May 2009 Newsletter

May 10, 2009

Tributes to members of our community who have passed away. Michael Jordan, 1935-2009.

USAID invites alumni to support new hiring

A memo from USAID/OHR – Gene George, DAA invites UAA to help USAID meet increasing personnel requirements:

1) recruitment, hiring, supervising, coaching and mentoring – 15 positions;

2) filling Senior Management Group vacancies – short and longer-term assignments – contact regional bureau leaders (see memo); and

3) urgent staffing needs in Afghanistan – 150 positions to be filled by 30 Sept 09.

Even if you cannot respond, please alert candidates you would recommend and share this invitation.
Thanks to Barbara Turner, Terry Brown, and Tony Pryor — UAA Strengthening USAID Committee.


USAID Alumni Association and DACOR
request the pleasure of your company at the next
Development Dialogue with Peter McPherson.

Title to be announced – topic related to “Arrested Development – Making Foreign Aid a More Effective Tool,” by Atwood, McPherson, and Natsios, in Foreign Affairs, Nov/Dec ’08.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009, at noon
DACOR Bacon House
1801 F Street, NW
Washington, DC

R.S.V.P.

(202) 682-0500, ext. 15 or prog.coord@dacorbacon.org
Lunch $20/person

Reservations not canceled by 9:00am on July 6th are charged full price.

Peter McPherson needs little introduction to USAID alumni – he was our dynamic Administrator and Chairman of the Board of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation from 1981-1987.

At www.aplu.org you can catch up on what he has been doing since he left USAID.

This Development Dialogue follows luncheon speaker events that have included Brian Atwood, Henrietta Fore, and Andrew Natsios. This talk will, no doubt, be interesting and lively…with time for discussion.

Reservations are necessary for luncheons at DACOR in order to plan meal services. Please call or write, as above. You may pay by check or cash at the door. If you change plans, please cancel by 9am the morning prior to the event to avoid being charged. Thanks!


UAA Survey Update – Top Priorities for FAA61 Reforms (UAA Development Issues Committee):

Jim Michel, Ray Love, and George Hill are considering alumni responses to our survey on FAA61 reform priorities. A compilation and a draft synthesis by UAA/SID-W Intern, A. Clarke, are downloadable in our members-only section. We welcome your edits (use Track Changes), to survey@usaidalumni.org.


Request for Short-term Lodging for USAID New Recruits!

The next class of new employees as part of the Development Leadership Initiative starts Monday, March 30. New staff spend 3 to 6 months in Washington in orientation and a rotation in a Washington Bureau, language training if needed, then they are off to the field. New hires recruited from outside the Washington Metro area do not get per diem during this time. Because of their short tenure in Washington, affordable housing has become a problem. Some do not bring their families. Housing is most needed during the first month or two as folks are settling into the Washington area.

If you are able to accommodate a USAID boarder for a few days or weeks or months or know of reasonable short-term housing, please volunteer or inform us at housing@usaidalumni.org – include your name, phone number, street address, and confirm your email address so we can put you in direct touch with the appropriate USAID Human Resources staff.


Recent Good Reads on FAA61 and USAID Reforms:

The Foreign Service’s Poor Cousin,” Francisco Zamora (AFSA V.P. for USAID), Foreign Service Journal, Mar ’09, p51: “…while State A-100 entry-level officers receive per diem benefits (ie, during orientation/training in Washington before assignment), new USAID officers in the junior officer intake program are denied them… …we need to change this unfair system.” Francisco’s introduction of Sec. Hillary Clinton to USAID staff and her presentation to the large gathering at RRB on 23 Jan ’09 can be found at UAA website Archives.

“USAID’s Knowledge Revolution: New and Improved Knowledge Services Center at the Agency’s Core” (Jan ’09) at http://www.sidw.org/node/1420 – contacts: Stacey Young at styoung@usaid.gov or Tony Pryor at tpryor@usaidalumni.org. We will soon post more in this domain with Joe Gueron (M/CIO/KM) on initiatives of interest to associates and directly helpful to USAID. Your thoughts are welcome on how UAA could help USAID. How would you propose reviving the famous Development Studies Program and making it widely accessible?

