CreativeTimes Summer 07

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A QUARTERLY PUBLICATION

SUMMER 2007

CREATIVETIMES

SUDAN:

FIRST SOUTHERN SUDAN URBAN PLANNING

CONFERENCE GATHERS URBAN PLANNERS, DEVELOP-

MENT EXPERTS AND PRIVATE SECTOR

CONTINUES ON PAGE 2>>

UBA – More than 90 governmental, re-

gional and local urban planners, along

with development experts and private

stakeholders, gathered from July 24-26 to

help the Government of Southern Sudan

(GoSS) coordinate national and regional ef-

forts toward creating a modern governance

system for sustainable long-term growth.

Called the “Southern Sudan Town Planning

Conference,” the gathering was the culmi-

nation of the two-year Strategic Participato-

ry Town Planning (SPTP) project implement-

ed by Creative Associates International, Inc.

and made possible by the U.S. Agency for

International Development.

With a focus on enabling the GoSS to

manage urgent development projects to

ensure the region’s peaceful transition and

assimilation of returnees and refugees,

SPTP organized the conference in collabora-

tion with the Ministry of Housing, Lands and

Public Utilities (MHPLU).

For the ﬁ rst time in the history of South-

ern Sudan, which not long ago emerged

from 20 years of civil war, Governors and

Ministers of Physical Infrastructure of the

Southern Sudan states and their senior

civil servants gathered to reveal conditions

of physical development in their respective

states. They also presented visions for de-

velopment and voiced their concerns over

the shortcomings of public administration

and the lack of an adequate legal frame-

work to manage land allocation and use to

the Ministry of Housing, Land, and Public

Utilities and other GoSS ofﬁ cials.

His Excellency Martin Ohuro Okerruk, Min-

ister of Housing, Lands and Public Utilities

(MHLPU) of the GoSS, appointed to this po-

sition earlier this month, opened the confer-

ence, presenting his vision of the physical

development of Southern Sudan. At the end

of the conference, the Minister expressed

hope the conference would lead to a con-

tinuation of efforts in town planning.

INSIDE

THIS ISSUE

AFGHANISTAN

PG. 4

LIBERIA

PG. 5

SRI LANKA

PG. 6

GUATEMALA

PG. 6

WASHINGTON, DC

PG. 2

africa

DELEGATES AT THE SPTP

CONFERENCE JULY 26, 2007,

JUBA, SUDAN. SECOND FROM

RIGHT IS HER EXCELLENCY

THERESA SIVICIO IRO, STATE

MINISTER OF THE MINISTRY

OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT OF

THE GOVERNMENT OF THE

NATIONAL UNITY OF SUDAN

– ONE OF THREE WOMEN

DELEGATES PRESENT AT THE

CONFERENCE.

PHOTO BY: BLAKE KENT

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SPTP Project Manager, Hans-Christian

Vejby of Creative Associates, said he

was impressed with the enthusiasm and

realism which characterized the confer-

ence. “There is a long way forward and

international support is necessary, but this

conference has shown that the leadership

can take the management into their own

hands,” Vejby said.

The ﬁ rst keynote speech on a long-term

perspective in managing development was

delivered by Professor Mark Swilling from

Stellenbosch University in South Africa.

Prof. Swilling was at the helm of creating

new systems and institutions of training in

public management in South Africa when

the government was reformed after the fall

of apartheid and has since helped other

African countries beneﬁ t from this experi-

ence.

The conference was also attended by Her

Excellency Theresa Sivicio Iro, State Min-

ister of the Ministry for Environment and

Physical Development of the Government

of National Unity of Sudan. She com-

mended the effort and offered assistance

from the national Government to the

development of Southern Sudan. She was

accompanied by experts from Khartoum

who presented lessons learned from the

development of Sudan’s capital as well

as environmental issues of the nation’s

wetlands.

The work of the conference, organized

in smaller breakout sessions, focused

on ways and actions to help initiate and

govern development involving the com-

munities and the private sector and the

planning and management frameworks.

Dr. Stephen Schwenke, Creative Associ-

ates’ Team Leader for Civil Society and

Governance, led a breakout session that

explored how best to maintain adequate

thresholds of quality in development, de-

spite severe resource constraints.

The conference also enabled other interna-

tional donor agencies in Southern Sudan,

including The World Bank and European

Union among others, to become more

familiar with Southern Sudan’s needs.

“It is often said that Southern Sudan does

not have competent specialists,” said

Boutros Magaya of USAID in Southern

Sudan. “This conference proves it is not

true —there are very competent and experi-

enced people on each level of administra-

tion, the problem is rather that there is not

enough of them in this very demanding

time of transition.” Karen Sayer, USAID

Sudan’s engineer, shared a similar positive

view of the momentum generated by the

conference.

Negede Lewi of The World Bank, reﬂ ected

on the conference and answered ques-

tions from state representatives. Garth

Seneque, Senior Housing Advisor with

UN-HABITAT, who delivered a keynote

speech on good governance, introduced

the newest UN program to aid physical

development in Southern Sudan, which will

be equally dividing the aid resources and

efforts to all ten states of Southern Sudan.

Some of the main points included the

need for reliable information for planning,

participatory governance – particularly in-

creasing the participation by women, and

transparent budgeting.

All states’ representatives emphasized

the need for building capacity to manage

physical development. The MHLPU has

also conﬁ rmed that coordination meetings

are to become routine events. The Minister

and the senior staff will start this by visit-

ing all the states to ensure close collabora-

tion with the GoSS.

