DIALOGUE
In this section:
Notes from Natsios: Communication Is a Two-Way Street
First Person: Dennis Akwar
Mission of the Month: Congo
Notes from Natsios: Communication Is a Two-Way Street
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| Andrew S. Natsios |
In my many management jobs, I have always found that good two-way communication is a key factor in being successful. Apparently, and thankfully, our staff here at USAID agrees. This year, more than half of our 8,000 employees responded to the annual employee survey, and many of the respondents suggested that I find ways to increase the two-way communication between the "rank and file" and the front office.
One of the key ways we have done this is by hosting "brown bag" lunches with staff from each of the various bureaus. Senior staff is not present at these meetings, which are meant as an opportunity for a mutual exchange of ideas and information. They are important for me in addressing problems here that might otherwise go unaddressed. Unattended, these problems can, of course, have a disastrous effect on morale.
Many questions deal with the nitty-gritty problems of working in a large and complex organization like USAID—matters of space, funding, etc. At one lunch, an attendee expressed concern about air quality in the RRB, particularly as it applies to inorganic matter. As a result, we are conducting air quality tests.
Other questions address the broader concerns of the Agency—State/USAID relations, our fragile states strategy, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, African development, microfinance, and Middle East outreach—to mention but a few of the topics raised at the last such brown-bag gathering.
I keep informed about what goes on around the Agency in various other ways, such as visiting the bureaus in their space to meet and chat with staff, keeping my ears open for what the rank and file is saying. I am very concerned that the trappings of office do not short-circuit communications.
To keep employees abreast of what is happening at senior levels of the Agency, I have instructed that minutes from the weekly Senior Staff Meeting be posted online. I also speak with mission directors from around the world, sometimes daily.
Last year's extraordinary mission directors conference in Washington brought together bureau personnel from missions worldwide with their Washington counterparts.
Other conferences take place periodically and give me the opportunity to address mission personnel and hear from them directly.
During my visits to missions, I make it a habit to meet with the entire mission staff, including office personnel and our foreign service nationals. This has proved invaluable in getting a read on our operations and the countries where we work.
When I address the public, I like to stress that "development" is now a centerpiece of this nation's foreign policy.
FIRST PERSON
Dennis Akwar
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| Dennis Akwar |
Schoolteachers in some rural areas, including postconflict regions such as Lira and Gulu, have improved their ability to teach as a result of the USAID-funded Connectivity for Educator Development project. It provides interactive, self-guided learning, computer access, and training at eight primary teacher colleges. The Agency invested $2 million to develop online curricula and hook up computer labs to internet access in Uganda. Another $1.2 million will be invested in a followup program that will work also on information technology policy.
"I can now create learning aids for my class. I can type and then save or print my notes. I can search for information from the internet, download it, and print it to enrich my teaching content... No more running around to search for teaching resources. It is just a click away."
Dennis Akwar, science and mathematics teacher, Canon Lawrence Demonstration School, Boroboro Lira, Uganda
MISSION OF THE MONTH
Congo
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Workers completing the 490-kilometer railway. The first train took its trip on the renovated railway on June 29. Jason Beaubien, National Public Radio |
The Challenge
The Democratic Republic of Congo is emerging from years of civil war and regional conflict. A peace agreement was signed in 2003, foreign armies left, and now a transitional government is in place.
But poverty and despair persist. The country is economically devastated, with an estimated 55 million Congolese living on $107 each a year, making it one of the world's poorest countries. One in five children dies before turning 5 years old. Life expectancy is 46 years for men and 51 for women, as infectious diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis kill tens of thousands each year.
War has displaced 3.4 million people. Insecurity is high in the east, where renegade armed groups continue to fight among each other, and rape is widespread. Collapsed political and social institutions need to be rebuilt as a first step to addressing many of the country's problems.
Innovative USAID Response
The Kinshasa mission is helping the country in its fragile transition from war to peace. Its programs promote democracy, health, education, livelihoods, demobilization, disarmament, and reintegration.
USAID is improving humanitarian and commercial access to isolated areas through road and railway rehabilitation and by reducing illegal taxation and corrupt government practices along the Congo River, a vital trading route.
The mission is leading the effort to meet the emergency needs of millions of war victims and isolated populations, particularly women and girls suffering from sexual violence, and children separated from their families by war.
The mission's health program, representing 60 percent of its budget, provides a package of basic commodities, including insecticide-treated bednets, vitamin supplements, and HIV/AIDS tests for all blood transfusions in 91 of 306 health zones.
The Agency is also providing technical assistance for the creation of new laws, such as the law on citizenship, and is aiding new institutions, such as the country's first independent election commission.
The election of a new government, due to take place by 2006, is the final step outlined in the peace accord.
Results
In the past two years, USAID helped double vaccination coverage to 40 percent of the population. It also increased access to health care from 15 percent to 25 percent of the people in most of the health zones the mission supported. Thanks to such efforts, the last case of polio was reported in 2000.
In January, the Independent Electoral Commission started its work, and a democratic political party law took effect.
Conferences bring civil society representatives from remote regions together to address problems such as criminal impunity and security.
USAID helped develop a national plan for disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of ex-combatants, and helped 30 local communities prepare for what are often tense homecomings.
The Agency also funded the rehabilitation of 490 kilometers of railway reconnecting two major food-producing provinces separated by the war's destruction. Despite poor roads and tracks, U.S. food aid reached about 2 million people in 2004.
In response to horrifying levels of sexual violence, more than 10,000 victims of sexual violence were assisted with medical, psychosocial, judicial, and community reintegration services.
"I believe USAID/Congo deserves recognition because they are doing innovative things in a harsh working environment," said Michael Miklaucic, program officer of USAID's Office of Democracy and Governance. "They are helping to hold former belligerents together in a transition government, dramatically contributing to what could be an historical transition."
