Internal Consulting at USAID

During the summer, I was part of a team which served as an innovation program adviser to USAID missions and bureaus. For instance, my team acted as an adviser to the Agency’s Indonesia mission in establishing an open innovation competition to accelerate sustainability in palm oil production. The team was a tight-knit group composed of 8 program leads and assistants in addition to one team lead. One of my team's members was a Foreign Service Officer on "detail" from the Department of State to the Lab for 2 years. 

In addition to learning about innovation programs in international development, I learned equally as much about organizational change. During my internship, the Center for Development Innovation was experiencing strategic realignment. In addition to my team, the Center for Development Innovation is the home of the Higher Education Solutions Network, Development Innovation Ventures, and the Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) team. The Center eventually restructured the teams into distinct groups for sourcing innovations, acceleration innovators, and spreading innovation programs in the Agency.

When I first applied for the internship at USAID, I applied to a team named Transition to Scale. The mandate of this team was to accelerate top innovators from all innovation programs such as the Grand Challenges and Development Innovation Ventures. By the time I arrived as an intern, the name had changed to Collective Acceleration Team. This team had a similar mission, however, the team acted more as an internal consultant to USAID missions and bureaus in establishing innovation programs. In the last week of my internship, the name of the team changed to Innovation Design Team. The mission of this team was more focused on disseminating open innovation programming throughout the Agency.

My Scope of Work changed as dynamically as my team's name and mission. Although I submitted a joint Scope of Work between the Collective Acceleration Team and the International Development Innovation Network before my internship began, the team's needs had changed substantially by the time I arrived. I worked on three primary tasks during my internship.

• I researched and wrote a best-practices guide to support innovation programs at the Agency. In other words, my knowledge product was designed for the use of Agency Missions and innovation programs that composed the Agency's pipeline. The pipeline is comprised of various programs such as Grand Challenge for Development winners, Development Innovation Ventures (DIV) awardees, and Higher Education Solutions Network (HESN) projects. I researched and curated a list of questions for innovators to complete which would lead innovation programs to a more more targeted provision of acceleration services. Acceleration services consist of pro-bono legal advice, workshops on business modeling, public relations support with the placement of interviews and press releases, capacity building on international financial management and reporting, etc.
• I was assigned to help the Securing Water for Food Grand Challenge for Development. Through this assignment, I was able to gain a much more specific and granular perspective of the Lab's innovators. I saw first-hand how my team's program lead worked with a Technical Assistance Facility, external to USAID, to provide acceleration services to grantees. These grantees were selected from a competition which aimed to source and accelerate innovations at the water-agricultural production nexus. SWFF needed someone to complete the Initial Environmental Evaluations for four innovators. I researched the grantees innovations and projects, analyzed the potential environmental risks of their grants, and wrote location profiles on the places where their projects would take place.
• Throughout my internship, I copy edited and sourced 13 interviews with innovation programs in the Agency's pipeline, in other words 8 Higher Education Solutions Network Labs, 4 Grand Challenges for Development, and Development Innovation Ventures. My team designed this document to build mutual understanding between innovation programs which were sometimes ironically siloed in their thinking and implementing. This was an amazing opportunity for me to learn about the different innovation programs in the Agency's pipeline and their various theories of change.

Top: My team and I celebrating a team members birthday at a delicious Salvadorian restaurant. Middle Left: The Center for Development Innovation unites for a "sad hour" to bid good bye to one of my team's members who was leaving the Agency to pursue a PhD in Political Science from University of Wisconsin-Madison. Bottom Left: My team and I sharing lunch together at the All Lab Retreat. The gentleman sitting to the far right is a Presidential Management Fellow who moved on from my team to the Department of the Interior. I observed that D.C. has a culture where everyone is constantly on the lookout for better career opportunities. In my opinion, sometimes this can make knowledge management and continuity difficult. Middle Right: Some members of my team meet up after work for pub trivia near the Ronald Reagan Building. Bottom Right: My team shares a BBQ meal at our team lead's home.

