USAID plans new staff exchanges, first with Brazil aid agency

The U.S. Agency for International Development and the Brazilian Agency for Cooperation, or ABC, will begin a staff exchange in April as part of an effort to increase collaboration and offer hands-on learning opportunities for employees. On Feb. 10, the agencies signed a memorandum of understanding to create a professional staff exchange program for their mid- to senior-level staff. The program is attuned with one of the Obama administration’s key development objectives: to turn USAID into the world’s premier aid agency and an innovative enterprise that relies more on in-house capacity than external contractors and consultants. The initiative also supports USAID’s goal to better understand emerging donors such as Brazil and, at the same time, share with them the expertise it has built through the years, Mark Lopes, USAID deputy assistant administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean, told Devex. First stop: Brasilia Through the program, USAID aims to learn from Brazil’s world-class expertise in agricultural technology. Brazil, on the other hand, is interested in USAID’s expertise in monitoring and evaluation, program design and public-private partnerships, Lopes said. For the program’s pilot run, the exchange will involve staff from the USAID office and the ABC headquarters in Brazil’s capital city, Brasilia. The long-term vision is to expand the exchanges to include USAID and ABC missions around the world and the USAID headquarters in Washington, D.C. Strengthening peer-to-peer ties The partnership is not the first between the United States and Brazil as donor peers. The two are currently engaged in a farmer-to-farmer cooperation project in Mozambique. The United States is providing USD2 million for the project this year, while Brazil is contributing USD600,000. The project is based on a model developed in Brazil and is being implemented through U.S. and Brazilian organizations. The idea for a new peer-to-peer partnership was hatched in an August 2010 meeting between Lopes and ABC officials in Brasilia, where Lopes said they talked of ways to expand the collaboration between the two donor countries. According to Lopes, Brazil is increasingly taking on global responsibilities and engaging in activities that USAID has extensive experience with, so the two governments thought it made sense to develop an exchange program. He added that a meaningful engagement with other donors like Brazil would eventually benefit USAID and their partner countries in the long run. More similar partnerships in the near future Some details of the program, such as the exact start date, criteria for selecting the most appropriate staff and time frame of the exchanges, are still being ironed out. USAID wants to keep the program flexible and open, Lopes said, admitting that there is no telling how the program will develop. “At the minimum, we know that we are going to have better foreign service officers. We send them to Brazil and later on, they help us because they know better about what other donors are doing,” he said. On a broader perspective, the professional staff exchange program is one way USAID is putting into practice U.S. President Barack Obama’s commitment to re-engage with Latin America and the Caribbean, Lopes said. He hinted that it is the start of similar initiatives in the region as well as in other parts of the world. “I can tell you that we are looking to form strategic partnerships with other would-be donors both in Latin America and around the world,” Lopes said, “and we hope to have another announcement similar to this one in the coming weeks.” Read more USAID career advice: - Obama to Slow Down Hiring at USAID, State in 2012 - USAID Intensifies Search for Technical Experts - USAID Offers Twin Options for Global Health Exposure - Obama Pushes More Hires at USAID, State Department - A Hiring Surge at USAID Read more international development career advice.