FOCUS ON: FOREIGN SERVICE NATIONALS
In this section:
Foreign Service Nationals Go On to Top Jobs
Traditional Dancer, Non-Traditional Driver—An
Interview with ‘Mrs. Bean’
Average USAID Contract Specialist Handles Record
$48 Million
Foreign Service Nationals Go On to Top Jobs
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Ana Vilma de Escobar, former FSN, is El Salvador’s
first woman vice president.
AP/World Wide Photos
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El Salvador’s first woman vice president, Ana Vilma
de Escobar, has come a long way since the 1980s, when
she was a USAID foreign service national, or FSN.
De Escobar, elected last year, is one of a growing number
of FSNs who find that their jobs with USAID were springboards
to higher positions inside and outside the Agency. There are
currently 4,900 FSNs employed by USAID, 79 percent of them
overseas.
“FSNs, as a whole, are a remarkably accomplished group
and, subsequent to their service at USAID, many have achieved
some of the highest offices in their respective countries,”
Administrator Andrew S. Natsios said in a July executive notice.
He designated 2005 as the “Year of the FSN” to recognize
their importance.
He cited people like de Escobar, who worked for USAID for
nine years. She managed a $50 million project that promoted
non-traditional exports, encouraged foreign investment, and
supported the development of small and medium business as
a tool for economic growth. De Escobar also played a critical
role in USAID’s support for the Salvadoran Foundation
for Economic and Social Development, a think tank whose policy
recommendations helped two successive governments design the
country’s economic reform program.
After her work at USAID, de Escobar worked in El Salvador’s
banking sector and was named to the board of directors for
the Arena Party. She was asked to join the cabinet of former
President Francisco Flores as head of the country’s National
Social Security Institute, a department with over 11,000 employees
and 200 service centers.
In 2003, then-presidential candidate Tony Saca recruited
her to serve as his running mate. A record 67 percent of El
Salvador’s eligible voters turned out, handing Saca and
de Escobar victory.
Yulia Shevchenko is another FSN who headed for a
top position. She recently left the USAID mission in Moscow
to become the senior project manager for CitiFinancial in
Russia, a subsidiary of the credit card company Citibank.
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Svetlana Gorodetskaya
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“Being a part of the Agency is a big luck, but you
need to prove that the Agency made a right choice selecting
you,” she said. “So continue learning, improve your
professional skills, and never give up.”
Svetlana Gorodetskaya, now with the United Nations,
also started her USAID career in Moscow in 1994. She later
moved to posts in Serbia and Montenegro (Kosovo), Indonesia,
and the United States. “USAID helped me to start a career
I have never thought about before, which proved to be a very
successful choice,” Gorodetskaya said.
She initially wanted to be a medical doctor, completed degrees
in international economic relations and international relations,
and worked in human resources at USAID and the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
She heads the human resources unit within the Global and
Inter-Regional Division of the U.N. Office for Project Services.
Her friends say the experience has made Gorodetskaya “very,
very cosmopolitan.” She has learned about people from
several different countries and cultures, she said.
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Marlène Charlotin
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“And the most amazing thing: in every country I was
assigned to during the last five years—Serbia and Montenegro,
Indonesia, and the United States—I met people I had met
in USAID/Russia,” Gorodetskaya said.
Marlène Charlotin, who now works with the International
Finance Corporation at the World Bank, started her career
with USAID back in 1977 as a junior secretary in the Haiti
mission’s Health, Population, and Nutrition Office.
“Although I did not understand a lot about development
when I joined USAID,” she says, “I realized early
enough that it was worthwhile working for an organization
whose main objective was to alleviate poverty around the world.”
“Furthermore, the health office professionals I was
working with were so involved and so anxious to really make
a difference that I could not be indifferent,” said Charlotin.
“Before I knew it, I went back to school to complete
a BS in business administration.”
Charlotin also moved up the ranks and shifted from administrative
work to a professional position in the health office. Despite
working in one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere,
Charlotin said: “We were making a difference in the lives
of the Haitian population. Institutions started to become
accountable, the health programs were moving forward, immunization
rates increased, malnutrition was decreasing, fertility rates
were decreased.”
Charlotin was a member of the Agency’s FSN Working
Group before she left USAID this year for the World Bank.
Amal Mahmaz, the deputy executive officer for USAID/Morocco,
started working there in 1993 as a secretary, but only reluctantly.
