Adje, Yikee. Diplomatically: A Guide for Creating Work-Life Balance in the Foreign Service. 2023. Independently published.
Bacchus, William I. (1983). Staffing For Foreign Affairs: Personnel Systems for the 1980s and 1990s. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
ISBN: 978-0691613093
William Bacchus warns that the American Foreign Service is in serious danger of being unable to meet changing responsibilities unless it reforms its present personnel system.
Bacchus, William I. (1984). Inside the Legislative Process: The Passage of the Foreign Service Act of 1980. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
ISBN: 978-0865318007
William Bacchus continues to contribute to our knowledge of the processes involved in organizing the foreign policy which he first elucidated in an essay in the American Political Science Review (1974, 68, 736-748). Additionally, we gain insights into the nature of relations among bureaucrats, congressional actors, and White House officials in the formulation of legislation. He traces the development of the legislation from the passage of the Foreign Service Act of 1946 to the implementation of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 in 1981.
Bowman, Jamie. 2022. Bike Riding in Kabul: The Global Adventures of a Foreign Aid Practitioner. Boyle and Dalton.
ISBN-13: 978-1633376347.
Getting roughed up by Islamic fundamentalists, the weekly “feline sex-=fest” in Kyiv, bribing Russian police to avoid jail in Moscow, taking automatic weapons training in Indiana and that Ill-timed morning bike ride in Kabul, Jamie Bowman’s memoir takes the reader around the world of international development with good humor and unique perspective.
Lawyer Jamie Bowman has carried out multiple consultancies for USAID and other development organizations in the areas of anti-corruption, financial inclusion and gender equality. She now resides in Washington, D.C.
Bushnell, John A. (1961). Australian Company Mergers 1948-1959. Melbourne Univ Press.
Mr. Bushnell was nominated to be U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica in 1990. Mr. Bushnell had served as Deputy Chief of Mission in the Republic of Panama. Mr. Bushnell entered the Foreign Service in 1960 and has served in the following positions: assigned to the Department of State, 1960 – 1962; international economist in Bogota, Colombia, 1962 – 1964; international economist in Santo Domingo, 1964 – 1965; program officer for the Agency for International Development, 1965 – 1969; international economist for the U.S. Mission in Geneva, 1969 – 1971; National Security Council, 1971 – 1974; Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Department of the Treasury, 1974 – 1976; assigned to the Department of State, 1976 – 1981; member of the Board of the Panama Canal Commission, 1980; Deputy Chief of Mission in Buenos Aires, 1982 – 1987; and inter functional officer in the Office of the Director of Management Policy, 1988 – 1989.Mr. Bushnell graduated from Yale University (B.A., 1955) and the University of Melbourne (M.A., 1959). He was born July 26, 1933, in New York. After retirement, he has been an associate with the Overseas Development Council, 1993-1996.
Conway, James F. (2004). Africa Reawakening: What the Continent Did with International Aid. Silver Spring, MD: Beckham Publishing Group.
ISBN: 978-0931761096
For decades, development professionals have wrung their hands over the failure of political and economic development in Africa despite massive injections of assistance and the continent’s own plentiful natural resources. “What is the secret formula? What are the mistakes not to be repeated? Why is the aid not working like a Marshall Plan?” These are some of the questions author Jim Conway asks. Refreshingly, in this book, he neither presents universalistic formulas nor proposes easy solutions. Instead, we have the insights from his own 15-year experience working in Africa, which “suggest successes and open a door to tomorrow,” as he puts it in the introduction.
James Conway worked in Africa from 1974 to 1987 and from 1993 to 1994, through organizations such as the Church World Service and the U.N. World Food Program. Since 2003, he has worked for USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance in Angola and Sudan; he is now working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Dolan Lawrence, (2019). Annotated Bibliography of Pre-1945 Baedeker Guidebooks and Pre-1945 Baedeker Buyer-Seller Reference (2019). Both independently published.
Verlag Karl Baedeker, was a German publisher of travel guides. Often simply referred to as Baedekers, these guides contain, among other things, excellent maps and information about sights, attractions and museums, written by specialists. When studying for a Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning, Dolan Lawrence began collecting these volumes, eventually acquiring over 900. These books can help buyers and sellers to accurately asses the condition, completeness and rarity of these individual guides.