Quintessential Quotidian

This is a recounting and reflection on my daily schedule during my internship at the U.S. Agency for International Development. I hope it may be helpful to someone interested in interning at USAID or another Washington, D.C.-based organization.

6:45 a.m. Wake up, shower, put aside long-sleeved button-down shirt and tie for bike ride to Ronald Reagan Building (RRB). 

Although the Lab had a more relaxed working culture, I chose to wear a button down shirt and tie each day. In Washington, D.C. wearing a suit jacket in summer is highly impractical due to the humidity. Dressing at a medium level of formality was convenient as I could blend in at meetings with managers at USAID and at events at different organizations with more formal dress codes. For instance, I attended an event at the State Department where most individuals wore jackets and ties.

I packed my lunch each day because it was less expensive and less time consuming than buying food at RRB. In addition, bringing my own lunch gave me the freedom to eat at my desk or outside in the Woodrow Wilson Plaza outside RRB. However, if I did buy my lunch my favorite spots were the Department of Commerce cafeteria which had a tremendous and subsidized hot food bar, Roti, and District Taco.

7:30 a.m. Breakfast.

As I stayed in a long-term hostel, I shared a refrigerator with 20 other people. It was always an adventure searching for my food. Sometimes I would pack my breakfast and just eat it at my desk to get out of the house and to be in the office ahead of everyone. There was something strangely empowering about arriving at the office ahead of all my coworkers.

8:15 a.m. Ride bike south to the RRB

Biking to RRB from Petworth never took me longer than 20 minutes. Also, RRB is very friendly towards bikers. There is a spacious bike room with access to showers and overnight storage. I did not wear my dress shirts during the commute to work so I would not arrive drenched in sweat. It is common in D.C. to wear your running shoes or sandals until you get to the office. I road to work in my running shoes and changed into my leather shoes at my desk. 

9:00 a.m. Be at my desk.

During the day, I would do tasks such as:

• generate content and edit interview transcripts of innovation programs at the Agency,
• research questions for the best-practices needs assessment tool which was my main deliverable for my internship,
• complete Initial Environmental Evaluations (IEEs) for the Securing Water for Food Grand Challenge for Development grantees,
• respond to emails.

I found it tough to do my daily assignments and find time to answer emails if I arrived any later than 9:00 a.m. I felt best when I arrived as early as possible.

12:30 p.m. Lunch.

I typically had lunch with fellow interns in the office in the Woodrow Wilson Plaza. There is a tremendous farmers market on Fridays.

1 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. Attend presentation from USAID bureau or presentation on success story from USAID mission.

On a daily basis different offices held presentations and brown bag lunches where USAID employees could learn about programs or interesting case studies. The best place to find out about these events were flyers outside the elevators. For instance, the Innovation Center hosted “Tech Tuesday’s” where a speaker in the tech or development space spoke about a successful project. USAID always had call-in numbers for meetings which I assumed allowed people to attend because of teleworking. However, this was also used by some USAID employees to call in and listen from their desk phones. Many members of my team enjoyed teleworking on Fridays which equated to working from home. Fridays, I was sometimes the only person from my team in the office. 

The afternoon on Thursdays and Fridays was also a great time to meet with contacts for coffee. I met other USAID interns, people on different teams, and interns in other agencies in the afternoons.

3:30 p.m. Team meeting.

Every Wednesday my team would meet for a weekly meeting to share program and administrative updates. I got into the habit of bringing baked goods to my team's weekly meetings. Every other week there was a 'peer-to-peer' presentation for team members to present on their individual projects, trainings, or results from Agency-related trips. In the 10th week of my internship, I was asked to present my work on the innovator needs assessment tool. Conveniently, Jona Reptishi from the International Development Innovation Network was able to attend my presentation on the best-practices tool.

5:00 p.m. Leave work.