The participants thanked the conference

organizers for gathering representatives

from all states to work with the MHLPU

and other GoSS institutions and noted

their commitment to participatory gover-

nance and sharing their experiences.

Among the attendees were ministers and

representatives from: The Ministry of

Industry and Mining; Ministry of Telecom-

munications and Postal Services; Ministry

of Environment, Wild Life and Tourism;

Ministry of Transport and Roads; Min-

istry of Water Resources and Irrigation;

Commissioner of Southern Sudan Land

Commission; United Nations Development

Programme; United Nations HABITAT; World

Bank/Multi-Donor Trust Fund; United Na-

tions Mission Sudan; European Commis-

sion; PADCO; Gibb Africa, and the Japan

International Cooperation Agency.

It is expected that the conference will

serve as the ﬁ rst of additional town plan-

ning conferences to gather regional and

local stakeholders in the development of

a legislative framework, institutional infra-

structure, and economic experts toward

laying the foundations for a modern gover-

nance and land use management system.

>> CONTINUES FROM PAGE COVER

“There is a long way forward

and international support is

necessary, but this conference

has shown that leadership can

take the management into

their own hands.”

Hans-Christian Vejby

Project Manager

SPTP Project

GOVERNMENTAL, REGIONAL AND LOCAL

URBAN PLANNERS AT THE SPTP CONFER-

ENCE JULY 26, 2007, IN JUBA, GATHERED

TO HELP COORDINATE NATIONAL AND

REGIONAL EFFORTS TO CREATE A MODERN

GOVERNANCE SYSTEM FOR SOUTHERN

SUDAN.

PHOTO BY: BLAKE KENT

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Q &

DR. STEPHEN SCHWENKE, CREATIVE’S TEAM

LEADER FOR CIVIL SOCIETY AND GOVERNANCE:

ETHICS ARE CENTRAL TO DEVELOPMENT

washington, dc

ourteen years spent in Africa and

exposure to extreme poverty led Dr.

Stephen Schwenke to rigorously ques-

tion the moral dimensions of the disparity

between north and south. He went on to

become an expert in local governance, but

the moral questions persisted. Seeking

answers, Schwenke turned to philosophy

and the growing ﬁ eld of development eth-

ics which aims to bridge philosophy with

development.

“The ultimate question of development eth-

ics is what is development and who does it

serve?” asks Schwenke, now team leader

of Civil Society and Governance in the

ﬁ rm’s Communities in Transition division.

It’s a question that has become a thread

throughout his distinguished career as a

development ethicist and which has been

deeply inﬂ uenced by the work of ethicists

such as Denis Goulet, David Crocker, Am-

artya Sen and Martha Nussbaum.

Today, Schwenke is optimistic about the

state of development, which he believes

has seen vast changes since he started in

the ﬁ eld 25-years ago. “In the past, a typi-

cal development team would be 90 percent

expatriates and 10 percent local peoples

and that ratio is exactly the opposite now,”

Schwenke said. “I think people in develop-

ing countries are becoming agents of their

own development and we’re becoming

specialized experts who contribute to their

development.”

He recently returned from leading a ses-

sion at the Creative-managed Southern

Sudan Planning Conference in Juba, Su-

dan. Schwenke spoke with Creative Times’

Alexandra Pratt.

How was the Southern Sudan Town

Planning Conference critical to Southern

Sudan’s ongoing development?

The most critical factor was that it was the

ﬁ rst time that the governors and their staffs

from all 10 states had gathered together

to share ideas and concerns about the

resettlement and the needs of their primar-

ily urban populations, but also, the rural

peoples.

What are the most signiﬁ cant outcomes of

the conference?

The biggest achievement was the sense of

having gotten to the ﬁ rst stage. There was

an appreciation by everyone there of the

true scope of the challenges ahead, but

also a sense that they had some resources

already. There was also a very strong

expression of political will and solidarity by

the governors to really pursue authentic

development.

As a development ethicist, how do you see

the intersection of ethics and develop-

ment?

The ultimate question of development

ethics is what is development and who

does it serve, and on what basis are those

decisions made? It’s up to the people to

become the agents of their own develop-

ment – to decide what their priorities and

aspirations are through a process of mean-

ingful participation. It’s also about owning

the fact that we are “outsiders” and using

that to advantage to facilitate a process in

which people and communities come to

articulate the values that are important to

them and from that base of values to help

them to identify their most important devel-

opment priorities and the threshold point

where they will not make compromises.

In that light, what are some of the challeng-

es development practitioners confront?

Let’s take an example from the Sudan

Conference: There were only three women

present out of 200 participants and yet

women represent slightly more than half

the population of Southern Sudan. The

dilemma of this situation is who represents

women’s priorities in such a setting and

will any of the decisions made be valid [to

women] given the absence of women’s

participation. I did raise the issue and there

was general concern that this was some-

thing to be addressed and so we made

a special effort to have the three women

participate as much as they could, but that

was hardly an adequate solution.

Are there examples of examples of “good”

development and “bad” development?

DR. STEPHEN SCHWENKE, CREATIVE’S TEAM LEADER

FOR CIVIL SOCIETY AND GOVERNANCE.

PHOTO BY: LAZARINA TODOROVA

An example of “good” development is

the earlier years of President Museveni’s

leadership in Uganda when he involved the

population right down to the village level

in the reconstruction of the war-ravaged

country and the development of important

social institutions such as civil society, the

courts, the private sector and academic

institutions. The role of international actors

that stands out as “good” development

might also be in Uganda, where in the early

70s the donor community provided techni-

cal assistance and ﬁ nancial support to help

Uganda pursue its own development goals.