Lawrence Dolan worked for USAID for nearly 25 years, initialy as a PSC Program Officer, then joining the Foreign Service in 2001 where he served in Bangladesh, Ghana, Pakistan and Indonesia, as well as Pakistan Desk Officer. He retired from USAID in 2016 and is currently a graduate student at Northern Vermont University. He has created a website to demonstrate how Baedeker guides can be used as teaching tools in primary and secondary schools.
Eberly, Don. (2008). The Rise of Global Civil Society: Building Nations from the Ground Up. New York, NY: Encounter Books
ISBN: 978-1594032141
Compassion is America’s most consequential export, argues Don Eberly in this new book surveying the rise of civil society around the world. Once the distinctive characteristic of American democracy, philanthropy, volunteerism, public-private partnerships and social entrepreneurship are spreading across the globe. This trend is the seedbed for long-term cultivation of democratic norms. According to Eberly, the key to meeting development challenges in the future will be to harness the best of both the public and the private sector to experiment with approaches that rely on markets and on civil society, and that engage the poor as partners.
Holley, John. (2014). Consulting in International Development: a Primer. West Conshohocken, PA: Infinity Publishing.
ISBN: 978-1495803048
From the author: “By definition, all consultants in International Development have a technical skill, but few have been systematically exposed to consulting skills, concepts, behaviors and tools required to get the job effectively done. Most learn at least some of these things by observation and trial and error. This book has been written to reduce the learning curve well as expand the skill set to enhance productivity and the quality of results. This is not a textbook, but the introduction to all the aspects of becoming an excellent consultant in International Development, with ideas related to a wide variety of topics. This book is based author’s 40 years of experience as a consultant contracted or employed by numerous consulting firms and several UN agencies, The World Bank, and USAID, in 60+ countries as an expert in health care management for Governments, worldwide Tuberculosis management, and making model non-profit organizations sustainable without subsidies from a donor. He was also one of the early leaders in organizational development from which consulting skills were studied and developed, and he has spent his entire career honing those skills. His hope is that the next generation does it better than he did.
Hoxeng, James. Let Jorge Do It: An Approach to Rural Nonformal Education. Univ. of Massachusetts Center for International Education.
ISBN: 978-0932288301.
Jim Hoxeng worked for USAID as an International Education Specialist tirelessly devoted to non-formal education for over 30 years. This doctoral thesis is still used an instructional tool in universities across the country.
Hyman, Eric L. (1988) and Bruce Stiftel with David Moreau and Robert Nichols. Combining Facts and Values in Environmental Impact Assessment: Theories and Techniques. Boulder CO: Westview Press.
This book integrates theories and techniques from a wide range of disciplines in an effort to improve the practice of existing environmental impact assessment methods. The authors discuss benefit-cost analysis; land-suitability analysis; checklists; matrices; and networks; modeling, simulation, and resource management approaches; as well as multiple objective analysis. They also explore common pitfalls and suggest ways to improve the handling of facts and values, risk and uncertainty, and the presentation and communication of findings. To remedy the shortcomings of existing methods, the book concludes by presenting a new method for environmental assessment, including a case study application in land-use watershed management
Eric Hyman is, as of 2015, an Enterprise Development Advisor in USAID’s E3/Economic Policy/Capacity Building supporting procurement reform with local organizations and the private sector). Dr. Hyman has over thirty-four years of experience in monitoring and evaluation, project appraisal, policy analysis, cost-benefit analysis, and environmental and social impact assessment. He previously worked for the US African Development Foundation, EnterpriseWorks Worldwide, and as a Congressional Fellow at the US Congress Office of Technology Assessment. He received a Ph.D. and M.R.P. in Environmental Planning from the University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill and a B.A. in Economics and Environmental Science from the University of Virginia.
Hyman, Eric and Maynard Hufschmidt (eds).(1982). Economic Approaches to Natural Resource and Environmental Quality Analysis. Dublin, Ireland, Tycooly International.