She’d just completed an undergraduate degree in linguistics
at Rabat University. “I had no intention to work; rather,
I wanted to start a master’s degree,” Mahmaz said.
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Amal Mahmaz
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But her friend convinced her, selling her on the fact that
she’d be able to practice her language skills and get
paid. Soon she was offered a job as a lead secretary in the
mission’s management office.
“I was supposed to screen documents, mainly checking
their formatting and passing them on to the office chief,”
Mahmaz explained. “But that was not enough for me. So
I started paying attention to the content of the documents,
checking regulations, offering my help to all my colleagues,
asking them to give me part of their work to do, filling in
for some of them when on leave.”
This informal education covered the gamut of the mission’s
offices and prepared her for the job she has now.
“Diplomas are important,” she says, “but
if you show that you have an excellent potential, if you have
a very good experience and the know-how, USAID will encourage
you to join its ranks.”
“My advice to anyone considering joining USAID: If
you are really eager to enter, don’t be blocked by looking
for a position that suits your background and qualifications.
Any position is fine. Just have your foot on the first step
and then be sure you will be given the opportunity to move
upward.”
Here are some details about other FSN “graduates”:
- Bonaventure Nyibizi was a senior economist at
USAID/Rwanda in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1997,
he became the country’s minister of industry and commerce,
and has headed national commissions on privatization and
foreign investment. A Tutsi, Nyibizi barely survived the
genocide in his country. When the liberating Tutsi Army
took Kigali in 1994, Nyibizi was swapped by the Hutu to
the Tutsi forces for some captured fighters. Within days,
Bonaventure climbed into the wrecked USAID compound, got
on a satellite phone to Washington, and single-handedly
reopened the USAID mission. Bonaventure was recognized for
his acts of bravery and outstanding performance by the Agency
that year.
- El Salvador’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco
Lainez worked with the mission from 1989 to 1991. He
managed several multimillion-dollar projects that focused
on economic growth, insurance, and trade credits to banks
for importation of goods and services. After leaving USAID
and before being named to the cabinet, he ran his family
business.
- El Salvador’s Minister of Education Darlyn Meza
worked with USAID from 1991 to 1993 on a project that focused
on education curriculum reform.
- El Salvador Deputy Technical Secretariat Annabelle
de Palomo worked with the USAID Economic Growth Office
between 1993 and 1996 on privatization, pension, and social
policy issues.
Inna Bashina contributed to this report.
Traditional Dancer, Non-Traditional Driver—An Interview
with ‘Mrs. Bean’
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York Bean Tan (right) and her daughter dance a Khmer
traditional step, Tep Monorom, during a party at the
home of Susan Merrill of USAID/Cambodia in June 2005.
USAID/Cambodia
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By Jonathan Addleton, USAID/Cambodia mission director, and
Suzana Sorinchan, USAID/Cambodia information specialist
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia—York Bean Tan, ordinarily
referred to as “Mrs. Bean,” defies stereotypes.
A survivor from the Khmer Rouge, she spent nearly 12 years
as a traditional Khmer dancer. For the last decade, she has
served as the only woman driver for USAID/Cambodia.
The two strands of her dual careers—first as a classical
dancer and then as a driver—can both be traced back to
her childhood.
“My father taught me to drive, and I got a driving
license during King Sihanouk’s reign during the 1960s,”
she said.
As a child, Mrs. Bean also learned traditional Khmer dance.
Her mother taught dance at the Royal Palace, so Mrs. Bean
started to dance at age 6. She even performed at public ceremonies
involving the king.
Like so many families in Cambodia, Mrs. Bean’s was
broken up between 1975 and 1979, during the Khmer Rouge rule,
and in the unsettled years that followed.
Pol Pot’s regime had no use for classical Khmer culture.
But, during the 1980s, Mrs. Bean’s skill as a dancer
was put to use when she joined a cultural affairs unit within
the Cambodian army.
“I will always remember my first job as a traditional
dancer with the military,” she said. “However, my
salary was very low and people valued me only when I danced
on stage. The Cambodian dancer or artist was poorer than the
dancer or artist in a Western country.”
Still, she was able to develop her skills as a dancer. She
studied ballet in Hanoi for 18 months, choreographed a dance
called “The Female Messenger Soldier,” and performed
a number of times in neighboring Laos and Vietnam.
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York Bean Tan, a former Khmer traditional dancer, now
works as a driver for USAID/Cambodia.
