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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
DIALOGUE
In this section:
Mission of the Month: Egypt
Notes from Natsios
Mission of the Month: Egypt
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Workers at Telecom Egypt take part in the Leadership
Development Program so they can help the company compete
against several new competitors in the country’s
communications industry.
Joseph Ghanem, Institute of International Education |
Challenge
Egypt is a major Arab nation whose 77 million people face
many challenges that U.S. assistance is addressing, such as
education, health, water, sanitation, trade, agriculture,
and preservation of historic sites.
But one key to development is communications, and U.S. assistance
to the telephone network has played a role in improving links
throughout the country.
Telecom Egypt, a national phone company with 11 million
lines, had a monopoly on telephone services until recently.
Two new licensed mobile operators and internet-based systems
are changing the communications landscape. Both compete directly
with Telecom’s conventional phone service. And, come
the end of this year, World Trade Organization requirements
will begin allowing new licensed operators into the market.
With its survival on the line, Telecom began looking at
ways to invest in not only the latest infrastructure but also
in its staff. In the process, it hoped to transform itself
from a government-owned utility to a competitive enterprise.
Innovative Approach
By 2002, Telecom’s senior managers and USAID officials
agreed that the most critical challenge was to develop mid-level
managers who could provide the leadership to modernize the
communications company. USAID’s partnership with Telecom
Egypt stretches back about 28 years and includes $600 million
in investments to modernize and expand the telephone system—800,000
new phone lines are among the most visible accomplishments.
The strategy for this collaboration was to replicate the
Leadership Development Program (LDP) that USAID had supported
at Egypt’s Ministry of Electricity and Energy. The LDP
combines formal training, internships, and applied research
in an intensive 10-month, full-time program.
“Competition means that not only must you compete on
cost but also quality of service,” said Mike Gould, one
of USAID/Egypt’s infrastructure managers. “This
is a mighty challenge for Telecom Egypt, where a governmental,
public-sector mentality still is strong among many of its
older employees. It is the LDP that helps to develop the managers
who can implement change.”
In January 2003, two education groups—World Learning
and the Institute of International Education—mobilized.
Along with the Center for Adult and Continuing Education at
the American University in Cairo, they developed a curriculum
for the Telecom staffers with coursework in workplace communications,
accounting and budgeting, finance and economics, business
report writing, strategic and business planning, change management,
marketing and customer service, project management, process
and root-cause analysis, team building, leadership and motivation,
effective management, and performance appraisal.
About 25 mid-level managers—chosen by Telecom executives
based on the same selection process used by many Fortune 500
companies to groom top talent—left their jobs for 10
months for the first training class, unsure if they’d
be placed in a better position or at least an equal one when
they returned. Only one person has left the program midstream.
Results
The LDP at Telecom Egypt graduated two classes and a third
class is currently in training. There is also a training-the-trainers
component that prepares select graduates to be future trainers.
Telecom has selected other graduates for training in curriculum
development, marketing, and center management. There are also
plans to expand the training program on a for-profit basis.
Telecom Egypt Chairman Akil Beshir said, “My objective
is to establish a leadership center at Telecom Egypt to not
only train my staff, but also to expand it to provide courses
to other Egyptian public and private firms.”
The midlevel managers have had good reviews for the program.
Mohamed Selim, a recent graduate, said: “The LDP changed
my life…It made me think positively…It taught me
to persevere and succeed in an environment that resists change.”
“The LDP forced a change in my behavior— even
at my own home, with my wife and kids,” added another
graduate, Mohamed Hasaballah. “I tend now to consider
more the big picture.”
Notes from Natsios
FSN Expertise Plays Critical Role in Agency’s Work
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Andrew Natsios
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I would like to highlight what I consider to be one of the
most valuable and critical elements of our workforce and the
backbone of all field missions: our foreign service national
(FSN) staff.
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. For
example, Ana Vilma de Escobar worked for nine years as a project
manager at the El Salvador mission in the 1980s. In 2004,
she was elected as the first female vice president of El Salvador
and began her five-year term in office on June 1, 2004.
Bonaventure Nyibizi—a Tutsi who barely survived the
genocide—was a senior economist with USAID/Rwanda from
the late 1980s to the April 1994 genocide. Three years later,
he became the country’s minister of industry and commerce.
Nikolay Yarmov, a senior business advisor who has worked
with USAID in Bulgaria since 1997, was just selected as the
new executive director for the Bulgarian Center for Entrepreneurial
and Executive Development.
A primary reason that USAID is recognized as one of the
top development agencies in the world is due to the incorporation
of FSNs in all of its operations and programs. They are the
experts on the ground.
FSNs comprise 79 percent of the overseas mission staff and
are involved in all aspects of the Agency’s work—from
administrative support to program design, management, and
monitoring. From the drivers who know the local landscape
to the social scientists who understand the nuances of the
political environment, they give us tools to successfully
carry out our work. FSNs are becoming increasingly similar
to American staff in background and qualifications, and they
have assumed a prominent role at USAID.
To recognize their importance to the Agency, at the 2005
Worldwide Mission Director’s Conference, I designated
2005 as the “Year of the FSN.” This designation
arose from several factors, one of the most important being
the 2004 annual USAID employee survey, which featured nearly
2,000 responses from FSNs.
As a result of survey feedback, the Business Transformation
Executive Committee (BTEC)—composed of senior Agency
executives who meet monthly to oversee management decisions—made
“nurturing FSNs” one of four major priorities for
2005.
With BTEC’s endorsement, the Agency’s human resources
office recently established the first ever FSN Working Group
to acknowledge the role of FSNs, improve their status and
visibility in the Agency, and serve as an institutionalized
forum for FSN concerns.
Over the next few months, the Agency will continue to explore
ways it can support FSNs, both through the Office of Human
Resources in Washington and directly through our overseas
missions.
Current initiatives include:
- establishing a virtual FSN network and regional FSN mailing
lists to facilitate communication with USAID/Washington
and among the FSN community
- working to broaden FSN access to USAID/Washington
- establishing and expanding online English-language training
programs for FSNs, which currently allow over 1,000 FSNs
to develop an essential skill for moving up at USAID
- supporting more FSN exchange opportunities with other
missions and at USAID/Washington
- enhancing FSN professional development and mobility and
identifying how the Agency can use a fuller range of FSN
abilities and potential
In addition, mission directors will devote some of their
management time to focus on FSN issues in local missions.
This includes maximizing FSN training and professional development,
incorporating incentives to broaden the role of FSNs, and
ensuring that deserving staff are nominated for more of the
awards for which they are eligible.
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