This book is the edited proceedings of a conference organized by the East-West Center Environment and Policy Institute describing environmental impact valuation techniques and their usefulness and limitations in developing countries. It consists of seventeen papers including a keynote paper that is a concise survey of the major concepts of natural resource economics and applied cost-benefit analysis extended to include environmental impacts.
Eric Hyman is, as of 2015, an Enterprise Development Advisor in the USAID/W Office of Economic Policy/Capacity Building. Dr. Hyman has over thirty-four years of experience in monitoring and evaluation, project appraisal, policy analysis, cost-benefit analysis, and environmental and social impact assessment. His areas of specialization include small- and micro-enterprise development; agricultural production and processing, renewable energy, community forestry, and natural resource management. He previously served with the US African Development Foundation, at /EnterpriseWorks Worldwide and as a Congressional Fellow at the US Congress Office of Technology Assessment. He received a Ph.D. and M.R.P. in Environmental Planning from the University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill and a B.A. in Economics and Environmental Science from the University of Virginia.
Ink, Dwight with Kurt Thurmaier. (2018). Getting Tbings Done with Courage and Conviction – Principles ad Cases in Public Management. Melvin and Leigh.
This college textbook includes a chapter devoted to “Implementing Foreign Aid Reforms amid Civil Wars, 1984-1988”. The chapter is quite revealing about clashes with State and Defense where the author seems to have done a credible job of preventing USAID from being sidelined in U.S. policy toward El Salvador.
Dwight Ink was Assistant Administrator for Latin America during the Peter McPherson era as USAID Administrator. He was a political appointee during most Republican administrations since the 60s, with experience in a number of Federal Agencies, including White House Personnel and OMB during the Nixon & Ford era. Both he and Dona Wolf (his long-time partner) consider themselves career public sector management experts. He presently resides in Sterling, Virginia.
Johnson, Jr., Thomas E. (2023). Common Place: The Public Library, Civil Society, and Early American Values. Amherst, MA: Levellers Press. ISBN: 978-1-951928-57-5
Common Place tells the story of the first public libraries in America (and thus the world), all of which were founded in New England through civil society efforts. Many readers will not realize that even today many public libraries across America are run by non-governmental organizations. The author points out that the public library is unique in this respect. The book begins with a foreword written by a former president of the American Library Association, who served as the author’s main advisor on the project. In the preface, the author discusses how he came to write Common Place and in passing notes his foreign service career with USAID. The introduction, referring to the public library as an institution, is subtitled “a place of civic and moral values.”
Section I discusses the history of public libraries and rise of civil society in America and the nexus between the two, focusing on key individuals such as Benjamin Franklin – the “father of the public library” and civil society in America for that matter, and educator Horace Mann who was born and raised in Franklin, MA – the location of America’s first public library, established in 1790 based on a donation of books from Franklin. In considering the role of civil society, the author features the work of Alexis de Tocqueville and Robert D. Putnam.
The next book section consists of 16 case studies of libraries across all six New England States. The earliest public libraries in America are covered, including those in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut. The case studies also cover public libraries in small rural towns such as Guilford, VT and distressed smaller cities like Norwich, CT. In each case the book discusses the why, how, who and when of the library’s founding, its current operation, and future plans.
Section III covers the present and future of the public library as a key social institution, not just in New England but across America. For the first time data is used to illustrate correlations between strong library support and use with community wellbeing, health and opportunity (see Appendix III). Perhaps unsurprisingly, in a positive sense this is strongest in New England. Conversely, weak library support and use is correlated with poor wellbeing and opportunity in several southern states and Appalachia. The author advocates for public libraries to play a greater role in helping patrons to distinguish between facts and disinformation, and in supporting life-long adult learning as America’s economy evolves with increasing speed and complexity, and its population ages. The book is available directly from the publisher or through Amazon. The book’s website is https://commonplace-book.online.
Thomas Johnson has 35-years of experience with a wide variety of international development work performed first as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and since 2012 in the private sector. He served on five continents including in several complex countries. Mr. Johnson’s final USAID work included roles in the initial Department of State – USAID Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review and the White House-led Presidential Study Directive on Global Development exercises. He then joined USAID’s newly established Bureau for Policy, Planning and Learning. Since retirement he has led monitoring, evaluation, research and learning efforts with USAID, the Department of State, the World Bank and IMF. He currently works on a project for USAID/Niger strengthening civil society engagement with the government.