Typically, most people on my team left work around 5:00 p.m. although some logged back on to email and work from home after 5:00 p.m.

5:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Attend lecture, forum, happy hour, discussion or play soccer.

I attended numerous events after work hosted by the Center for Global Development, the U.S. Coalition for Global Leadership, the Young Professionals group at USAID, GLIFAA, the 1776 venture accelerator, and the ASU McCain Institute. One of the members of my team organized a Tuesday night Trivia game at a bar near RRB.

I also joined a Tuesday night summer soccer league to stay active and make friends in D.C. As our undefeated season progressed, I grew to like my teammates. I often spent my weekends with these friends. It was amazing how joining just one league allowed me to play throughout the week. I often had requests to play as a substitute on other nights of the week. I played soccer at every opportunity I had! 

8:00 p.m. Prepare dinner and lunch for the next day.

I enjoyed cooking in the long-term hostel as I was surrounded by other young interns. My fellow hostel-mates had internships at the State Department, the White House, Congress, IBM, the Library of Congress, and National Geographic. There was also a French chef cooking at a fine D.C. restaurant who shared with me some of his baking tips! At the hostel, I always had someone to share food with, talk to, and watch movies with. I really love living in such a vibrant and international setting. We often shared recipes and food with each other. On Sunday nights, my hostel mates and I had a tradition of playing soccer together. I looked forward to it every weekend.

Top: An All Lab meeting in the Point IV Conference Room (a reference to Truman's Fourth Point establishing international aid to Europe in his inauguration speech). Upper Left: Jona Reptishi from IDIN visits me in the RRB to hear my presentation on my innovator needs assessment tool. Lower Left: Me biking through Georgetown. My friends from the hostel and I baking a pie and sharing cooking tips. Upper Right: My summer soccer team "Larry's Lounge" ended up winning the entire league undefeated. Unfortunately, only the nicest team, the winner for "Miss Congeniality," won an actual prize: a large bar tab. Lower Right: One of the many open presentations at USAID. This one is a "Tech Tuesday" talk in the Innovation Center about the results of a project which brought internet to a refugee camp.

SiliConstitution Avenue

The U.S. Global Development Lab ("the Lab") is the newest bureau at the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The Lab was created in April 2014 with a two-fold mission. The Lab's first goal is to produce breakthrough development innovations which will reach hundreds of millions of people. Breakthrough innovations are those which can impact millions and be scaled globally such as FutureWater, an drone-based innovation which detects crop stress two weeks earlier than the human eye and communicates to farmers through mobile devices. The Lab's second goal is transform USAID and the international development landscape. 

The two-fold mission makes the Lab an exciting and self-aware workplace. During my 12 weeks, I learned about the Lab's programs which harness Science, Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (STIP) to end poverty. The Lab is bringing the speed, flexibility, and ingenuity of Silicon Valley to the bureaucracy of a Washington, D.C.-based federal agency. For instance, the Lab's new Executive Director, Ann Mei Chang, was a previously a Senior Engingeering Director at Google. The Lab is a place where you find engineers, tech entrepreneurs, and PhD's working alongside Foreign Service Officers, civil servants, and public policy bureaucrats. 

While exciting, the Lab is a complex place to work. The Global Development Lab is a startup, a merger, and a government entity all at the same time. It is a startup at USAID as a new bureau which is neither technical nor regional. It is a merger of pre-existing USAID offices: the Office of Science and Technology, the Global Development Alliances, and the Grand Challenges for Development programs. As a government entity and foreign affairs organization, some bureaucratic hurdles exist such as complex hiring mechanisms, lengthy security clearance processes, and alphabet soup of acronyms. 

