OMGI
Advisory Group LLC
Built on and Drawn from Careers Inside the Project Cycle of Development.
OMGI brings together four Principal Consultants with a combined 117 years of direct World Bank Group (WBG) experience with four Senior Associate Consultants with another 125 years of development experience, extending the depth of advice on operations, including on Jobs, Monitoring and Evaluation, Governance, and Implementation, into learning design, leadership development, development communications, and international workshop, conference, seminar, and retreat planning and logistics that serves Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) staff and country counterparts alike.
Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), the World Bank Group (WBG) (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), International Development Association (IDA), Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), International Finance Corporation (IFC)), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Inter-American Development Bank Group (IDB, IADB), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the New Development Bank (NDB), and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), all have staff who sit between donor-country priorities and borrower-country realities, and face complexities in five broad areas of operations. They have to:
Operations, Management, Governance, and Implementation Advisory Group (OMGI) believes that both MDB staff and their country partners require support in ten specific areas of operations:
OMGI is an Operations, Management, Governance and Implementation Advisory Group Limited Liability Company (LLC), registered in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and a Vendor with the World Bank Group (WBG). We provide operational advisory services and training both to World Bank Group staff and management, and to the staff and officials of developing-country governments and institutions that borrow from, implement, or partner with the WBG and other Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs).
Because our Principals built their careers inside the WBG's own project cycle as Task Team Leaders, Project Economists, Chief Counsel, and fiduciary and Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) specialists, the core services we offer are Operational Advice, informed, sector- and region-specific counsel on how WBG-financed projects and programs are designed, financed, supervised, and closed, and training. We own the design lineage of the World Bank's flagship operational-quality training tradition because we designed it, scaled it, and delivered it from 1999 to 2022.
Together, our team covers the legal, fiduciary, operational, and results-management dimensions of a Fragility, Conflict, and Violence (FCV) operation within a single team, and combines trust-fund design experience with trust-fund evaluation experience.
One Principal joined the WBG in 1973 as a Young Professional, serving as Personal Assistant to the Senior Vice President for Operations and Secretary of the Loan Committee, present at Board discussions during the era the modern project cycle was established. Together, OMGI's Principals and Associates offer continuous institutional coverage from the Bank's founding-era operational architecture through its most recent results-based-financing reforms, combined with current knowledge and experience: a Senior Associate has been involved in training WBG staff and managers up to 2026.
OMGI owns the design lineage of the Bank's flagship operational-quality training tradition. A Principal designed and led the “Assuring the Quality of Bank-Assisted Operations in Africa” (AQBOA) Workshop program, training 2,500+ Bank, partner-institution, and client staff, with an Associate designing and delivering AQBOA's leadership and team-effectiveness sessions, a direct link between a Principal and an Associate on the Bank's founding operational-quality training program. Another Principal then built the Results Demystified and Program-for-Results (PforR) Academies, scaling the tradition Bank-wide and to the African Development Bank (AfDB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), training 2,000+ staff and others. A third Principal designed and implemented the parallel Learning Program on World Bank Group (WBG) operational policies, instruments, and innovations, while another Principal served on the Africa Region training delivery team and resolved systems issues relating to the operational portal and Systems, Applications and Products (SAP) that underpinned these programs. Together, the OMGI Advisory Group team has designed and delivered the Bank's operational learning architecture across more than two decades, training more than 4,500 staff and managers, spanning roughly from 1999 to 2022.
AQBOA scaled Bank-wide and to AfDB, ADB, IsDB, and AIIB, a training tradition designed, scaled, and delivered by OMGI's Principals and Associates from 1999 to 2022.
OMGI provides the full-lifecycle coverage of Fragility, Conflict, and Violence (FCV) operations. A Principal provided operational advice on Somalia's Recurrent Cost and Reform Financing project under a Multi-Partner Fund. A Principal handled the fiduciary mechanics of crisis operations directly by solving Letters of Credit and flow-of-funds problems in immediate post-Taliban Afghanistan, and by leading the South Sudan rapid-response mission applying the Bank's crisis-and-emergency policy framework. A Principal provided legal and policy advisory for the Bank's resumption-of-lending to Iraq and Afghanistan and advised on project design in fragile and post-conflict contexts. A Principal brought the results-framework and Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) design layer for fragile-context operations. Together, the legal, fiduciary, operational, and results layers of an FCV operation sit within OMGI, letting a task team address legal, fiduciary, operational, and results-reporting risk in an FCV operation without coordinating four separate consultants. OMGI contributes to FCV country operations, leadership, peace, development communications, and organizational development advice and training delivery experience, and, with its trust fund design and evaluation experience, covers the legal, fiduciary, operational, and results-management dimensions of FCV operations.
Legal, fiduciary, operational, and results-reporting risk in a single FCV operation, addressed without coordinating four separate consultants.