Jordan, James (2015). Joy, Love and Loss in Late Life: An Epistolary History of How Early Life Experiences, Long Marriages, and Divorces Shaped a Late-in-Life Relationship Create Space.
Jimmy Jordan and Aliza Matthews met in their late 70s, when he moved into her apartment building. Both were single and had gone through difficult divorces. Joy, Love, and Loss in Late Life presents a real-life time chronicle of the pair’s relationship. Told through the printed record of more than five years of email exchanges and countless hours spent together, Jordan weaves a unique social history that covers his and Aliza’s life trajectories from childhood memories through career and family choices, all the way up to the present. He also touches on how certain Foreign Service postings can challenge even the strongest marriages. It is Jordan’s hope that this book will help anyone who has served overseas, whether in the Foreign Service or not, gain a better understanding of his or her own life paths and marriages. The book was written, in Jordan’s words, “to make a significant contribution to our understanding of how strong and meaningful social relations can develop at any stage in one’s life, including those enjoyed well into late age.”
James Jordan is the nom de plume of a retired USAID FSO and writer. In deference to his own children and his late-in-life love, Aliza, James scrubbed identifying information from those mentioned in the book.
Maguire, Elizabeth. (2020). Advancing Reproductive Choice. Mont Boron Press.
ISBN: 0578733919.
In Advancing Reproductive Choice, Liz Maguire chronicles her 45-year career dedicated to helping women and girls in developing countries make their own reproductive decisions freely and safely and build a better future for themselves and their families. Maguire highlights the critical work of the organizations where she held leadership positions and her rich and varied experiences in North and sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Latin America. In the 1990s, she served as the first woman director of the global family planning and reproductive health program of the U.S. Agency for International Development, followed by 16 years as CEO of the international non-profit, Ipas. Maguire discusses the major challenges that remain in achieving sexual and reproductive health and rights for all, now exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. She calls for accelerating the global fight for reproductive and social justice.
Maguire also shares her adventures studying and travelling in Europe in her youth, living in France part-time over the last 35 years, and exploring other intriguing places around the world. She concludes with reflections on core values, leadership, and mentorship. Throughout her memoir, Maguire conveys what is possible in life and leadership with passion, perseverance, compassion, optimism, and continuous learning.
Elizabeth (Liz) Maguire worked for 45 years in the international sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) field, holding senior leadership positions in the U.S. government and the non-profit sector. For 16 years (1999-2015), she was President and CEO of Ipas, transforming it into a large global non-profit organization, working with a broad network of partners to advance women’s reproductive health and rights around the world, including access to comprehensive abortion care. Prior to Ipas, Maguire had a distinguished 22-year career with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), including serving as Director of the Office of Population and Reproductive Health during the 1990s and as a member of the U.S. Government’s Senior Executive Service. Early in her career, Maguire was Director of Media Programs at the Population Reference Bureau and worked as a broadcaster and translator for Francophone Africa at Voice of America.
A multilingual U.S. and Irish citizen, she has lived in England, France, and Italy, and has travelled to 85 countries. Maguire divides her time between Chapel Hill, North Carolina and Nice, France.
Malley, Raymond. (2022) Letters and Such…
Xlibris. ISBN 978-1-6698-0765-0.
Since retiring from the Foreign Service in 1983, Raymond Malley has been a prolific author—not just of books (this is his fourth)—but of letters to various editors, from the Valley News of Lebanon, New Hampshire, to The Foreign Service Journal, and beyond. In this book, he collects letters, both published and unpublished, along with other written pieces from throughout his career.
The collection includes a February 2012 missive, “Dems Not Taking Advantage of Bush Mistakes,” another from 2015 about military bands, and several that were originally published in the FSJ, including “Merge USAID Fully into State” (November 2009). He devotes an entire section of the collection to letters on diplomacy, with another focused on foreign assistance, and still another on the military. The topics are wide-ranging: A 2017 letter asks of Afghanistan: “Do we really have to be forever engaged at great cost in a forlorn country halfway around the world to protect ourselves?” A 2018 letter questions the decision to create the U.S. Space Force.