The All Lab Retreat. Upper Left: Amna, a fellow intern supported by the International Development Innovation Network, and I get out of the blistering summer sun. Lower Left, Upper Right: All 160 Lab members were split up into teams to play ice-breakers for the morning. I entered a mixed-berry pie into the dessert competition and lost to a banana cream pie. Following lunch there was a water balloon toss. Two of my team members won! In fact, I captured a video of their victory and made it into an animated gif. After showing the gif to a few of my team members, my team lead recommended I send it to be included in the All Lab weekly email bulletin. In the last week of my internship, my animated gif made it into the Lab's weekly email. What a legacy! Lower Right: The All Lab Retreat was held at the estate of one of the Lab managers in Northern Virginia. Alexis previously worked at the United Nations and her husband had an international career with the Royal Air Force. Her house is decorated with interesting art from all around the world.

BOWlumni Shoutout

I encountered two Wellesley Alumni during my internship at USAID’s U.S. Global Development Lab (“the Lab”). Out of the less than 200 people working in the Lab, I felt it significant that there were two BOWlumni. I thought I would give these outstanding ladies a shout out. They are both stellar examples of what Wellesley's academic environment can lead to.

•  I ran into Amanda Davis at a coffee shop in the Ronald Reagan Building. Amanda recognized my Babson water bottle and we struck up a conversation. She was also new to the U.S. Global Development Lab (“the Lab”). I attended a Lab Access training with her. Lab Access is a day-long Lab-specific new employee orientation. Amanda recently started in Strategy and Operations on the Center for Global Solutions team. Interestingly enough, she participated in Wellesley French Department’s study abroad program in Provence. I took a special interest in our French connection as I took three French courses at Wellesley. Amanda graduated from Wellesley in 2011 in Political Science and Religion.
• Chayva Lehrman worked a few cubicles away from me before my team moved offices in mid-June. Chayva was a Program Assistant and Communications Lead on the Research Partnerships for Development team. She recently transitioned to being the Special Assistant to the Higher Education Coordinator at USAID. Chayva graduated from Wellesley in 2011 as well. Her degree was in Middle Eastern Studies and Linguistics & Cognitive Science. I missed Amanda and Chavya by a few months as I began studying at Babson in August of 2011.

In other BOW-related summer happenings, I learned my boss's boss grew up in Wellesley, MA. He knew Roger Babson who paid him to memorize and recite Bible verses. I was able to connect with Babson Professor Stephen Deets in Washington, D.C. Four years earlier in my second semester at Babson, Professor Deets interviewed me for Babson's Honors Program to which I was accepted. Professor Deets connected me to a Babson Alumni, Jacklyn Lussier, who earned a Master in Public Policy from Georgetown's prestigious School of Foreign Service. It was especially significant to me to meet a Babson Alum who used her graduate degree to pursue a non-business subject in public policy.

Left: My boss' boss, Dave Ferguson, sports a decorated "Lab-coat" at the All-Lab Retreat. I helped to decorate the coat. Upper Right: The entire Lab rallies around the two remaining finalists of the classic rock-paper-scissors tournament at the All-Lab Retreat. Lower Right: I shared a happy hour with Honors Program proponents, Babson Professor Stephen Deets and Jacklyn Lussier BS '09.

What is USAID?

Prior to my internship, many questions about the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) lingered. Some sources cited examples of well-intended development projects with adverse results. By reading Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains, an account of Paul Farmer's public health work in Haiti, I learned about the eradication and failed repopulation of Haiti's peasant pigs to which USAID was a party. In my Introduction to Anthropology course at Babson College, one author painted USAID as an arm of the CIA and U.S. State Department. The author claimed that USAID covertly funneled money and military supplies to Laotian rebel groups (Quincy, 2000). 

Despite some news stories, I am happy to say that I did not sense any sort of political agenda in my work. I can only attest to the earnest, one-pointed interest of my colleagues in implementing the most effective development programs. To further clarify the role of USAID and to provide context for my work in the U.S. Global Development Lab, I feel it is important to share the founding story and history of this federal agency whose aim is to end extreme poverty.