For “bad” development, a clear example

would be the last decade of Museveni’s

leadership in which the needs of the peo-

ple of the north have not been respected,

power has been overly centralized in the ex-

ecutive, the courts have been undermined

and freedom of expression eroded. A “bad”

example of [the role of international actors]

would be that the donor community has

failed to confront the authoritarian tenden-

cies of president Museveni in a meaningful

way.

How will ethics inﬂ uence your role as

Creative’s Team Leader for Civil Society and

Governance?

The main way is by asking the “ought”

questions: Who ought to take what role,

and why? Whose values are being recog-

nized and responded to and how aware are

we as development agents of the moral

dilemmas inherent in development with

respect to the role and impact of civil soci-

CONTINUES ON PAGE 4>>

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Q &

ety? The important foundation is to build

social capital which is the glue that holds

society together and which is, fundamen-

tally, an ethical challenge. It’s very hard to

get society to cohere unless there is trust

and building trust is about respecting each

others values and personal dignity. Also,

in terms of “good governance”, the moral

dimension includes bringing some deﬁ ni-

tion by those most affected to the word

“good” and being open to a refocusing; for

example balancing efforts to stop the wide-

spread growth of corruption in government

with some active recognition of the many

resources for integrity that exists within ev-

ery government. There are always certain

individuals who are exemplars of integrity

and they exist at every level of the commu-

nity – but they are seldom recognized and

held up for emulation. And there are also,

strong cultural traditions that exists that

support ethical behavior.

How will Creative’s Civil Society and Gov-

ernance Team respond to development

needs?

My goal would be to create a distinctive

approach to the challenges of society and

governance and civil society strengthening

that is characterized by proven and practi-

cal measures coupled with a sophisticated

approach toward the ethical content in

development. The unique tools of develop-

ment ethics will assist in that endeavor.

What is the role of development ethics,

how does it help foster positive change?

The primary role of development ethics

is to facilitate, to raise challenging moral

issues, and to guide analysis of moral

concerns. That involves creating an envi-

ronment that is conducive to what is called

deliberative participation – this is when

people commit to a dialogue that is toler-

ant of opposing views, respectful of the

personhood of all participants and willing

to listen to seek common ground. Develop-

ment ethicists also help people to identify

both universal and particular values that

come out of peoples’ own life experiences

and aspirations and to put development

language to these expressions and aspira-

tions. Finally, development ethicists help

citizens to articulate their expectations of

ethical performance in ways that they can

hold governments accountable for ethical

results.

In 2005, you wrote a paper, The Relevance

of Development Ethics for USAID, co-au-

thored with Dr. David Crocker. What is the

state of development ethics in democracy

and governance?

That paper was speciﬁ cally looking at

Democracy and Governance assessments

and suggesting that there is a role for

including normative questions, questions

of values and assessing how well govern-

ments serve their people. At present, many

ethical questions are not asked in such

assessments for example, regarding the

responsiveness of leaders to the aspira-

tions of their people and the track record

of performance of such leaders compared

to the ideals that they expressed. For

example, a recent USAID study on the

character of democracy was completely

staffed by economists and questions of

what constitutes “good” governance, and

who decides what good governance is,

and what role should human rights play in

evaluating governance – were not consid-

ered.

And, also, when values conﬂ ict based

on cultural traditions, for instance, when

women are held as second placed citizens

– how is USAID supposed to handle that.

How do we respect our own values but

also to take due recognition of cultural

traditions of that society? For Americans

going into a foreign country, they must take

ownership of their own values and say:

“here is where I am coming from —let’s

have a discussion.” One way to address

this is sometimes to put the challenge

back on them and say: “In my society we

think women have an equal role to play,

tell me why women should not have an

equal role in your society.”

AFGHANISTAN: CHILD-CENTERED TEACHING

HELPS STUDENTS LEARN IN NEW WAYS

asia

t the Charmghar Khana Boys’ School

in Shiberghan, a mid-sized town in

northern Afghanistan, children are

learning about chemistry in a very differ-

ent way than they were a year ago.

During a recent visit, Ms. Roya Qader’s

students were modeling molecular

structures by holding hands and moving

about the room to show how chemical

compounds formed and interacted with

each other. In contrast to most Afghan

classrooms, where memorization and rep-

etition are the norm, Roya’s class was full

of energy, with children participating—and

learning—in a dynamic and supportive

environment.

Roya, who has been a teacher for only

three years, recently completed teacher

methodology training offered to all

Charmghar Khana teachers through the

Building Education Support Systems for

Teachers (BESST) project.

BESST is implemented by Creative Associ-

ates International, Inc. and made pos-

sible by the U.S. Agency for International

Development. A ﬁ ve-year project, BESST is

helping to rebuild Afghanistan’s tattered

education infrastructure by establishing

standards and systems for assessing

teacher qualiﬁ cations. Its teacher training

component seeks to inculcate a modern

child-centered interactive methodology

into Afghanistan’s classrooms.

Since many Afghan teachers have had

limited training and educational creden-

tials, BESST’s teacher capacity building

includes the establishment of support

systems such as peer learning groups and

teacher resource centers. These support

systems have been incorporated to ensure

AFGHAN STUDENTS LIKE THESE BOYS ARE LEARN-

ING BETTER THANKS TO INTERACTIVE LEARN-

ING AND CHILD-CENTERED APPROACHES MADE

AVAILABLE TO TEACHERS THROUGH THE BESST

PROGRAM.