Senior Foreign Service Officer Raymond Malley spent 23 years with the U.S. Agency for International Development, serving mainly in Asian and African countries. After retiring from the Foreign Service, he held executive positions with a global Korean industrial manufacturing group. His previous book, Cold Waters: My Ship Adventures in the Arctic, Antarctica, and North Atlantic, was included in the November 2018 FSJ’s In Their Own Write compilation. Malley and his wife, Josette, who retired from the World Bank, live in Hanover, New Hampshire, where they write, lecture, and teach part-time.
Ndibui, Charles Mwangi. 2021. Time and Chance: A Story of a Nairobi Bomb Blast Survivor.
Independently published. ISBN-13: 979-9476798859.
This memoir of a 41-year FSN working as an accountant and financial rover in the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi includes his description of the 1998 Embassy bombing and its aftermath.
A “simple boy from a simple village” Charles Ndibui implores his readers: “Always believe in yourself, never stop dreaming, irrespective of your background”.
Ojo, Noelle. 2022. The Blaxit Effect: The African-American’s Guide to Relocating to Africa.
Independently Published.
ISBN-13: 979-8218008086.
The word Blaxit is a play on words of the term Brexit describing the migration of black people to Africa to escape racism or uncover their roots. In this guide, author and experienced Africa hand Noelle Ojo takes readers through the process of successfully relocating to sub-Saharan Africa. The book contains a “bonus” section on making the move with children.
USAID FSO Noelle Ojo currently serves as division chief in the USAID/W Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility. She has lived in 4 countries in West and Central Africa over 20 years both as a single woman and as a married mother of two.
Orr, Steven D. (2012). Clan MacKinnon and Clan Orr. Publish America.
ISBN-10: 1462676006.
A descendent from Clans MacKinnon and Orr, Steven Orr presents an historical presentation of two clans that originated in Scotland and eventually emigrated to America to escape political corruption and English cruelty. A reviewer writes, “Steven provides detailed historical information about the modern members of these families with a backdrop of his own experiences growing up in America and making these discoveries in his lineage. Detailed information about Steven’s ancestors and their paths to America bring the Orr and MacKinnon families to life on the pages. History lovers and those who are fascinated with genealogy will devour Clan MacKinnon and Clan Orr as the imprint of these two clans is embedded in the minds of readers, thus carrying on the legacy of two influential family lines that have brought ancient Scottish history to modern-day America. In this comprehensive and ground-breaking book, author Steven Orr offers readers an amazing insight into the lives of Scottish immigrants to the New World. Having traced his ancestral lines of Clan MacKinnon and Clan Orr, the author examines their time in Europe and the causes and results of their immigration to America. For anyone who loves history and examining their own roots, Clan MacKinnon and Clan Orr is a must have.
See biographical notes in Memoirs section.
Riggs, John A. (2020). High Tension: FDR’s Battle to Power America. Diversion Books.
ISPN: 978-1-635-76-732-2.
The story behind one of the greatest peacetime achievements in US history and a model for today’s ongoing government fight with big tech―Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s crusade to electrify the entire nation. Ranging from the highest halls of power to the remote corners of rural America, it was an epic battle between powerful industry captains and America’s most politically astute president. When Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office in the depths of the Depression, high tension―or high voltage―power lines had been marching across the country for decades, delivering urban Americans a parade of life-transforming inventions from electric lights and radios to refrigerators and washing machines. But most rural Americans still lived in the punishing pre-electric era, unconnected to the grid, their lives consumed and bodies broken by backbreaking chores. High Tension is the story of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s battle against the “Power Trust,” an elaborate Wall Street-controlled web of holding companies, to electrify all of America―even when the corrupt captains of the industry and their cronies (led by a formidable and honest champion, Wendell Willkie, whose role in the battle propelled him to a presidential bid to unseat Roosevelt in 1940) cried that running lines to rural areas would not be profitable and that in a free market there would simply have to be a divide between the electricity haves and have-nots. Here is the tale of how FDR’s efforts brought affordable electricity to all Americans, powered the industrial might that won World War II, and established a model for public-private solutions today in areas such as transportation infrastructure, broadband, and health care.
