Lainie, from the USA, was a Progressio development worker with - Hargeisa Voluntary Youth Committee (HAVOYOCO) and the Consortium of Somaliland NGOs (COSONGO) in Somaliland from August 1998 to July 2001.
What have you done since leaving Progressio and what do you do currently?
After we left Hargeisa, my family and I moved to Azerbaijan when I became a project manager for a large community development project on the southern border with Iran. We spent three years there and then moved to Nairobi where we stayed for five years. About half of my time there I was the country representative for Mercy Corps South Sudan, and the second half I was the country director for GOAL Kenya.
Next, we moved to Manila, the Philippines, where I am now a Civil Society and Participation Specialist at the Asian Development Bank (ADB). I am based in the NGO and Civil Society Center, and I promote civil society participation in ADB-funded projects. The basis of my civil society expertise comes from my work in Hargeisa with Progressio.
Please describe your role and the partner organisation that you worked with as a Progressio development worker
I worked for HAVOYOCO, a well-established local NGO focused on youth issues. My job was to advise them on capacity building issues, and I worked with them on a whole range of topics, including financial management, governance, programming, fundraising, and reporting.
HAVOYOCO was a group of young men who came together to help the youth- mostly street kids- but who had big ideas for their community. I remember in the first activity I did with HAVOYOCO, which couldn’t have been more than about two weeks after we arrived, we talked about the mission and vision of the organisation. The group had such big ideas that I said to them- Wait! This is the Hargeisa Voluntary Youth Committee, not the Horn of Africa Voluntary Committee. I just Googled them, and guess what? Now they are the Horn of Africa Voluntary Committee with offices in three countries. I think that says it all.
During the second half of my time in Hargeisa, I worked with COSONGO, which is the Consortium of Somaliland NGOs, of which HAVOYOCO was a member. I did a lot of training for other members of COSONGO, and helped set up a pool of capacity building specialists. Today, these specialists are running many of the international and local NGOs in Somaliland.
What inspired you to become a development worker?
I’m not sure what actually inspired me, but one afternoon when I was in university, I saw a flyer on a bulletin board, announcing a program for students to study in Ecuador while doing service work. I knew that was for me. I did that program, where I had my first NGO experience, and after that, I just kept on going. I think being a development worker is an excellent opportunity for people who are creative and who enjoy being challenged to think outside the box. I loved the challenge of operating with an NGO with few resources, yet making great things happen.
What struck you most about Progressio’s development worker model/approach?
I was what used to be called a “naked development worker,” which had nothing to do with my fashion sense, but that I was the project! I didn’t come with other funds attached to me, so I had to scrape together resources for everything that I wanted to do. By being in this position, I saw the value of pure technical assistance and how much a single person can do. And, other local NGOs who wanted my services had to provide support to make it happen, be it in terms of providing office space, or training materials, or transport. It showed me how much people wanted the assistance.
What did you enjoy most about your role, and of your experience as a development worker?
I think that what I enjoyed most was that although I was in Hargeisa to provide technical advice and provide support, I was actually learning at least as much about development as I was sharing. Every day was different, and I was constantly surprised at what I was learning and from whom, as well as what I was teaching. I remember the time that I was trying to explain to some of my colleagues that the freckles on my skin were not mosquito bites or anything else wrong with me, but just the way I was. That was quite a long conversation, as I recall!
What were some of your main achievements while working as a development worker?
Honestly? My main achievement was becoming a mom for the first time while juggling work and living in a challenging environment. In 2000, although most organisations were not allowing families in Hargeisa, Progressio was one of the few who did. My husband had found work in Hargeisa, and our first child was born while I was working for Progressio. Our colleagues gave her a Somali name, Ayaan, and we celebrated her birth forty days later in a traditional Afartan Bax (40 days) ceremony with our Somali friends. As challenging as it was to make the transition into motherhood in a foreign country, it brought me much closer to my female colleagues and helped me make connections that I otherwise wouldn’t have had with the culture and our community.
And what were some of the key challenges and lessons learnt?
There were challenges and lessons every day. Sometimes a key challenge was getting a sentence out in Somali the way I wanted to, but other times, it was getting colleagues to agree on a way forward, or to figure out how to get ALL of the dust out of my wardrobe.
Did this experience change you as a person in any way?
There isn’t enough space to list all of the ways. Somaliland tested my resilience in many ways, as we often didn’t have electricity or we faced water cuts; we had to learn Somali to get by outside of the office, yet everyone helped out. I didn’t know the skills that I was using in the UK could transfer to the Somaliland context. But, before I took this job, I didn’t know I could do any of these things.
Did your experience as a development worker influence your career/ future direction, and help you to get to where you are today?
This was my first overseas posting with a proper contract besides being a student or volunteer, and since Progressio, I’ve never looked at another career. It was this experience working on the ground with a wide range of organisations, building their capacity together with them, that gave me the foundation to advise the Asian Development Bank on how to work with NGOs.
What advice would you give to someone who is thinking of becoming a development worker?
Don’t make excuses! These types of jobs give you many more opportunities than you would have in a traditional job, and allow you much more opportunity to grow professionally because so many of your skills are in demand. And, despite being in a remote posting with tough living conditions, we made some very close friends that we keep in touch with now, more than 10 years later.