PHOTO BY: BESST PARTNER SAVE THE CHILDREN USA

>> CONTINUES FROM PAGE 3

CONTINUES ON PAGE 5>>

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the long-term sustainability of BESST’s

teacher-training efforts.

“Teachers understandably tend to use the

teaching methods that they experienced as

students,” said Julio Ramirez-de-Arellano,

BESST Chief of Party. “While it is difﬁ cult

to disrupt this cycle, it is critical to move

classroom activities away from rote memo-

rization and toward reﬂ ective and critical

learning. The training provided by BESST

emphasizes pedagogy to develop this type

of critical thinking.”

BESST has taught thousands of teachers

like Roya about active learning, classroom

management and other essential teaching

concepts. Training sessions are followed up

with practicum activities that provide teach-

ers’ feedback and further instruction. “I

was very happy to get this new training from

BESST,” Roya said. “To learn about group

work, pair work, discussions in groups, how

to write a lesson plan … and focusing the

class and homework activities on students,

these are all practical skills that I can now

use in my classes.”

Observers were impressed by the way Roya

used active learning techniques to help

students understand how chemical com-

pounds worked; it was clear to the visiting

team that children in Roya’s class not only

grasped the principles involved, but were

also excited and eager to continue their

learning.

— Alison Long, BESST external relations

manager in Afghanistan.

MS. ROYA USES INTERACTIVE AND CHILD-CEN-

TERED APPROACHES TO TEACH CHEMISTRY AT

THE CHARMGHAR KHANA BOYS SCHOOL IN

SHIBERGHAN CITY, JAWZJAN PROVINCE.

PHOTO BY: BESST PARTNER SAVE THE CHILDREN USA

>> CONTINUES FROM PAGE 4

LIBERIA: NIGHT CLASSES OFFER WORKING TEEN

MOTHERS LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

africa

any teen mothers with limited or

no education in post-war Liberia

can spend their days at domes-

tic chores while caring for their infants

under the Liberian sun. But many are also

attending night classes made available

through the Accelerated Learning Program

Plus (ALPP).

For 18-year-old Patience Julue of Grand

Gedeh County, opportunity for a better life

came along with ALPP classes. Saddled

with school books and her infant son,

Patience now spends evenings earning

the equivalent of an elementary school

education.

Implemented by Creative Associates

International, Inc. and funded by the U.S.

Agency for International De-

velopment, ALPP seeks to

provide a condensed six-

year elementary educa-

tion in three-years for

54,000 over-aged

Liberian youths.

Beneﬁ ciaries of

the program will

include youths

from six of

Liberia’s ﬁ fteen

counties and ap-

proximately 1,600

teachers trained

to teach them in the

ALPP methodology.

To date, 538 teachers have been trained

and student enrollment stands at 9,700

for the ﬁ rst-half of ALPP’s year one.

With six-month-old Abraham secured in a

plastic tub carried on her head, Patience’s

walk to school is challenging but a journey

she has long anticipated. She spent her

childhood in the Ivory Coast seeking refuge

from Liberia’s civil war, where food was a

luxury and access to school unthinkable

because the fees were unaffordable.

“So, since I am back home, and ALPP is

in my town, I can attend school now even

with my baby, [and] I don’t have to pay

school fees,” Patience said.

Class is now in full swing and students are

seated and concentrated on their les-

sons. All is silent, but for a baby’s cry. It is

16-year old Harriet Kweahgaye’s baby girl,

Gaye, whom she breast-feeds while

taking notes. Harriet cannot

afford the cost of a plastic

tub to hold her baby, so

the baby lies in her lap

during class.

To help young

Liberians like

Patience and

Harriet regain

years of missed

schooling, ALPP holds classes at night, in-

stead of the afternoon hours, which must

be spent earning a living. “We work on the

rubber plantations, some of us work on the

farms and at home. So the only time we

[can] come to school is at night,” said 26-

year old Korpo Johnson, who is in ALPP’s

level one class.

“We know we have to work just to survive,

but every evening we come to school to

achieve the education we see others enjoy

today. Even if I can’t ﬁ nd a job, as a mother

I will be able to help my child with her les-

son,” Johnson said.

Neither rain nor the dangers posed to the

young women walking the long distance

to class at night deter ALPP students.

Determined to learn, they have organized

themselves to walk in groups to and from

school to minimize any potential threats.

“We walk in groups at night after classes,

each day, we do this because we want to

learn, at least to be able to set examples

for our future generations; and, we also

know that education is good,” said a 32-

year old student, Massa.

— Princetta Varmah, ALPP senior grants

ofﬁ cer in Liberia and Alexandra Pratt in

Washington, D.C.

SEEKING AN EDUCATION AND SEIZING THE OPPORTUNITY PROVIDED BY THE

CREATIVE- IMPLEMENTED ACCELERATED LEARNING PROGRAM PLUS (ALPP)

PROJECT, YOUNG MOTHERS COME TO CLASS CARRYING THEIR BOOKS AS WELL

AS INFANTS. SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD HARRIET KWEAHGAYE TAKES NOTES WHILE

TENDING HER BABY GIRL, GAYE.

PHOTO BY: ALPP STAFF

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GUATEMALA: YOUTH ALLIANCE PROGRAM

INAUGURATES SEVENTH OUTREACH CENTER

latin america

he Youth Alliance Program (Programa Alianza Joven) opened

its seventh youth outreach center in June in Guatemala’s

Santa Catarina Pinula, an area with a growing incidence of

gang activity. Implemented by Creative Associates and funded by

the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Youth Alliance

Program is known to be unconventional in its approach to gang

prevention and job placement for ex-gang members.