An article on UAA formation in Front Lines in April generated many site visits and registrations…thanks, Tony Pryor!

Foreign Aid Reform – Comprehensive Strategy, Interagency Coordination, and Operational Improvements Would Bolster Current Efforts” – GAO, April, 2009. Good read…accent on operations, lean on strategy.

Putting ‘Smart Power’ to Work” – this report and recent colloquia by the Center for US Global Engagement drew a sizable crowd including some luminaries and people from the Hill. Their ‘Report on Reports’ synthesizes twenty of the past few yrs’ think-tank papers on FAA’61-related reforms (includes a full reference addendum).

A Transatlantic Call for Renewed Leadership AND Partnerships in Global Development ” – Also the title to ex-Congressman Jim Kolbe’s 05 May DDD presentation on findings and conclusions of a new monograph by Carlsson & Kolbe — Transatlantic Taskforce on Development – German Marshall Fund of the U.S.


Contact list(s), Membership, Contributions, Other:

To be on the UAA contact list – if you aren’t already – go to [About US] and click on Membership…consider the membership criteria…fill in/[submit] the brief form used for the contact list and for vetting/authenticating in case we few volunteers don’t recognize your name. We don’t want to be ‘exclusive’ but need to be coherent as an association, including guarding entry onto the contact list and access to it.

Then, to support UAA and access the members-only section, $50 contributions are appreciated to help pay for UAA web space, webmaster and recurrent webware support, legal registration, and for preparing the 1st annual mtg in Oct’09 to ratify UAA Articles and By-laws, do a couple of colloquia, and hang out with good friends.

The Members section includes the contact list (as of March ’09, in .pdf) for over 600 alumni, and a few other items. Contact membership@usaidalumni.org for log-in username and password, and indicate that you have contributed or intend to do so this year.

Aaron Williams is UAA Treasurer. Please make checks payable to USAID Alumni Association or UAA and send to: UAA c/o SID-W | 1875 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 720 | Washington, DC 20009-5728 | attention: USAID Alumni Association.

By late April, we had received about $1300 – covering six months of direct costs to date. Online payment by credit card will be available shortly after legal registration in DC, expected soon.

There still are some problems in the contact database.  Aside from the fact that we have info on only about 640 of a total potential of perhaps 10,000, roughly one in twelve e-addresses have produced “undeliverable” bounce-backs. In some cases they were mis-transcribed or indecipherable at the time of the initial RRB meeting last September. Some people have changed email addresses since we began compiling lists over 18 months ago.  We’re slowly tracking down and correcting info.  Alas, a few are no longer nor ever again will be on-line…

Contact info for UAA Organizers, by Committee also is posted in the members-only section.

We thank the Society for International Development – Washington for hosting the UAA’s organizing phase since Jan ’09 as a SID-W Working Group. After DC registration in June, DACOR will provide UAA’s legal, physical mail address (SID-W can not do so after registration external to SID-W).


Jobs:

1 – William Carter M/HR/POD (wcarter@usaid.gov ) requested UAA to assist USAID/Afghanistan to find candidates for twenty-five (25) BS-12 GDO FS-02 and twenty-five BS-12 FS-03 positions ($64k – $117k salaries). If you or anyone you know is interested and qualified, check out these positions at Jobsearch.USAjobs.gov and others at http://afghanistan.usaid.gov/en/Jobs.aspx. Also, see GGeorge memo, as in lead notice, above.

2 – DTS also are recruiting a senior USAID economist with a Ph.D in economics with extensive USAID M&E experience to lead the M&E work across Pakistan?s economic growth portfolio. Interested applicants should send resumes and bio data forms to the attention of Sharon Williams at SWilliams@onlinedts.com.

34 – USAID alumni Kirk Dahlgren inquired whether any seasoned ex-officers might be interested in work with U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) on DoD development initiatives – kirk.dahlgren@hq.southcom.mil. Problem: you’d have to locate yourself in South Florida… Check the website jobs page for future job opportunities.


Fifth UAA Exec Committee – tbd: 28 May at AAFSW 3-5p


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