• International aid from the U.S. began with the Marshal Plan of 1948. This program focused on rebuilding infrastructure, strengthening economies, and stabilizing the political climate of the region.
• A few months later in 1949, U.S. President Harry Truman announced a technical assistance program for developing countries, the Four Point Plan. (Assistance to developing countries came as the fourth point in Truman’s inauguration speech. Interesting fact: the main conference room in the USAID offices at the Ronald Reagan Building is called the Four Points Conference Room.) Implementation for the Four Points Plan came under the responsibility of the U.S. State Department as USAID did not exist yet.
• It was not until 1961 under President John F. Kennedy that USAID was formed by the Foreign Assistance Act. Funding for foreign assistance ballooned. In many countries where USAID worked, Official Development Assistance (ODA) represented a substantial percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This is interesting to note because USAID has had to adapt the way it works as ODA becomes an increasingly small percentage of GDP in developing countries.
• Since its creation, the Agency has changed its focus to adapt to global trends: from filling basic human needs such as food and nutrition to stabilizing local currencies, from creating robust market economic systems to rebuilding governments, infrastructure, and civil society in the Middle East following the September 11^th terrorist attacks of 2001.
• Today, USAID works in 100 countries. USAID has offices called "missions" in U.S. embassies of stable, developing countries. The Agency typically has the most funding at US Government embassies. The USAID budget request for 2016 is $22.3 billion or approximately one percent of the federal budget.

USAID is a unique, well-funded unilateral entity which has local staff in the majority of the countries it works in. These factors make USAID a key partner and thought leader in the international development arena. In fact, foreign international development agencies often co-fund USAID programs because of the Agency's trail-blazing work. For instance, my team managed the Securing Water for Food Grand Challenge for Development which was co-funded by the development agencies of Sweden, the Netherlands, and South Africa.

More facts about USAID.

Plugging In: Networking as a D.C. Transplant

Washington, D.C. is a city which works in networks. Events, fellowships, jobs, and opportunities are circulated in networks through newsletters, email lists, agency announcements, contacts forwarding opportunities to other contacts, employee resources groups publicizing opportunities to their members, etc. As I realized, the more people who knew my interests and passions, the more opportunities I would learn of. Fortunately, I had colleagues at USAID who helped me to plug into D.C.'s best newsletters and networking habits. Here are some strategies which I found to be effective in meeting great people, retaining their contact information, and following up after our initial meeting.

• I subscribed to a dozen newsletters. Newsletters of organizations, think tanks, and embassies were an excellent way for me to learn about things to do after work. These venues often had free food and drinks, intellectually engaging programs, and interesting attendees. On specific newsletters, LinkTank was an excellent comprehensive list of lectures, conferences, and networking events in D.C. BrightestYoungThings was a wonderful source of guidance to D.C.'s best coffee houses, brunch spots, and outdoor movies. The Center for Global Development, a D.C. think tank, often held movie screenings related to international development. I learned of many francophile events through the newsletter of the French Embassy. I also joined the Babson College Washington, D.C. Alumni Facebook Group which enabled me to connect with young local alumni and a Babson Professor, Stephen Dietz.
• I gave others my business card. At first, I thought business cards would only come in use when someone asked for my contact information. As an intern at the bottom of the D.C. food-chain, I did not see this happening very often. However, I found that if I provided other people with my business card I could get their contact information without the awkwardly explicit question, "Can I have your contact information?" I felt especially intimidated asking for the contact information from high ranking professionals, so here is what I did. If I met someone interesting at an event, I would circle back as I was leaving and say, "I enjoyed meeting you. I would love to stay in touch." Extending my business card, I was amazed to see the other person reach into their pocket and provide me with their card. It worked just like magic!
• I joined employee resource groups. I participated in the Young Professionals @USAID group and GLIFAA. These two groups led me to amazing opportunities meeting other young people in international affairs organizations. In the month of June, GLIFAA connected me to a wide range of Pride events at the State Department, the Foreign Service Institute, and the Millenium Challenge Corporation. I always looked forward to GLIFAA events as there were always a large number of foreign service officers in attendance. I dreamed of being a diplomat in high school.
• I asked others to meet for coffee. As the USAID internship was my first in an office environment, the concept of asking someone to meet for coffee was foreign to me. However, the first mentor I found in D.C. recommended this as the single most effective way to network in Washington. I found that meeting for coffee was the best way for me to follow up on a connection I made at work or at a networking event. Meeting for coffee also allowed me to share a conversation with more senior managers at USAID. During these meetings, I was able to spend 30-40 minutes learning about another's careers, how long he or she waited between their bachelors and masters, and anything he or she would do differently in his or her career. 'Meeting for coffee' was actually institutionalized by USAID's Global Development Lab. In the Lab, I was able to sign up for a randomized coffee program that matched me with a different USAID Lab employee every week.