The project promoted the centers by calling them “Outreach Cen-

ters for My Neighborhood.” The slogan is similar to the phrases

youths use when they refer to doing things “for my neighbor,

for my neighborhood.” Part of the success of the Youth Alliance

Program’s prevention activities is its alliance with faith-based,

municipalities and private organizations that are already working

in neighborhoods where gang activity is rampant.

The Rotary Club has funded the Santa Catarina Pinula center’s

equipment and operational start up costs. Apart from a salaried

coordinator, all of the centers are staffed by community members

who volunteer to teach children and youths skills, including bread

making, using computers, playing music and sports.

Cutting the ribbon at the seventh center’s inauguration are (left to

right) Mirma de Coro, wife of the Mayor of Santa Catarina Pinula

and Julia Richards, USAID’s Health and Education Ofﬁ ce Director.

(LEFT) INAUGURATION DAY, OUTREACH CENTER SANTA CATARINA PINULA. (RIGHT) HAROLD SIBAJA, DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMA ALIANZA JOVEN, HIGHLIGHTS THE CRITI-

CAL IMPACT OUTREACH CENTERS HAVE IN PREVENTING YOUTHS FROM FALLING PREY TO GANG LIFE.

PHOTOS BY: JUAN JOSE HERNANDEZ

SRI LANKA: YOUTHS TO GET JOB SKILLS, BETTER

EMPLOYMENT PROSPECTS

asia

OLOMBO – The Accelerated Skills

Acquisition Project (ASAP) launched

ofﬁ cially in August with USAID

representatives, including Mission Director

Rebecca Cohn and ASAP staff, who gath-

ered to herald the project that will help

scores of Sri Lanka’s youth prepare for

jobs through educational and vocational

training.

ASAP is made possible by USAID and

implemented by Creative Associates Inter-

national, Inc. in partnership with Christian

Children’s Fund and International Youth

Foundation.

As part of the launch, representatives of

leading education and training institutions

and private sector employers and cham-

bers of commerce from Sri Lanka’s west-

ern, eastern and north central regions,

gathered for an intensive half-day session

to ﬁ nalize a tailor-made curriculum for

training unemployed local youths.

A 22-month project, ASAP is leading efforts

to build a favorable employment climate

for Sri Lanka’s over-age and out-of-school

CONTINUES ON PAGE 7>>

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iberia’s goal to promote girls’ educa-

tion is making strides through the

Creative Associates Accelerated

Learning Program Plus (ALPP). Female en-

rollment in six ALPP pilot schools in Nimba

County now averages 72 percent, while

male enrollment stands at 28 percent.

ALPP is made possible by funding from the

U.S. Agency for International Development

(USAID). ALPP’s higher rate of girls’ enroll-

ment is also credited to combined efforts

by non-governmental organizations, the

Liberia government and private organi-

zations that promote female education

throughout the west Africa nation.

While poverty is widespread in Liberia, it

is more pervasive in rural areas such as

Nimba County, where UNICEF says 86 per-

cent of households depend on subsistence

farming for their livelihoods. Women make

up the majority of farmers and farming

methods are rudimentary.

Obstacles to female education are com-

pounded by entrenched cultural practices

such as early marriage and biases against

educating girls. As a result, female enroll-

ment in schools has been consistently

lower than boys. In 2001-2002 UNICEF

reports that the ratio of girls enrolled in

schools at all levels of education was 40.8

percent while boys’ enrollment was 59.2

percent. At the tertiary level, the disparity

between boys and girls during this period

was more pronounced – only 27.6 percent

for girls and 72.4 percent for boys.

But not all students are youths. At the Kar-

yea Elementary School, 35-year-old Anna

Tozoe, a level one student, says that she

has discovered that obtaining an educa-

tion is her greatest guarantee to future

success. “I know that if I know something

[acquire education], then things will be

better for me.”

While many young women such as Anna

are motivated to learn, they also fear the

humiliation of learning basic literacy as

young adults. Princess Kwahnie, 24, who

attends ALPP classes with Anna is grateful

to her ALPP teachers because, “They really

encouraged me, I thought I was too old

now to go back to school.”

According to Karyea’s principal, John

Karpoe, “It took a lot of effort to get these

young women to see that they could still

get some level of education; sometimes

we had to convince husbands to let their

wives attend ALPP classes.”

Students at the Johnny Voker School have

expressed similar sentiments as Anna’s

with respect to attending school for the

ﬁ rst time. Dorothy Rufus, also 35-year-

old and a level three student is married

with children. She says the fact that other

LIBERIA: ALPP CLASSES DRIVE FEMALE

ENROLLMENT

africa

youths by working toward an attitudinal

shift in how youths see opportunities in

the private sector. ASAP will apply three ap-

proaches in this endeavor:

- Increase the preparedness of out-

of-school youths to succeed in the

workplace;

- Disseminate information on vocational

training models and best practices to

a network of partnerships;

- Establish linkages between training

providers and employers.

ASAP will strengthen the capacity of pri-

vate- and public-sector training institutions

to deliver quality training, job counseling

and placement assistance and school-

to-work services to improve employment

possibilities for participants ages 15 to 25.

An estimated 20,000 overage and out-of-

school youths will be targeted through the

project’s activities.

As per the 2006 Central Bank Report,

the rate of women’s unemployment is 9.7

percent compared to 4.7 percent for men.

But thirty-nine percent of youths between

the ages of 15 to 29 are unemployed.

