Sylvia's Journal

One of my staff leapfrogged over me to become deputy chief of party. This change will remove at least 100 emails per week out of my mailbox leaving me more time to focus on what I came here to do in the first place: to strengthen the management and leadership development interventions at the provincial and central levels. It’s taken about a year to get to this place. Not that it was a waste. On the contrary, it was a very productive year in which I learned much about what it takes to get health services delivered to the population.

Aside from the leadership work I still have the drug management unit in my portfolio – another steep learning curve for me – and the central capacity building team which focuses on child health interventions, policy work, coordination between provinces and central levels and PR/strategic leadership communications.

In the afternoon a few of us went to the inauguration of the Afghan Social Marketing Association, an accomplishment under the rubric ‘Afghanization.’ Axel worked with these folks, and the project that birthed them, for the last several months and so it was nice to see the culmination of the many (and mainly) man hours that went into the preparations for the launch as well as this organization’s new life.

We came early to the fancy Safi landmark hotel in downtown Kabul, expecting that the presence of the top ambassador of the US would involve major security. As it turned out neither he nor the security checks were there. We had to wait about an hour before the top US official arrived which gave us plenty of to network with old friends, old-timers we had heard about but not yet met and some new arrivals.

In the latter category, we met one half of the couple that some of our USAID friends in Ghana and Kenya had told us to look out for. We will be planning an escape for them and look forward to get to know them better. This is of course the good thing about living overseas – there is a constant coming and going of people and always the opportunity for new friendships.