Sylvia's Journal

It is very hot and in my non-airconditioned concrete office, with a window/door on only one side (no breeze flowing through) it is getting rather uncomfortable. Luckily the days are short and people leave on the dot when the clock strikes 3 PM. This is actually late; most offices clear out at 1 or 2 PM.

We spent hours today getting from our side of the town to downtown; in the end we got out of the car and walked as the traffic was blocked as far as they eye could see. Someone important or something important was happening or passing by and everyone else was stopped. There were armed and uniformed men everywhere. This is supposed to comfort us.

I arrived halfway through the meeting I was supposed to attend and the power point had already been completed. It was a good thing I had studied the materials and boned up on TB and how to advocate, communicate and mobilize communities to eradicate it, as this was the topic of the presentation.

Today we tackled the hot and complex issue of donor-supplied salaries for people who work as consultants in the ministry. Entire departments are run by consultants. The compensation levels are all different with the UN agencies topping the list; further down come the WorldBank, the EU, GAVI and then us (USAID monies).

Our consultants work across the hall from people who get their topped up salaries from one of the above sources; they are higher, and thus a source of discontent. There is an upward spiral that rewards the small pool of good English speakers and writers with a work ethic that pleases the donors. It’s a buyers’ market, everyone wants them now that Afghanization is written into all strategies and 50% of foreign aid has to flow through the government. These people are worth their weight in gold. And so they ask for more money. Of course their salaries have nothing to do with the civil service pay scale that pales in comparison.

People talk about sustainability but if you think about financial sustainability, the ability of the government to take over these salaries at some point, you get an enormous headache. The only chance at that is if all the minerals and oil deposits that people are finding in this country can actually be extracted and sold for a good price with care taken that most of it won’t be siphoned off by people with power and arms. That’s a challenge that requires a miracle.

The sustainability that is possible is the capacity development that will increase the pool of people who can manage large projects and funds wisely and transparently. As it is, these are exactly the kind of people who are asking for higher pay.