Friday, May 27, 2011

Checking In From Jerusalem

I finished up my last full day of work in Jerusalem today. I get to play tourist tomorrow, and then it is off to Cairo. While I don't have a choice to make just yet, this has been a great week to see how a major NGO operates. It has been great to see a real multi-cultural workforce work together. There are Americans, Canadians, Serbs, Nepalese, and Palestinians in the office. One of the things you see right away is the race to secure fundings which is the lifeblood for the NGO world, and USAID is the major donor in the space. Gaza is getting the most attention now, and these guys are doing a lot of thinking of how to maintain their position as the development landscape changes.

Unfortunately there will always be tragedies in the world, but they are the bread and butter of the humanitarian focused NGO's. The challenge now is how to participate in the economic development initiatives in the Arab world, especially as the line between NGO's and the private sector begins to blur. That's the main issue that I am out here working on, and am also developing a framework to help build the entrepreneurial ecosystem that for the most part doesn't exist in most Arab states. One of the interesting things in Palestine is that Gaza is ahead of the West Bank in terms of being technology innovators. The Israeli blockade has forced Gazans to go to great lengths to cobble together PC's, routers, and other internet infrastructure. A major tech company will be announcing a partnership to seed start-ups in Gaza, and I have also been evaluating the strategic plan as well as partnership opportunities with other tech companies.

The NGO world definitely rises and falls with its ability to secure mandates. The post 9/11 world has been a goldmine for NGO's with the tremendous upheavals in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now that the purse strings are tightening up, a lot of NGO's will have to move closer to embracing the for-profit model in order to fully participate in enterprise development projects.

Other than the funding rat race, the major difference between the State or USAID option is that in the NGO world you don't get that USA in a box experience that you might find in an embassy or mission setting. You have to figure out your own transportation and housing options, and there just isn't the support network that exists when you work for the government.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Into the Fire

I had been pursuing several different options while I waited for the the results from the QEP, and am heading off to the West Bank and to Cairo tomorrow to work on a project for a large NGO. This is a pro bono consulting job of sorts,and also an extended interview process for both of us.

This is a much different opportunity then working inside an embassy, and this NGO certainly works in a very rough and tumble atmosphere. They have been very active in Libya, and have humanitarian operations in Misrata. I don't think I will be doing anything nearly that exciting during this trip, but I suspect this trip to the West Bank will feel very different than when I was last there in February.

One of many questions is what happens next in the Middle East? One of the major priorities going forward with this NGO is to attack the massive youth unemployment issue in the region, and in particular make investments in the technology sector to stimulate entrepreneurism and job creation. It is the sort of challenge quite frankly that blows away what I might do as a junior management officer in the Foreign Service. I see it more as being a technocrat executing policy which you don't have any say in (just like when I was in the military) versus being truly entrepreneurial to achieve a strategic objective. Not that one is necessarily better or worse, but definitely different.

My plane leaves Monday morning right when the window opens up to schedule the Oral Assessment, so I will be frantically trying to schedule it from the airplane before we take off. Since this is just a trial run I definitely want and need to keep all of my options open. Based upon my interactions so far with many of the senior people in the organization, if given the choice I would probably not take the OA if they offer me a permanent position following this assignment.

Monday, May 16, 2011

QEP Results

Despite the high drama of the budget crisis and how that would impact the QEP process just downloaded my letter and saw the Congratulations! so I have made it to the OA for the second time. I guess I should be pretty pumped, but during the wait the train has started to leave the station on a really interesting opportunity.

It looks like I am heading over to the Middle East on sort of a trial run assignment for an NGO. One of their major focuses now is what to do next following the Arab Spring and how do you tackle the huge problem of under employment in the region. I had a great series of meetings with them last week and the plan is to fly over and look at several potential projects in the West Bank and Egypt. There are several very prominent US tech companies who are looking to make investments in the region, and I could be the point person running all of the youth employment programs in the Middle East and North Africa.

Good luck to everyone.