OMGI has deep monitoring and evaluation credibility across the results chain. A Principal had a direct hand in building Program-for-Results (PforR) in 2012, the Implementation Completion Report (ICR) reform with the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) in 2017, and represented Africa on the Board of the Centers for Learning on Evaluation and Results (CLEAR) Initiative. This Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) expertise gives OMGI direct, first-hand knowledge of how the Bank's results and evaluation architecture was built and continues to operate.
Direct hand in building PforR (2012) and the 2017 ICR reform, plus CLEAR Initiative board representation for Africa.
OMGI has comprehensive trust fund governance credibility. A Principal led the independent evaluation of the Governance Partnership Facility, a World Bank-administered $89.0 million multi-donor trust fund. A Principal built and chaired actual multi-donor trust fund governance structures for the African Institute for Remittances (AIR) technical and steering committees with the European Commission (EC), African Development Bank (AfDB), Africa Union Commission (AUC), and International Organization for Migration (IOM). Given how much current Bank work on Fragility, Conflict, and Violence (FCV) response, diaspora/remittances programming, and capacity development runs through multi-donor trust funds, and given the continued emphasis on validated self-evaluation evidence, OMGI has the capacity to assist and support both the design and rigorous evaluation of trust-funded programs, not just their implementation.
Independent evaluation of the Governance Partnership Facility, plus multi-donor trust fund governance experience with EC, AfDB, AUC, and IOM.
OMGI has legal instrument design, judicial reform, Governance and Anti-Corruption (GAC) compliance, and private capital mobilization capacity. A Principal has 16 years of experience as Senior Counsel and Chief Legal Counsel in the World Bank Group (WBG) and produced the actual legal architecture of Bank lending instruments (loan agreements, guarantee agreements, project agreements) across all major sectors. He was a member of the legal experts team that designed the legal architecture establishing the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). That Principal's post-retirement advisory work at Oman's Special Economic Zone Authority (SEZAD), governing concession agreements for a port, airport, dry dock, refinery, and petrochemical complex, directly complements the Bank's current private capital mobilization and guarantee platform priorities. Another Principal provided support to the Operations Policy and Country Services (OPCS) Private Capital Mobilization Facility. For clients pursuing guarantee-backed or Public-Private Partnership (PPP)-adjacent financing, OMGI pairs Bank-side legal instrument expertise with concession-agreement experience from the other side of the negotiating table.
Loan, guarantee, project agreement architecture across all major sectors, and judicial reform, paired with SEZAD concession-agreement experience and active support to OPCS's Private Capital Mobilization Facility.
Project and program design, economic, social, and political analysis, and operational policy across the full lending cycle.
Results frameworks, lending instruments (PforR and IPF), quality assurance, and ICR reform.
Governance and Anti-Corruption (GAC) compliance, judicial reform, legal instrument design, risk management, and dispute resolution.
Trust-fund design and governance, FCV crisis fiduciary management, and private capital mobilization.
Classroom, digital, and blended learning design and delivery for Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) and World Bank Group (WBG) staff and government counterpart staff, in separate or joint learning workshops, conferences, seminars, and retreats. OMGI offers turnkey capacity in specialized and integrated design and delivery of training services.
Together, the Principals cover the full operational lifecycle of WBG-financed programs and projects from identification, appraisal, legal and fiduciary structuring, results design, implementation supervision, to monitoring and evaluation.
| Principal | WBG Tenure | Core Expertise | Signature Track Record |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dr. Richard Cambridge | 1973–2011 (38 yrs) | Operations, project/program design & implementation, economic, political & jobs analysis, operational policy, quality assurance, capacity development & governance, diaspora & remittances finance, program evaluation. Ph.D. in International Relations with a concentration in International Economics and International Politics, School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University. Fluent in English; competent in French, Spanish. | Task Team Leader on 18 investment/adjustment operations, Project Economist on 11; designed AQBOA (2,500+ trained); led Africa Capacity Development Unit and African Diaspora Program; evaluated Governance Partnership Fund. |
| Dr. Mohamed Khatouri | 2004–2022 (18 yrs) | Monitoring & evaluation systems, results frameworks, lending instruments (Program-for-Results (PforR) & Investment Project Financing (IPF)), quality assurance, Implementation Completion Report (ICR) reform, multi-Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) training. Diploma in Water and Forest Resources, University of Minnesota; M.S. in Applied Statistics, University of Idaho; Ph.D. in Natural Resources Management, University of Idaho. Fluent in English, French, Arabic. | Built Results Demystified & PforR Academies (2,000+ trained); co-led 2017 ICR reform with IEG; CLEAR Initiative board, Africa. |
