SARC Story - Laila Milad
It was a warm autumn day in 2008, as I finished packing my bags and loaded them and my semi-drugged cat into my car. As I left Jerusalem and made my way down into the Jordan Valley en route to Amman, it was with very mixed feelings - I was eager to start a new job with the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator for Jordan, but also sad to leave behind colleagues, friends, and Jerusalem and the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) which for good and bad had been my home for three very eventful years.
My JPO assignment in Jerusalem
I first arrived in Jerusalem in September 2005 to take up my JPO assignment (funded by Denmark) as a Governance Analyst with UNDP’s Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People (PAPP). Life and work in Jerusalem/oPt quickly proved to be intense and at times very overwhelming and disarming, and working on Governance was exciting and challenging from the onset. During my three years I had as much hands on experience as I could have wished for – I was given significant responsibility and my portfolio grew from initially only including electoral assistance and justice sector reform to also cover aid effectiveness, anti-corruption, conflict prevention and recovery, capacity development of ministries, and disaster risk management. I worked with the Palestinian Authority on capacity development and construction of ministries, with the Central Elections Commission on election monitoring, and voter education; with the Judicial Institutions on capacity development, courthouses, case-automation systems, training of prosecution and judges; with the civil defense on earthquake assessments; and with civil society on lobbying for the adoption of the UN’s Convention Against Corruption (UNDAC).
A challenging environment
Looking back, I recall excitement coupled with vast amounts of frustration and stress, and the feeling of being challenged on all fronts – at times to the extent where I was sure that I was in over my head and that I would not be able to deliver or live up to expectations. I also recall the volatility and unpredictability of working in the oPt, the hope that surfaced after Israel withdrew from Gaza in late 2005, only to be drowned by the election of Hamas in the 2006 legislative elections, Israel’s war with Lebanon in the summer of 2006 which placed severe limitations on our movement, and the very brief reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas in 2007 with the formation of a Unity Government, which abruptly came to an end with the coup in Gaza in June 2007, which left the Palestinian Authority (Fatah) in charge of the West Bank, and Hamas as the de facto authority in Gaza. Through it all, as the UN, we made every effort to remain responsive to the needs of the Palestinian People, to keep up with political developments, and to continue to implement our projects and programmes in areas to which we had limited and at times no access at all. I can honestly say that I never experienced a boring day at the office or in the field and PAPP was a great place to get hands on experience in conceptualizing, developing, and implementing projects and programmes, fundraising, recruitment, and procurement. Looking back, I have many memories and experiences that stand out, but most of all I was always inspired and moved by the persistence and passion of my Palestinian colleagues and counterparts. I feel very privileged to have worked with UNDP-PAPP and supported the Palestinian People – at a very modest level – in their aspirations and preparations for what one day, hopefully, will materialize into Palestinian statehood.
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| Before | After |
| A few weeks before leaving Jerusalem for Amman, I woke up in the middle of the night too clashes between my Palestinian neighbors and the Israeli Security Forces. When morning came, the Israelis had secured my neighbors house and were getting ready to demolish their home. I was 'evacuated', while the demolition took place - first with a bull-dozer and later the house was finished off with explosives. Upon returning home in the evening, I found my neighbors devastated in shock and in tears - and my apartment and all belongings covered with a heavy layer of fine white dust, which I never managed to completely clean up. | |
My experience as SARC in Jordan
Moving on to Amman, 3 years later and a wealth of experience richer, I took up my new assignment under the SARC programme as the Coordination Specialist with the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator (RCO) for Jordan in late 2008. Having worked on the ground in the oPt, I was looking forward to promote the UN reform agenda in Jordan, as I strongly believe that the UN can accomplish, deliver, and have an impact greater than the sum of its parts (agencies) if it delivers assistance in a more coordinated and joint manner.
On a daily basis I work with some 15 UN agencies including Heads of Agencies and technical staff on a range of different issues including planning and receiving missions, organizing trainings and workshops, arranging UN events and campaigns, developing and maintaining the UN website, providing guidance to UN working groups, supporting the implementation of joint programmes, undertaking annual and mid-term review of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), and most recently taking the lead in planning and facilitating the roll-out of the new Common Country Assessment (CCA) and UNDAF for the period 2013-2017.
Much of my daily work is process-oriented and aims at engaging UN agencies and mobilizing their resources whether technical or financial towards e.g. the implementation of the current UNDAF as well as the development of the new CCA/UNDAF – all while making a very conscious effort to accommodate and balance at times the very different interests of UN agencies.
My three years in programming with UNDP-PAPP have served me well – having experience in developing proposals, projects, and programmes, as well as implementing these allows me to understand the challenges and constraints to working and delivering together, but also the opportunities and benefits of adopting a joint approach. While some countries have taken the big leap and become Delivering as One pilots or self-starter countries, other countries, such as Jordan, are taking smaller steps and finding their own way of delivering, if not as one, then together in a more effective manner. Promoting UN reform is a journey, and during my time with the RCO here in Jordan, the building blocks for changing the way the UN works are only just being laid – it really comes down to changing behavior at all levels within the UN system and UN agencies, and with time, recognizing and realizing the advantages and rewards of delivering together.
The tricky part of working with an RCO is maintaining and developing programming skills – getting involved in a specific field such as Monitoring and Evaluation, Reporting, Advocacy, Communications, or Joint Programming helps maintain a profile beyond that of coordination, which at times can make you feel as a jack of all trades and master of none. This being said, SARCs have a very unique chance of working closely with many UN agencies, being exposed to the overall politics and management of the UN system at the country level, and engaging with national counterparts in a very strategic manner. In the end, any assignment with the UN, whether as a JPO or a SARC, is what you make of it.
Looking back after five years within the UN ...
My SARC assignment will come to an end in the autumn and while I look forward to moving on to new challenges, my time as a JPO in Jerusalem and SARC in Amman has given me so much on a number of levels and will always hold a very special place in my heart – I have had the time of my life both professionally and privately, made many good friends along the way, and adding to this Jerusalem is where I met my husband, and Amman is where my son was born.
On this note, and knowing that the JPOSC likes to end JPO/SARC stories with a quote, one of my favorite quotes is by my fellow Dane, Søren Kierkegaard: 'To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose oneself’.
Text by Laila Milad, 2011
Photos from Laila Milad