About Us - Staff - Overseas - Afghanistan (AFG)

Tom Haythornthwaite
Deputy Technical Advisor
Kabul, Afghanistan

Main Responsiblities

As well as deputizing for the Chief Technical Advisor, Tom’s various responsibilities with the Landmine Impact Survey in Afghanistan including monitoring and improving data collection and data entry. Tom is also working on initiatives which are meant to ensure that the database will be maintained, updated, and used after the survey is complete.

Background

Tom began his career with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) work for the Canadian government in the 1980s. Periods of overseas work for Canada introduced him to development projects that included an agricultural GIS application in Egypt, census geography in Eritrea – where Tom was instrumental in developing a GPS-based mapping program to support what will be the country’s first census after 30 years of war – and environmental mapping in the Ukraine. During subsequent environmental work at the Hanford Nuclear site in the US, Tom made a brief visit to a humanitarian assistance project in Sierra Leone and decided to move permanently into development or relief work.

Tom’s quality management skills were first displayed when he administered the census boundary quality control for the 1991 Canadian Census and facilitated all aspects of quality control for the geographic base used for the 2001 Canadian Census. Tom was also a seasonal lecturer on “Spatial Information Systems and Computer Cartography” for Carleton University from 1988 until 1993, and has delivered and prepared a variety of GIS training modules for the governments of Canada, Egypt, Ukraine, Eritrea and for CARE International in Sierra Leone.

In the past two years, Tom has worked with SAC in Takoma Park as GIS/Mapping Officer. In addition, he was the principal trainer of senior LIS staff in the field, who in turn train the survey interviewers.

Education/Other

Tom received a B.Sc. and M.A. in Geography from Carleton University in Ontario, Canada, and a B.F.A. in Photography from Concordia University in Québec, Canada.

He speaks English and his French is improving. Tom is a citizen of Canada and the U.K. He is extremely interested in travel, photography, food, and combinations of all three.