| Said Al Habsy, Esq. | 1984–2011 (27 yrs) | Governance, Governance and Anti-Corruption (GAC) compliance, WBG lending instrument legal design, risk management, Special Economic Zone (SEZ) & private investment facilitation, dispute resolution. Master's degree in International/Corporate Law (LLM), Harvard Law School. Graduate, Executive Leadership Program, Harvard Business School; the Central Banking Program, Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Fluent in English, Arabic. | Chief Legal Counsel for MENA, Africa, and South Asia regions; legal adviser to AIIB; SEZAD, Oman, legal adviser for port, airport, refinery & dry dock concessions. |
| Ms. Soheyla Mahmoudi | 1982–2016 (34 yrs) | Implementation of development projects, multi-donor trust fund design & governance, Fragility, Conflict, and Violence (FCV) crisis fiduciary management, private capital mobilization. MBA, Johns Hopkins University. Fluent in English, Persian and Dari. | Crisis fiduciary lead, post-Taliban Afghanistan & South Sudan; managed EC MDTF for African Institute for Remittances; OPCS Private Capital Mobilization Facility. |
| Associate | Background | Contribution to OMGI |
|---|---|---|
| Daryn Cambridge | Organizational Development & Training Consultant, Training Resources Group, Inc. (TRG); adjunct professor, American University, Washington, D.C., and United States Institute of Peace (USIP). M.A., International Training & Education, American University. | 25 years designing leadership, organizational change, and adult-learning programs; current WBG (IFC, MIGA, IBRD), IMF, and USAID engagements; digital and blended learning design. |
| Lauren Cooper | Strategy, Organizational Design, Executive Leadership Coach, and Capacity Development Consultant, 40+ years of experience with the World Bank and government implementing agencies across 20+ countries. M.A. with honors, School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University. | Designer and facilitator of leadership and team effectiveness workshops, including AQBOA; executive coaching; strategic and implementation planning. |
| Dr. Vibert Cambridge | Professor Emeritus, School of Media Arts and Studies, Ohio University; 40+ years of teaching, writing, conferencing, and consulting in the United States, the Caribbean, and across the world. Ph.D., Mass Communication, Ohio University. | Development Communication, entertainment-education, and instructional design; capacity-building with UNESCO, USAID, and Caribbean regional institutions. |
| Zena John | International Events Consultant, Poet, Author, Editor, Researcher, and Life Purpose Coach; Founder & Director, Zena John Consulting, Pretoria, South Africa (2001–present). B.A., Industrial Psychology & Communication, University of South Africa (UNISA). | 25+ years and 180+ diplomatic and development-focused events delivered across 27 countries, from Heads of State to grassroots NGOs, for the World Bank Group, UNOPS, NEPAD, DFID, GIZ, GWP, USAID, Cities Alliance, ULI, and the University of KwaZulu-Natal; high-level stakeholder engagement, cross-cultural and diplomatic negotiation, and full-spectrum international workshop and conference logistics. |
OMGI has a roster of experienced consultants who complement the Principals and Associates in providing specific services to its clients.
Available through individual consultant contracts, short-term consulting assignments, a framework/retainer agreement, or Associate-roster deployment for larger multi-disciplinary assignments.
Sector- and region-specific counsel on how WBG-financed projects and programs are designed, financed, supervised, and closed.
Results framework design, lending instrument structuring, and Implementation Completion Report (ICR)-aligned monitoring and evaluation systems.
Classroom-based, digital, or blended training design and delivery for WBG staff and government counterparts.
Loan, guarantee, and project agreement review; judicial reform; anti-corruption and governance compliance advisory.
Full-lifecycle coverage for fragility, conflict, and violence operations, legal, fiduciary, operational, and results layers.
Multi-donor trust fund structuring, governance, and independent evaluation against institutional standards.
Executive and team coaching, leadership retreats, and organizational change management.
Guarantee-backed and Public-Private Partnership (PPP)-adjacent financing advice, paired with concession-agreement experience.
Stakeholder engagement, entertainment-education, and communication-for-social-change program design.
The experience of the Principal Consultants and Associates spans programs and projects in fragile and post-conflict (FCV) countries across the following areas.
Senior-level experience across every region, working on specific operations with country-level counterparts in each country.
Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Congo, Democratic Republic (DRC), Ethiopia, Eritrea, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Madagascar, Mauritius, Namibia, Rwanda, Uganda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo (Republic of), Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo.
Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia, Philippines, Fiji, Thailand, Vietnam, Timor-Leste.
Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, Croatia, the European Union and Member States, Georgia, Kosovo, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Turkey, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan.
Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guyana, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), Venezuela.
Afghanistan, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Morocco, Pakistan, Tunisia, Syria, Yemen.
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka.
OMGI is available to Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and World Bank Group (WBG) staff, and to client country government staff and officials alike, through consultant contracts, retainer agreements, or Associate-roster deployment. We are a registered Limited Liability Company (LLC) in Virginia and a Vendor with the WBG.
rafcambridge@omgiadvisorygroup.com