This is the group that ASAP seeks to help

through a training course that provides

four skills sets that are critical to employ-

ability, including the soft-skills of problem

solving, critical thinking, team work, career

awareness, performance orientation and

conﬁ dence building. Other skills training in-

cludes computer literacy, English language

and an analysis of self-employment and

basic small business management.

To help ensure long-term sustainability,

ASAP will strengthen the capacity of the

education and training sector to deliver

this competency-based instruction by

training instructors in interactive instruc-

tional techniques and a small grants

program.

Development of curricula and instructional

material for trainings is nearing comple-

tion. ASAP also seeks to foster partner-

ships between employers and the educa-

tion sector to facilitate a demand-driven

workforce development system and to link

students with jobs.

— ASAP staff in Sri Lanka with assistance

from Alexandra Pratt in Washington, D.C.

CREATIVE’S ACCELERATED SKILLS ACQUISITION

PROGRAM, KNOWN AS ASAP, CONDUCTED A CAREER

DAY IN GALLE, SRI LANKA IN JUNE.

PHOTO BY: SHEVANTHI JAYASURIYA

“ They really encouraged me.

I thought I was too old now

to go back to school.”

Princess Kwahnie

Student

ALP Class

>> CONTINUES FROM PAGE 6

CONTINUES ON PAGE 8>>

- 8 -

young women were enrolled in ALPP pro-

vided encouragement. “I always wanted

to go to school but never had the chance,

so when the ALPP came I agreed to go

to school. The ALPP is helping us,” said

Dorothy, whose class includes 32 females

and eight males.

Another student at Johnny Voker, Hannah

Wright says that there are more females

than males enrolled in the ALPP classes

because, “We are more than them be-

cause we want to catch up with them.”

Hannah and her peers are aware of the

fact that there is an urgent need to bridge

the gap between the number of educated

males and that of the females in her

county, and in Liberia as a whole. Hannah

is convinced that the program will offer

her better opportunities and has vowed to

recruit other females from her community

to take advantage of the program.

In early 2007, ALPP trained a total of 48

teachers and 10 school administrators in

Nimba and Montserrado Counties for the

pilot phase. The training included ALPP

methodology and life skills that will help

teachers introduce the relatively new con-

cept of service learning to students.

Service-learning teaches youth to be

useful to their community and schools. It

involves hands-on learning through service

and is intended to build skills and leader-

ship. Ten of the 90 targeted schools are

being used for the pilot phase in year one

and the rest will join in the next two years.

A total of 4,500 youth from six counties

will be targeted during this ﬁ rst phase of

the project, with a special focus on girls,

between the ages of 18-35.

— Princetta Varmah, ALPP senior grants

ofﬁ cer in Liberia and Alexandra Pratt in

Washington, D.C.

AFGHANISTAN: CREATIVE HELPS BOOST NGO

CAPACITIES

asia

he opportunities for Afghan non-gov-

ernmental organizations to fulﬁ ll their

mandates is looking brighter.

The Capacity Development Program

(CDP), made possible by the U.S. Agency

for International Development, is helping

NGOs improve their internal organizational

capacities.

Creative Associates International, Inc. is

implementing the NGO component as a

member of the BearingPoint consortium.

Carla Rosa Borges, Creative’s Team Leader

for the NGO component says the project

is mapping the NGO ﬁ eld in Afghanistan

“to determine their funding sources,

the services they pro-

vide, their relevance

to the grand

scheme of

Af-

ghanistan, their efﬁ ciency and appropriate-

ness to the program.”

In an effort to create NGOs that are recog-

nized both nationally and internationally

as meeting recognized standards in their

delivery of services, Rosa Borges and her

team led a two-month survey to identify

gaps in training and capacity building

these organizations received over the past

three years.

From the pool of over 900 NGOs registered

with the Ministry of Economy, the CDP

team will then select the top 250 orga-

nizations based on criteria established

by the program. For example, the NGOs

must possess basic functionality

and be associated with the four

coordinating NGO networks, such

as the Agency Coordinating Body

For Afghan Relief (ACBAR), the

Afghan NGOs Coordina-

tion Bureau (ANCB),

the Afghan Women’s

Network (AWN) and

Southwest Afghanistan

and Baluchistan Agency

for Coordination (SWA-

BAC).

From the pool of 250, 150 NGOs will

then be chosen as the best among them

through quantitative and qualitative as-

sessments.

Up to now, the CDP assessments show a

strong need for training in fund raising,

accounting and budgeting. CDP will also in-

crease management skills to help develop

Afghan NGOs’ internal governance struc-

tures and processes and initiate mentoring

opportunities.

“This project is new for Afghanistan,” Rosa

Borges said. “CDP is the ﬁ rst project that

focuses on building the complete internal

structures of Afghan NGOs.”

CDP will provide more consistency in train-

ing and depth of that instruction. Addition-

ally, the CDP will develop two certiﬁ cate

programs for members of Afghan NGOs in

project and ﬁ nancial management. The

CDP also seeks to help build the sustain-

ability of Afghan NGOs by developing an

international donor’s endowment fund that

can be accessed by NGOs.

PARTICIPANTS CONFER DURING ROUND TABLE DISCUSSIONS TO STRENGTHEN

AFGHAN CAPACITY IN THE NGO SECTOR, ONE OF THE CORE ACTIVITIES OF THE

USAID CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM (CDP). THE CDP NGO SECTOR IS

IMPLEMENTED BY CREATIVE ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL, INC., AS A MEMBER OF

THE BEARINGPOINT CONSORTIUM.

