Sylvia's Journal

We had our conversation about the American counter-insurgency strategy (COIN) and our position on working with the military, something people in Boston want to know about. I enjoyed the conversation because there are so many stories. I always used to tell the young women I mentored that they should make sure they put all the stories they hear in an imaginary backpack that they should be carrying along all the time. Each new story should be carefully wrapped and placed in the backpack. One day you will need it. Maybe this is why older people have back problems: too many stories.

We listened to the quarterly report presentations of our colleagues and I was struck about the difference with the quarterly reports I listened to only 3 months ago, right after I got here. People may say that capacity building is a slow process but I see people improving in leaps and bounds.

After lunch we left to see the minister of health to talk about one of my primary responsibilities: strengthening leadership at the very top of the institution. Such conversations are always delicate because they have a premise embedded in them that something is wrong at the top. Not everyone at the top is willing to hear that. I had prepared a brief note that spelled out some of the special conditions that make leading at the very top so challenging.

We arrived in the now familiar room, taking our seats behind those who were in audience. Over a period of about 15 minutes people came and went, papers got signed, and there was much talking (mostly in Pashto and Dari) and smiling and handshaking. When people in uniform came in and seated themselves behind us my heart sank because I thought ‘there goes the intimate conversation!’ But then, as fast as they came, they left again.

Finally we were alone with the chief and only his assistant in attendance, pen in hand with a blank piece of paper for notes. When we had made it clear why we were there the assistant was dismissed (“I am sure you have much work to do!”) and we could finally start our intimate conversation about the difficult challenges of leading at the very top. We talked for over an hour and left with doors wide open for new beginnings (after the new cabinet is voted in by Parliament), building the top team, reflecting on learnings and travelling to health facilities in the periphery that are struggling. The work with the top team is the central piece of my job and so far, after three months here, I had not made much progress.

Whether the doors will remain wide open until I come back from Holland remains to be seen but we have passed the first barrier (to get an audience and be heard) and the next ones will be smaller. I consider this my Christmas present, which was augmented with a silver lapis lazuli ring from his Excellency himself and wishes for a merry Christmas and a happy new year. Today was a good day, a very good day.