Places to be Things to see: Week 3
Who trains the master? When it comes to training a new IBJ country manager, who will be overseeing one of the eleven country offices, you have to ask this question. IBJ has called it the training of trainers, and I have been tasked with the creation of the training manual. So, how do you train a master?
IBJ currently has three different hard copy manuals giving a “how-to” for running a country office, the most recent being from 2009. These hard copy manuals also pose an issue of being at risk of institutional knowledge loss because the original files are lost somewhere on the IBJ server. At least, the files were lost, but with some amazing grace of this persistent law student, they were found.
Although my information gathering skills came in handy with the initial hunt for documents, I am excited to say that I will be working on structuring the manual. I will also be writing any missing components I believe would be helpful to someone starting a country office. So far, I have found a gap in information on reporting procedures, which is critical to funding and legal compliance with each country’s laws. I will be writing a policy and procedure for reporting cases taken, outreach done, and local rights campaigns conducted. I will also be writing a teaching exercise on giving presentations, something that I have thankfully done before for a youth civic education program. Ironically, having experience writing an exercise intended for children actually helps in writing materials intended for adults! Who knew, the way to train the master might just be to revert back to how you teach a child.
This week also brought a holiday, which I took full advantage of and went to Milan, Italy and Venice, Italy! The student bus is not exactly high-class travel, but it has allowed me to have incredibly surreal experiences. I passed through three countries in one day, and took a day trip to Venice for only 20 USD roundtrip. I will never forget being fortunate enough to have the opportunity to see Venice, experience Milan’s fashion district with shoes the price of my former job’s yearly salary, and seeing Jackson Pollock’s Alchemy at the Peggy Guggenheim collection in Venice.