PHOTO BY: CARLA ROSA BORGES

ALPP STUDENTS AT MORRIS FARM PUBLIC SCHOOL.

PHOTO BY: ALPP STAFF

>> CONTINUES FROM PAGE 7

- 9 -

Jessica Kruvant-Wilson, Management Associate at the Creative Center for Security and

Stabilization, known as C²S², reported on Creative’s efforts in education and civil society

development in Afghanistan in the summer edition of the Journal of International Peace

Operations.

M. Charito Kruvant, Creative’s President and CEO, was a guest on WFED’s “Smart Business”

program this summer. Mrs. Kruvant spoke about the founding of Creative Associates Inter-

national, Inc. and its dedication to nations and communities that are in conﬂ ict or emerging

from conﬂ ict.

PANAMA: CREATIVE LEARNING SCHOOL KITS HELP

STUDENTS’ LITERACY

earning materials are so scarce in

some of Panama’s schools that Me-

linda West de Anguizola has resorted

to stones or other raw materials to help

teach students how to count or learn to

read.

But thanks to a donation from Creative

Learning, new learning tools have arrived

by the caseload including books, pencils,

paper and notebooks to support reading,

writing and math lessons allowing children

the opportunity to learn through play.

The shortage of learning tools is the reality

for many Panamanian children, particu-

larly those from indigenous communities,

where instruction takes place in class-

rooms that lack even rudimentary school

materials.

This latest shipment which arrived in Pan-

ama in July and has so far helped 4,750

Panamanian students whose classrooms

now have the basics to allow instruction.

Creative Learning, Inc. is the non-proﬁ t

sister organization of Creative Associates

International, Inc. With funding from

the U.S. Department of Labor, Cre-

ative Associates implements the

DESTINO project in Panama’s

impoverished and mostly rural

communities. The project seeks

to combat child labor by offering

educational opportunities and helping

parents through income-generation

activities enabling their children to stay in

school rather than toil in the ﬁ elds.

Creative Learning raises funds to provide

educational opportunities for children in

developing countries, especially those in

areas of conﬂ ict.

Working with Melinda West de Anguizola,

who is director of the DESTINO project,

Creative Learning selected materials to

complement DESTINO’s teacher training

activities. For optimum effect, West de

Anguizola created model lessons for teach-

ers that emphasized how best to use the

materials in classrooms to spur students’

development of basic critical skills. The

kits are distributed to teachers and chil-

dren in the Central and Darien Provinces

of Panama.

The Primrose Schools, a U.S.-based pro-

vider of early childhood education centers,

also works with Creative Learning to pro-

vide school kits. The donation is supported

by fund-raising activities undertaken by

pre-school students from the

network of 130 Primrose

Schools which provides in-

fant care through

kindergarten in

the East and

Southeastern

United States.

In 2005,

Creative

Learn-

ing, with the participation of pre-school

students, raised $42,000 to purchase

active learning kits for elementary schools

students in Afghanistan. Similarly, in 2006,

Creative Learning collaborated with Prim-

rose Schools’ students to donate innova-

tive educational tools to school children in

the Philippines’ Muslim Mindanao region.

In Darien, a remote and impoverished

province of Panama inhabited by the

Embera people, distribution of the kits

was attended by government ofﬁ cials,

parents, community leaders, teachers and

students.

Impressed by the kits, one local ofﬁ cial ex-

amined the materials and said he wished

he had these materials when he was a

classroom teacher. His remark echoed the

sentiments of the teachers present, many

of whom teach without the beneﬁ t of text-

books let alone learning tools like those

provided through the Creative Learning

and Primrose Schools donation.

“Although I selected the materials accord-

ing to my experience and needs’ assess-

ment of Panama, I was as excited as

anybody else to receive them. It felt like a

birthday party,” said West de Anguizola.

DESTINO targets children in Panama’s

indigenous communities and central

provinces who work on family or commer-

cial farms to help their parents make ends

meet.

CORPORATE NEWSBRIEFS

STUDENTS IN RURAL PANAMA WORK WITH EDUCA-

TIONAL MATERIALS THAT PROMOTE INTERACTIVE

LEARNING.

PHOTO BY: DESTINO STAFF

- 10 -

NEW FACES IN WASHINGTON, D.C. AND FIELD

Julio Daniel Ramírez-de-Arellano joins the Education, Mobilization, and Communication division as

Chief of Party for the Building Education Support Systems for Teachers (BESST) project in Afghanistan.

Julio has many years of experience in management of education and training projects.

Before Creative, he was the Director of Education Programs for World Learning. There, he also served

as Chief of Party for the Project Access to Intercultural Bilingual Education, a cooperative agreement

with USAID to improve quality of bilingual education for Mayan children in the department of El Quiche,

Guatemala.

He received a doctorate and a master’s degree at the Center for International Education at the University of Massachusetts

in Amherst, Mass. Julio’s academic background also extends to his native Chile: he received a master’s degree in Sciences of

Development at the Latin American Institute of Doctrine and Social Studies and a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from the

Catholic University of Chile, both located in Santiago. He is ﬂ uent in Spanish and English and advanced in reading French, Ital-

ian and Portuguese.

Mike Hoverter joins Creative’s Business Development unit as a Recruiting Manager. Mike has more

than eight years of experience in economic development, anti-corruption, democracy and gover-

nance, business development and project management, with a focus on USAID-funded programs.

Before Creative, Mike served as a manager at Chemonics in the Europe and Eurasia group. Mike has

also worked for Management Systems International and BearingPoint and has extensive experience

liaising with USAID, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Defense, and the National

Endowment for Democracy.

