Jalil (starting from right - HR Manager) and Brit along with Pamir (Finance Officer), Karim (Finance Intern), and Nasim (HR Officer) enjoy a traditional Afghan lunch at the PSO.

The ICMA Team of Shraddha, Brit and I spent a week in Kabul working out of ICMA’s Project Support Office (PSO) finalizing organizational charts, position control lists, and position descriptions so we could hit the ground running once we landed in Mazar e sharif to help launch RAMP UP North.  Our colleague Megan arrived a few days later and was in Kabul one day before heading out to Herat to help launch RAMP UP West. 

As I mentioned in a previous post, ICMA is a subcontractor to DAI under the Regional Afghan Municipalities Program for Urban Populations - Regional Command East, North and West. RAMP UP is a USAID-funded program focused on creating effective, responsive, democratic, transparent, accountable, and gender sensitive municipal governance in provincial capitals.  This project focuses on the expertise that ICMA staff and its members can offer – good governance and improved service delivery to citizens. 

While we were in Kabul, it was great to meet our local staff and put faces with names at the PSO.  We have staff who work in human resources, finance and operations that support all of our RAMP UP Projects.  The first position we interviewed and hired for is HR Manager – someone who we could work with to hire the many positions (60-70 now – more later as the project gets underway) that we would need in Mazar e sharif and the eight other provincial capitals we will work in.  The great news is that a staff member, Jalil, who has been an HR Officer for RAMP UP East applied for the position HR Manager and we were happy to promote him to his position.  He has family in Mazar so it works well that he could easily relocate. 

Back in Washington, DC, sometimes our staff eats lunch together.  Well at our PSO, we eat lunch together every day, as you can see from the photos.  It is definitely a family affair.  Because of travel and security restrictions, we do not go out to lunch– instead our office has a cook that can create some delicious meals for us every day.  We have enjoyed eating local Afghan food and being able to catch up with our colleagues. 

We arrived in Mazar e sharif on the evening of Friday June 10 and the workday started on Saturday.  Next post I will write about our work  in Mazar and some of the differences I noticed between Kabul and Mazar.