BRINGING HOME NEW IDEAS -EXCHANGES IN ACTION

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SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID PCUL SOCI EFIN TBIO TI
SUBJECT: BRINGING HOME NEW IDEAS -EXCHANGES IN ACTION

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1. Summary: City planners, loan managers, librarians and
hospital administrators - groups of each of these have visited
the United States in the last seven months under the
USAID-funded Community Connections program. This program for
mid-level professionals provides many benefits. Participants
get new ideas that help them tackle their job with new energy.
It helps create networks of professionals to support ideas and
share experiences, and it gives key people in Tajikistan a
better understanding of the United States. For a country as
remote and isolated as Tajikistan, it can literally open up new
worlds. End Summary.



A Range of Benefits




2. What do city planners, loan managers, librarians and hospital
administrators have in common? In the last seven months the
USAID-funded Community Connections Program has sent a group of
ten of mid-level professionals from each specialty on a three
week visit to a mid-size U.S. city for professional cultural
program. While in the United States participants stay with an
American host family. The city planners visited Jackson
Mississippi, the loan managers Bluefield, West Virginia, the
librarians visited Lincoln, Nebraska and the hospital
administrators were in Charlotte, North Carolina. Participants
are drawn from around Tajikistan, and as a rule do not speak
English and have limited, if any, travel abroad.



Pre-Departure Nerves




3. Though pleased to have been chosen, before going many are
apprehensive about what they will experience in the U.S.
Negotiating the cultural and linguistics barriers of home stays
is of high concern. They tend believe that hostility towards
those from Muslim countries is high and expect to experience
some personal animosity. They are unsure that what they learn in
the United States will really be relevant to their life at home,
and their travelling companions are strangers.



The Big Change




4. When they return home they come straight from the airport
where they debrief USAID, Embassy and program staff as well as
local press about their trip. Though travel-worn and jet-lagged,
the change is palpable. They express great warmth for America
and have established what they expect to be enduring friendships
with host families and others in the host communities. They
have forged friendships and the basis of a network among
themselves, and they have gotten new ideas about how they can
improve their work and their service to communities. Almost
invariably, among the first questions that journalists ask is
how what they saw in the United States. can apply in Tajikistan,
but the participants are ready with answers. Often what may seem
commonplace to us, has struck them with the force of revelation.



Southern Hospitality for Planners




5. For the city planners, who visited Hattiesburg as well as
Jackson, perhaps the most striking aspect was community
engagement--the town hall meetings, the publications of notices
and periods for public comment, explanations by officials of the
rational behind planning decisions, and coverage by the press of
planning issues. One participant noted that a City Council
member had a meeting in his ward for voters to discuss a
proposed city project. They also were interested in how a
variety of issues are taken into account-traffic, noise, demand
of for additional city services, whether water and sewage or
police patrolling, environmental impact, revenue implications
and financing. Another interesting aspect was the close
collaboration between the private sector and city government.
Though Tajik law and practice is considerably different, most
participants felt they saw a number of things that could be
usefully adapted to in Tajikistan to make city planning more
inclusive and effective.




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Banking Crisis Backdrop




6. With the banking situation reaching a crisis point during
their October 2008 visit, the Americans involved with this trip
felt it was perhaps a bit ironic to be passing on our wisdom to
Tajiks at this point. The group, however, remained unfazed by
the events unfolding around their ears and participants were
mainly struck that Federal Reserve officials still took the time
to meet with them during a stop in Washington D.C., despite
attending to the crisis. They were interested in community
banking and project finance, and the thing that clearly made the
biggest impression was the concept of credit bureau that would
give banks better information about the credit history of
borrowers and allow them to more accurately judge creditworthy
and asses risk. A majority seemed determined to work together
organize something similar in Tajikistan, judging it as the most
important next step to developing the banking sector. Ideas for
improved staff training were another area which yielded rich
results.



Librarians Shake off the Doldrums




7. The Program Coordinators said pre-departure the librarians
probably the most gloomy set of participants yet seen. The
post-Soviet years have not been kind to libraries and their
keepers as they fell to bottom of the resource chain and have
been neglected and ignored. In contrast, since coming back they
have been one of the most active alumni groups, getting together
and sponsoring a seminar per month on various library issues.
Aside from the sea of red shirts at the annual Oklahoma/Nebraska
Football game, the librarians perhaps were struck most by
drive-by/night depository, where patrons could return books
without actually checking-in. In fact, similar practices that
symbolize the level of trust in U.S. society are often some of
the most striking things to participants in all programs. They
also marveled at "community center" aspect of public libraries-
with children's programs, movies, music and software, and
accommodation for the homeless. Though highly taken with level
of technology in U.S. libraries, perhaps the most relevant
concept was treating patrons as customers rather than
supplicants.



Preventive Medicine Strikes a Chord




8. Like their colleagues from Mississippi, the hospital
administrators were pleased to get the chance to see the Ocean
and felt the warmth of Southern hospitality. Professionally
they seized on preventive medicine, and especially promoting a
healthy lifestyle to reduce the need for medical care, important
concepts to promote in Tajikistan. Given the weak state of
health care in the country, they felt helping people avoid
illness and accident was even more urgent. Proper nutrition,
breast-feeding, potable water, anti-smoking campaigns,
occupational safety, anything that would reduce the chances that
people need medical treatment was worth looking at promoting in
Tajikistan. One doctor noted she was surprised but pleased to
see that handwashing campaigns were a permanent ongoing feature
in high-tech U.S. medical facilities despite the high levels of
education among staff. This is notable because, because Tajiks
often feel that donor handwashing campaigns are patronizing,
implying that Tajiks are too unsophisticated to know about such
a basic practice.




9. Comment: Although exchanges are mainly seen as long-term
investments, we can see visible results almost immediately from
these exchanges of mid-level professionals. They return to
Tajikistan which a much better understanding of and positive
feelings toward the United States and take these impressions
home with them. They have almost always had their minds opened
to news possibilities that let them take a fresh look at how to
organize their work and interact with the community. They have
a built - in support network of professional contacts who share
their experience and understanding, and who can provide moral
and practical support if they try and implement change. The
program also provides support to program alumni to remain in
touch with each other and with U.S. contacts. For a country as
remote and isolated as Tajikistan, the program literally opens
up a new world.
JACOBSON