John A (Jack) Riggs John A. (Jack) Riggs served with USAID in Saigon from 1966 to 1971, working primarily on land reform, and as a capital development officer in Brazil in 1972. He then turned to a career in politics and energy policy, working for the House of Representatives, the Department of Energy, and the Aspen Institute. He is currently a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Aspen Institute.”
Russell, Diane. (2003). Groundwork for Community Based Conservation: Strategies for Social Research. Walnut Creek CA. Altamira Press (Rowman and Littlefield).
Inspired by participation in the USAID-funded Biodiversity Conservation Network (BCN), this book provides a guide to social science research methodologies for conservation embedded in a review of key social science theories that underpin the methodologies. It stemmed from a concern that M&E approaches did not adequately consider the best ways to frame questions, collect data and study the social context where conservation actions were being undertaken.
Diane Russell obtained a PhD in anthropology from Boston University in 1991, working within the African Studies Center. After PhD fieldwork in the Democratic Republic of Congo she worked for USAID/Kinshasa on a number of social assessments and project designs. Subsequently she was a Rockefeller Foundation fellow at the Humid Forest Station in Cameroon, was a Research Manager at USAID’s Center for Development Information and Evaluation, and joined the Biodiversity Conservation Network, based in the Philippines and Fiji. She later become a program director for the World Agroforestry Center in Nairobi, and in 2005 joined the Forestry and Biodiversity Office of USAID in 2005 as the Office’s social scientist.
Russell, Lauren. Biological Invasions: Economic and Environmental Costs of Alien Plant, Animal, and Microbe Species. CRC Press.
ISBN: 0-8493-0836-4.
Bio-invasion is quickly becoming one of the world’s most costly ecological problems, as it disrupts agriculture, drastically alters ecosystems, spreads disease, and interferes with shipping. This book assembles detailed information on components of the invasive-species problem from six continents.
As of 2015 Lauren Russell serves as the USAID Staff Care Center’s Deputy Director. Ms. Russell joined USAID in 2001 as a Presidential Management Fellow and entered the Foreign Service in 2002. She has served as a General Development Officer in the Regional Development Mission for Asia, as a Program Officer in USAID/Russia as well as tours in Washington serving as the Senior Policy Advisor for the Deputy Administrator, a Desk Officer and in the Office of Military Affairs. Prior to USAID, Ms. Russell worked as a Hazard Mitigation Program Specialist for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Ms. Russell graduated from Western Washington University and has a Master in Public Administration from Cornell University.
Soto, Erin. (2014). Sharing Secrets: A Conversation about the Counterintuitive Nature of Executive Leadership. TLC Solutions.
With more than 30 years in career leadership positions to back her up, Erin Soto offers a practical guide for those looking to follow in her footsteps. Sharing Secrets is an insider’s view of what makes a good executive, and will enable readers to improve their leadership and management skills. Avoiding buzzwords and business jargon, Soto writes accessibly, providing real world examples of challenges encountered in both her own career and the careers of the clients she has coached. Individual chapters cover organizational culture, staff development, team motivation, communication, strategizing, investing in team members, time management, problem solving and work-life balance. She also advises that leaders employ empathy and compassion when dealing with others, rather than the ruthlessness some leadership guides promote. “More than ever before, organizational leaders must effectively manage for change and strategically communicate more than just good ideas and intent,” says former Acting USAID Administrator Alonzo Fulgham. “Sharing Secrets provides a practical and concise change management roadmap for senior managers across the business spectrum.”
Retired FSO Erin Soto has been in leadership positions around the globe with the Peace Corps and USAID, serving in Mali, Senegal, Haiti, Peru, Cambodia and India. While in the Senior Foreign Service, she led programs related to health and education, conservation, counternarcotics, agriculture, governance and energy. She currently runs her own business, TLC Solutions, offering expert assistance in organizational development and executive coaching.
