education
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Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Grenoble
Masters Degree in International Organisations, Focus on theory and sociology of International Organisations, specifically humanitarian stakeholders -
Université Pierre Mendès-France (Grenoble II)
Masters Degree in Law and Trilingual International Administration, Triple-major in Law (International and Public Law, Public Policy and Administration) and 2 languages