USAID/Cambodia
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By the early 1990s, the downsizing of the Cambodian military
marked the end of her army career. Jobless for a time, she
sought work as a driver for the United Nations.
“I saw a foreign woman with a uniform drive a big truck,”
she remembered. “That helped make me think that I could
also become a driver.”
After working for the U.N. Transitional Authority in Cambodia
for a year, she interviewed with USAID/Cambodia for a driver
position and got the job. She is now one of 10 drivers in
the Phnom Penh motor pool, which USAID/Cambodia manages on
behalf of the U.S. Embassy.
”I am very proud of my job,” Mrs. Bean said. “I
have never gotten in an accident or had a problem with my
driving.”
Reaction from other drivers in the motor pool over the years
has varied.
“Some male drivers were happy to see me as a driver,
but some were not so happy,” she recalled. “Sometimes
they flirted with me, and a few male drivers tried to discourage
me. Whatever the reaction, I didn’t care—I committed
myself to perform my job better.”
Driving has helped pay the bills and allowed Mrs. Bean and
her family to live comfortably. And it has not put an end
to her dancing career.
“A lot of people knew me through dancing and as a teacher,”
she said. “When USAID or the embassy has a party, the
organizers try to find out who can perform.”
Since joining USAID in June 1995, Mrs. Bean has performed
on a number of occasions, including at Khmer New Year celebrations
and at farewell events organized for a departing ambassador
and USAID mission director. Sometimes she is joined by her
daughter, who followed in her mother’s footsteps as a
ballet dancer and now teaches dance at the Art Department
within the Ministry of Defense.
“I will keep my good fame until I retire,” said
Mrs. Bean, who recently turned 52. “I will let USAID
know when I can no longer drive because of my age or because
I can no longer see clearly.”
Average USAID Contract Specialist Handles Record $48 Million
By the end of the fiscal year, Charis Nastoff, a contract
specialist in USAID’s Office of Acquisition and Assistance
(OAA), will have obligated $53 million through 65 awards or
modifications. Her other duties include traveling to regional
and mission offices and training colleagues.
In comparison to Nastoff, whose workload is typical for
USAID contract specialists, her counterparts in other federal
agencies obligate an amount about four times smaller, usually
without international travel involved. And a recent article
in Government Executive noted that the recommended
ceiling amount for contracting specialists is $10 million.
USAID’s workload per contract specialist averages $48
million, which is large and complex because it includes contracts
and grants performed in developing countries, said Lynn Kopala,
deputy director of OAA.
One of the major causes of the larger workload for USAID
contract specialists is budget limitations that prevent it
from hiring more staff. But USAID has been finding ways.
“The Agency’s contracting specialists are mentored,
trained, and encouraged to be more involved in development
and relief program activities than their counterparts in other
agencies,” said Kopala. “USAID contract specialists
must be versed in both contracts and grants, while other agencies
usually rely on more specialized personnel.”
Nastoff, who has traveled extensively to provide support
to regional offices and missions, said: “I spend long
hours at the office because working in development is important
to me. The work moves smoothly because I have a good relationship
with the tech office. We’re a solid team, and that works
to our advantage to get the services they need when they need
them.“
The Agency is also tapping into new hiring mechanisms. Through
the Contract Specialist Intern Program, 21 workers have been
hired over the last two years. Another 15 contracting officers
have been hired through the New Entry Professionals program.
They’ll be expected to help fill gaps both here and abroad.
Staff at OAA’s Management Support offices have also
shrunk as contracting officers from that desk moved to work
on Iraq and Afghanistan portfolios.
Other agencies have a large policy staff to provide support
for contracts and another large staff for grants. But USAID’s
limited policy staff handles both.
For the last few years, the Policy Division, comprising
just seven people, has been addressing day-to-day policy questions
on contracts, assistance, and other issues, as well as working
on broader issues associated with USAID’s increasing
work, particularly in war zones. Most staff get up to 50 requests
a day for policy guidance from around the world. The division
is also taking steps to improve responsiveness.
Diane Howard is responsible for policy interpretation associated
with billions of dollars of contract awards.
“Working on acquisition policy has provided me with
the chance to be involved in a broad range of issues that
are integral to the Agency’s development mission because
acquisition—with a capital A—is such a significant
part of that mission,” she said. “I hope that I’ve
helped USAID contracting staff to better understand both federal
and Agency regulations so they can do their jobs more effectively,
with the challenges we all face.”
Michael Walsh contributed to this article.
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