Smith, Ken F. (2018). Project Management Praxis: A ‘Treasure Trove’ of Practical Innovations to Classic Tools and Techniques for Planning, Monitoring & Evaluating Projects, … by Project Management Practitioners.
Manila. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
ISBN: 978-621-02-0499-5
This PRAXIS is a compendium of ‘Best Practices’ for planning, monitoring, managing & evaluating projects, programs, and (to a lesser extent) portfolios — as Dr. Smith’s legacy to facilitate understanding, and enhance their application by others. Pragmatic tried & true innovations to classic techniques — gleaned and honed during a lifetime of on-the-job experience — are outlined on these pages, and ready for your use.
Dr. Ken Smith was a USAID civil service employee (1965-1971) in AID/W’s Asia, Vietnam & Technical Assistance Bureaus (TAB/Public Administration Division) with extensive TDYs to Vietnam and numerous shorter TDY’s to other USAID Missions. He was also a senior foreign service officer (1971-1983) officer with postings in the Philippines, Korea & Indonesia, and back to AID/W’s Central Training Office, until retirement in 1983. Throughout his career, Ken was focused on designing, implementing, managing, monitoring and evaluating projects — both directly, and vicariously through training others. After retirement from USAID, he continued international development activity as an itinerant project management consultant for USAID and other donors, as well as academe and the private sector through the international Project Management Institute (PMI).
Sposato, Steven and W. A. Smith. (2005). Radio: A Post Nine-Eleven Strategy for Reaching the World’s Poor. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
ISBN: 978-0761832546
In the era of fiber optics, high-speed Internet connections, and ever-faster communications technology breakthroughs, it is useful to ponder the revolutionary potential of the humble radio. In this interesting book, development practitioners Steven Sposato and William A. Smith review the history of distance communication and the rise of information radio in the 1930s through its peak in the 1970s. They present a series of case studies examining the innovative use of radio in fostering development. In bringing to light these little-known stories, the authors make a compelling case for radio’s ability to play a critical role in teaching as well as entertaining today. Stephen Sposato has 25 years of experience as an economist with USAID, specializing in development communication issues for the last five years. William A. Smith is executive vice president of the Academy for Educational Development, a nonprofit that specializes in applying modern communication to social change and development.
Taalib, Mu Octavis. (2012). English Brain–Arabic Learner: Easy Adult Comprehension of the Arabic Language. Parker, CO: Outskirts Press.
ISBN: 978-1432780975
In this concise, clear study guide, Mu Octavis Taalib attempts to reverse the notion that “Arabic is too hard.” Languages are acquired, not learned, he stresses in the preface. This manual is broken down into steps so that learning the language is a process that feels simple, feasible and natural. The approach emphasizes sound, learning symbols and representations, and putting sound and symbol together to formulate thoughts, before finally understanding the Arabic dictionary.
Mu Octavis Taalib, an FSO who retired from USAID in 2009, is a certified Teacher of English to Speakers of Other Languages who also teaches Arabic in suburban Atlanta. Having studied the Arabic language from Nashid Abdul Khaaliq, an Arabic scholar from Boston, Taalib cultivated his skills during the latter part of his FS career when he was based in Cairo and traveled extensively in Jordan, Israel, Yemen and Morocco.
Tall, Aliou. (2014). From Mathematics in Logic to Logic in Mathematics. https://www.createspace.com/4899669.
ISBNEAN13: 098874497x/9780988744974.
Progress made in mathematical logic stemmed from two continuous and overlapping research programs: Boole’s introduction of mathematics into logic and Frege’s introduction of logic into mathematics. Aliou Tall considers these two concurrent research streams, as it were, side-by-side, discussing Boole’s research program in the context of logical debates and the emergence of symbolical algebra and the Fregean research program including Frege’s discussion of the commonality of the two programs.
Aliou Tall taught philosophy for seven years in Senegal. He pursued a post-graduate research degree in the philosophy of mathematical logic at the University of York in United Kingdom where he received a Doctorate of Philosophy in Philosophy with honor. For five years he worked for Non-Governmental Organizations to provide opportunities for equitable access to quality education in the developing world. Dr. Tall currently is an FSO with USAID working in the field of international education and development work and has served in the DRC and Mali.