He received master’s degrees in International Economic Development from George Washington University and in International

Business from Seton Hall University, South Orange, N.J. He received a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Ford-

ham University in New York. He speaks French and some Russian.

Simon James joins the Education, Mobilization, and Communication division as an Operations

Manager for the BESST project in Afghanistan. Before Creative, he served as Chief of Staff/Director of

Professional Development Institute (PDI) at the American University of Afghanistan (AUAf), in Kabul.

AUAf is a newly established, English-language university in Afghanistan, which opened for classes in

2006. Simon also served as Deputy Head of Count Section at the UN Ofﬁ ce for Project Services in

Kabul, which was the implementing partner of the 2005 Afghan National Assembly and Provincial

Council elections.

He received a post-graduate certiﬁ cate of Education from the University of the West of England in Bristol, a master’s degree in

Management (Tourism) from the University of Wales in Cardiff, and a bachelor’s degree in Geography form Lancaster Univer-

sity in Lancaster.

NEW FA

- 11 -

NEW FA

Alison Long joins Creative as the External Relations Manager for the Building Education Support Sys-

tems for Teachers (BESST) program in Afghanistan.

Before joining Creative, she completed her master’s degree at American University’s School of Interna-

tional Service with a concentration in women’s rights and gender issues.

She traveled to Afghanistan in 2006 to work for a local NGO that promotes girl’s education in Wardak and Nagrahar provinces.

For this work, Alison received the School of International Service’s Brady Tyson Award for Excellence in the Area of Human Rights.

In addition, Alison worked with learning-disabled students in New Jersey for several years and spent 18 months teaching English

in southwest Vietnam. Alison received a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from Princeton University in 2000.

Benjamin Orbach joins Creative’s Ofﬁ ce of the President as a Program Manager. Before Creative, he

worked for three years as Deputy Regional Coordinator of the Middle East Partnership Initiative at the

U.S. Department of State.

There, Ben received superior achievement and meritorious achievement awards for designing and

managing democratic reform projects in the Middle East and North Africa. Before joining the State

Department, Ben was a research fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, where he wrote

analyses and essays on democratic reform in the Middle East and Arab politics.

Ben is also the author of a recently published book “Live from Jordan: Letters Home from My Journey Through the Middle East”

(Amacom Books, 2007).

Ben received a master’s degree in Middle East Studies and International Economics from the Johns Hopkins University School for

Advanced International Studies and a bachelor’s degree in History from the University of Michigan. He speaks Arabic and Hebrew.

Dr. Stephen Schwenke joins the Communities in Transition division as a Team Leader of Civil Society

and Governance. Stephen is an ethicist, planner, and local governance specialist with over 25 years of

international development project experience in more than 25 countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East,

the Balkans, and Latin America. He was based in Kenya, Uganda and South Africa for 14 years.

Stephen’s career has focused on local governance, conﬂ ict and peace-building, anti-corruption and gov-

ernment integrity, applied ethics, and community participation in governance. He has recently published a

number of books on these subjects and a host of articles and essays included in the SAIS Review of International Affairs and the

Journal of Public and International Affairs (JPIA).

Stephen is also an Adjunct Professor at the School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University and George-

town University’s Public Policy Institute, both in Washington, D.C. He received a Ph.D. in applied ethics and international public

policy studies from the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, with a focus on human rights based approaches to

improve local governance.

Victoria Stanski joins the Communities in Transition division as a Program Associate.

Before Creative, she worked as a Network Strategy and Advocacy Manager at the Initiative for Inclusive

Security as part of the Hunt Alternatives Fund. There, she developed and oversaw Iraq, Sudan, and

Northern Uganda program initiatives and devised training programs and curriculum for civil society

actors and post-conﬂ ict countries, with special emphasis on the role of women in promoting good gov-

ernance and peacebuilding.

Victoria received a master’s degree in International Peace and Conﬂ ict Resolution at the American University in Washington, D.C.,

and a bachelor’s degree in Cultural and Social Anthropology at Smith College, Northampton, Mass. She is conversant in French

and has basic knowledge of Kiswahili and Arabic.

- 12 -

5301 Wisconsin Avenue, NW

Suite 700

Washington, DC 20015

Produced by

Communications and Media

Development Unit

Contributors

Creative Associates International Inc., is a private,

professional services firm headquartered in Wash-

ington, D.C. Since its inception in 1977, Creative

has assisted governments, communities, NGOs,

and private companies worldwide to lead and to

manage change.

CREATIVE ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL

INC

U.S. Ambassador Steven A. Browning greets children at the Police Primary School in Gulu, northern Uganda. The school is a demonstration site for

the Creative-managed and U.S. Agency for International Development-funded UNITY program, which provides quality education to children in this

conflict-affected area.

Luis Aguilar

Carla Rosa Borges

Sylvia Ellison

Jeff Ghannam

Juan Jose Hernandez

Shevanthi Jayasuriya

Blake Kent

Alison Long

Pablo Maldonado

Carola Mandelbaum

Joanne Murphy

Alexandra Pratt

Peggy Poling

Samudrika Gayani Sylva

Lazarina Todorova

Princetta Varmah

Worldwide Offices

Afghanistan

Albania

Algeria

Guatemala

Kenya

Liberia

Nigeria

Oman

Panama

Uganda

Southern Sudan

Sri Lanka

PHOTO OF THE SEASON

PHOTO BY: PATRICK BANANUKA, UNITY REGIONAL ADVISOR

A QUARTERLY PUBLICATION

SUMMER 2007

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