Week Two: Transitional Meetings
This week has included several meetings to discuss and prepare for management transition as HO staff go on leave and new hires (myself included) join the teams.
PRLP Myanmar
In July and August, some short-term consultants are going to the field to assist and assess technical activities. One consultant will be focused on judicial aspects of the project. This includes mentoring, leading discussion on court leadership, and conducting workshops for judges throughout Myanmar covering topics like courtroom management, judicial responsibility, managing witnesses and attorneys, and supporting emotionally traumatized or vulnerable victims. The second consultant will conduct a survey and provide data analysis of courts throughout Myanmar to recommend staffing needs and locations of legal aid services to maximize access to justice.
The HO (our building is pictured below) is responsible for contracting with the consultants, booking travel, setting each consultant up in the system so they can be paid once their contract and deliverables are fulfilled. We must ensure that everything in the process is completed well in advance of their departure date so they can successfully conduct their technical work in the field. I have gotten more training and experience with these processes as we prepare for the upcoming consultants.
We also Skyped with the FO during for our biweekly check in. Unless a follow-on contract is signed with USAID, the project will end in September 2018. The close-out process is complex and lengthy. So our meeting began the process of addressing close-out-related issues.
ProVoces Mexico
Meetings for ProVoces have focused on training related to the operating budget, particularly updating and reconciling actuals and projections.
Other Projects
I also helped prepare a memo for our client, the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) for a project in the West Bank. The memo proposed a candidate for hire in a key FO position that had recently been vacated. As I prepare these memos and contracts, I enjoy seeing so many impressive, robust, well-rounded legal resumes of people contributing to project leadership and technical assistance. There are so many paths to getting involved in international rule of law work. No one career is required. Some devote decades of their career to working abroad after establishing a domestically-based practice. Others work their whole career domestically, even within the same state, then share their expertise abroad as short-term consultants.
Outside of Work
I have continued to explore SF solo and with good company! I went bouldering at Planet Granite; I walked the beach in Presidio soaking in view of the Bay and Golden Gate Bridge; I celebrated my 28th birthday with dinner at an excellent Peruvian restaurant in the Mission; and I re-united with a friend from undergrad at W&L whom I had not seen since we graduated six years ago(!).
