During the summer of 2015 I had the opportunity to work in the nation's capital in one of USAID's most innovative international water and agriculture projects: Securing Water for Food (SWFF). As part of the SWFF Technical Assistance Facility team, I developed strategy documents addressing common problems faced by water and agriculture innovators in developing economies, analyzed information across scientific and policy sectors, created and delivered presentations and developed a framework for an innovator needs diagnostic tool – an intake evaluation instrument to assess the needs and opportunities of water and agriculture innovators.
A Pathway to Global Service: "Securing Water for Food (SWFF): A Grand Challenge for Development helps farmers around the world grow more food using less water, enhance water storage, and improve the use of saline water and soil to produce food by ensuring that the entrepreneurs and scientists behind groundbreaking new approaches are getting the support they need to apply and expand their solutions around the world" My involvement in the Securing Water for Food project allowed me to learn a lot about the challenges that many communities around the world face and how crucial it is to support innovations and research to create solutions for water access. This type of international work has a very strong global service component: even though I was not directly working inside the communities in Africa, India and Latin America where SWFF operates, from my office in DC I conducted work that directly impacted them. It was one of the most rewarding and meaningful work I have done and the interactions and experiences I had led me to be inspired to work in international development as a scientist. Some of the tasks/projects accomplished: • Assisted the Acceleration Facilitator, Monitoring & Evaluation Portfolio Manager, and Grants & Financial Manager with addressing common problems that businesses face in developing economies. This involved analyzing strategies to adapt current agriculture and water management practices around the globe to the pressures of climate change. • Managed information across scientific and policy sectors and created policy documents and presentations. This work enhanced stakeholder understanding of the environmental pressures that the 20 countries in our portfolio face and that represent threats to their water and food security. • Analyzed and created public outreach documents, including newsletters, speeches, and social media posts to keep the community in D.C and the communities in the 20 developing countries in the SWFF portfolio engaged with our projects. • Created a framework for an innovator needs diagnostic tool – an intake evaluation instrument that can assess the SWFF innovators’ markets, competitive advantage, product differentiation, supply chain, brand, reputation, partners, leadership, current investor activity and changes associated with funding. Leadership and Professional Competencies Developed: • Strategic Planning • Civic Responsibility • Group Dynamics • Communications and Digital Marketing • Proposal Development • Public Speaking |