Upper Left: Deputy Secretary Higginbottom introduces a panel of foreign LGBT activists at the Department of State Pride Celebration. Mid-Left: A panel discussion on the Transatlantic Trade Partnership hosted by the McCain Institute. Lower-Left: Members of the USAID young professionals group and I at a free Friday jazz concert at the National Sculpture Garden. Upper-Right: A film screening about one body removal team in Liberia at the Center for Global Development. Lower Right: A panel of senior Foreign Service Officers of the State Department and USAID talking about the progress for LGBT officers over the years. In years past, FSOs which were suspected of non-heterosexuality could loose their security clearance and subsequently their jobs.

Higher Education Solutions Network

I was able to work at USAID for the summer of 2015 through a specific internship program of the Higher Education Solutions Network (HESN). HESN is a group of universities which the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) supports and collaborates with. My HESN Lab, the International Development Innovation Network (IDIN) at MIT, is one of eight university partners of USAID. The HESN team at USAID supported a robust group of 14 interns during the summer. 

While many interns worked on teams within the U.S. Global Development Lab (“The Lab”), interns also worked on teams in the Bureau for Economic Growth, Education, and the Environment (E3), the Bureau for Food Security, Asia Bureau, and the Global Health Bureau. We interns stayed connected during the summer through a professional development series which the HESN team at USAID organized. The HESN team created opportunities to meet and converse with leaders at USAID and outside of the Agency such as:

• Ann Mei Chang, the Executive Director of the U.S. Global Development Lab at USAID. Ann Mei was previously a Senior Engineering Director at Google before she led the Lab at USAID.
• Dave Ferguson, the Director of the Center for Development Innovation (CDI) at USAID. Dave was a corporate entrepreneur at AT&T in Asia before he led CDI at USAID. Interestingly enough, Dave grew up in Wellesley, Massachusetts where Babson College is located. Dave remembers Roger Babson, Babson College's founder, who paid him to memorize and recite bible verses as a child.
• Ticora Jones, the Division Chief of the Higher Education Solutions Network. Ticora was a classically trained engineer from MIT who came to USAID through a AAAS Fellowship. 
• Kristi Ragan, the Chief of Party for the Center for Development Innovation at DAI, a contractor supporting the Lab. Kristi is one of the most well-connected people in the international development arena. She was a peace corps volunteer twice.

We interns had the opportunity to learn about the wide spectrum of career opportunities and entry points into international development. We met and heard the stories of Presidential Management Fellows, AAAS Fellows, Foreign Service Officers, and Civil Service Officers.

Upper Left: The summer of 2015 HESN interns gather with Ann Mei Chang, the Executive Director of the Lab. Upper Right: A group of USAID interns join forces for a the classic egg-drop ice breaker. Lower Left: The first HESN professional development meeting in the Nelson Mandela room in the Ronald Reagan Building. Lower Right: Me with fellow interns from MIT and William & Mary having coffee with Ticora Jones, the Division Chief of HESN.