Thompson, Randal Joy (and Devin Singh). Sept 2021. Reimagining Leadership on the Commons: Shirting the Paradigm for a More Ethical, Equitable and Just World. Emerald Publishing.
ISBN: 978-1-83909-527-6.
Thompson, Randal Joy. 2020. Proleptic Leadership on the Commons: Ushering in a New World Order. Emerald Publishing.
ISBN: 978-183867-800-5.
Thompson, Randal Joy and Julia Storberg Walker (eds.).(2018). Leadership and power in international Development: navigating the intersections of gender, culture, context and sustainability. Emerald Publishing.
ISBN: 9781787541160
We live in an era of drastic changes in relationships between countries and of unprecedented responses to both old and emerging global challenges. Working alongside leaders in developing countries, leaders in international foreign aid and development organizations, non-governmental organizations, and private foundations and companies have driven dramatic changes in our approach to these challenges and to international development more generally. Yet little has been written from the perspective of the leaders telling their stories about leading and navigating the tangle of forces acting upon the course of international development. And even less is known about how leading in international development contexts should be modelled in a way that fosters the development of the next generation of leaders.
Leadership and Power in International Development: Navigating the Intersections of Gender, Culture, Context, and Sustainability brings scholarship up-to-date with practice, collecting the stories and reflections of twenty leaders from Africa, Asia, Europe, Canada, and the United States, many of whom have extensive experience leading within major international organizations. In clear, straightforward narratives, the contributors gathered here highlight their diverse experiences with context, culture, power, gender and sustainability, and they offer strategies and lessons learned derived from their own challenges and successes. Building on these narratives, the book offers a new model or framework for leading in international development contexts.
Through an innovative practice to theory process, the first chapter of the book, written by co-editor Julia Storberg-Walker, provides an original analysis of the chapter narratives, and presents a framework for successfully leading international development projects in the 21st century. The framework can be used for designing leadership development programs as well as for future research in leading in international development contexts. Leadership and Power in International Development is essential reading for development leaders, practitioners, and scholars as they continue to confront the complexity of contemporary power-politics.
Randal Joy Thompson is an International Development Professional, and she is the Founder and Principal of the consulting company Excellence, Equity, and Empowerment. As a USAID Foreign Service Officer for 28 years, Dr. Thompson served in Belarus; Cameroon; Moldova; Morocco; Nicaragua; Romania; Ukraine; and Washington, DC. She has been Chief of Party for several USAID M&E contracts.
Wiedenmayer, Joseph Emil, What? Listen Please: Specific Suggestions to Improve Understanding Between Hard of Hearing Persons and Their Friends. (1968). Private Printing.
Mr. Wiedemayer served with ICA (a USAID predecessor agency) in Palermo, Italy. He also served with the State Dept. in Montevideo, Madrid, Rome, Milan, Melbourne and Curitiba despite being deaf. He never learned sign language.
Winfield, Louise. Living Overseas: Advice for American families going abroad to live, especially for the Agency for International Development. (1962). Public Afffairs Press.
SBN-13: 978-0818301797,ISBN-10: 0818301791
Louise Winfield was the wife of ECA officer Gerald Freeman Winfield, author of China, the Land and the People. Her book was cited by Samuel Butterfield and other USAID officers as essential reading for Americans living abroad.
Williams, Aaron, Taylor Jack and Jennifer Brinkerhoff. 2022. The Young Black Leader’s Guide to a Successful Career in International Affairs: What the Giants Want you to Know. Lynne Rienner Publishers. E-book available.
ISPN 13: 978195505574.
With input from Ambassadors, foreign service professionals and university professors, this guide is meant to “ensure that Black students and early career professionals have the guidance they need to succeed” in the foreign policy arena. The book also offers advice for anyone hoping to attain a leadership position within the government or foreign affairs community.
Aaron Williams’ career at USAID and Peace Corps is described in his autobiography “A Life Unimagined”. RPCV Taylor Jack now works for an international consulting firm and Jennifer Brinkerhoff is George Washington University Professor of Public Administration and International Affairs.