Touching the Lives of Many, Told Through the Eyes of One
5 Oct 2008
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“How does change occur?” asked Nahla Al Taie, eyes fixed on her audience of colleagues from Iraq’s Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), engaging first one and then another. “Start making decisions, open lines of communications, and positive changes will take place.”
These keys not only helped forty-year-old Taie, a senior level manager at the MoA, unlock her own potential, but her experience at a Leadership and Communication focus group also enabled her to help fellow MoA colleagues. The event, organized through the USAID-funded National Capacity Development (NCD) Program, Tatweer, brought together certified trainers who then go on to train others from its Leadership and Communication pillar to meet and share case studies of success.
Tatweer (Arabic for “development”), builds national capacity in public management in an effort to train public servants to become effective leaders in organizational communication. Leadership and Communications is one of its core areas,. Working in cooperation with the Government of Iraq’s National Center for Consultancy and Management Development (NCCMD), Tatweer helped to develop a unified national training curriculum designed to strengthen and expand the professional skills, qualifications, and capabilities of civil servants in critical areas of public administration.
As facilitators, Taie and her training colleagues from the MoA, all senior-level managers, deliver courses within Tatweer’s ten cooperating national ministries as well as within the Prime Minister’s Office and the Council of Ministries. To date, 967 MoA employees throughout Iraq have been trained in Leadership and Communications by the trainers.
The morning after a long journey to Baghdad from the southern Iraq city of Basra, where she had been teaching at one of the MoA’s offices, Taie was eager to share her experiences putting her training into action. Taie discussed how she recognized the need for change in the MoA’s Finance and Administration departments. She began by asking each person in those departments to create their own job descriptions, illustrating their work and responsibilities. When her supervisor, the director general -- a senior manager of a number of departments -- read these descriptions, he invited Taie to recommend changes. She advised him to reorganize the departments to improve work flow and outcomes.
“I did not want to miss an opportunity to put my plans into action,” Taie said. She also recommended the MoA provide Leadership and Communications training for its employees. Her boss accepted all of her suggestions, and they began to implement her plan.
Taie attributes higher morale and increased productivity as a direct result of the training workshops. “This process would have taken a year at least and we got it done in just two months!” boasted Taie, still a bit surprised that all of her suggestions were put into action. “I think the end result was a win-win for everyone.”
Taie is already working on her next project to train employees of the MoA’s animal production projects throughout Iraq to better assess market demands. She knows that improving the skills of the employees will enable them to better identify solutions for increasing production according to the actual needs of Iraqis.
In recognition of her achievements, the unstoppable Nahla al Taie has been promoted to head of the MoA Information and Training Department in Basrah. As a facilitator for Tatweer’s Leadership and Communications, she has trained over 400 people throughout Iraq. .
These keys not only helped forty-year-old Taie, a senior level manager at the MoA, unlock her own potential, but her experience at a Leadership and Communication focus group also enabled her to help fellow MoA colleagues. The event, organized through the USAID-funded National Capacity Development (NCD) Program, Tatweer, brought together certified trainers who then go on to train others from its Leadership and Communication pillar to meet and share case studies of success.
Tatweer (Arabic for “development”), builds national capacity in public management in an effort to train public servants to become effective leaders in organizational communication. Leadership and Communications is one of its core areas,. Working in cooperation with the Government of Iraq’s National Center for Consultancy and Management Development (NCCMD), Tatweer helped to develop a unified national training curriculum designed to strengthen and expand the professional skills, qualifications, and capabilities of civil servants in critical areas of public administration.
As facilitators, Taie and her training colleagues from the MoA, all senior-level managers, deliver courses within Tatweer’s ten cooperating national ministries as well as within the Prime Minister’s Office and the Council of Ministries. To date, 967 MoA employees throughout Iraq have been trained in Leadership and Communications by the trainers.
The morning after a long journey to Baghdad from the southern Iraq city of Basra, where she had been teaching at one of the MoA’s offices, Taie was eager to share her experiences putting her training into action. Taie discussed how she recognized the need for change in the MoA’s Finance and Administration departments. She began by asking each person in those departments to create their own job descriptions, illustrating their work and responsibilities. When her supervisor, the director general -- a senior manager of a number of departments -- read these descriptions, he invited Taie to recommend changes. She advised him to reorganize the departments to improve work flow and outcomes.
“I did not want to miss an opportunity to put my plans into action,” Taie said. She also recommended the MoA provide Leadership and Communications training for its employees. Her boss accepted all of her suggestions, and they began to implement her plan.
Taie attributes higher morale and increased productivity as a direct result of the training workshops. “This process would have taken a year at least and we got it done in just two months!” boasted Taie, still a bit surprised that all of her suggestions were put into action. “I think the end result was a win-win for everyone.”
Taie is already working on her next project to train employees of the MoA’s animal production projects throughout Iraq to better assess market demands. She knows that improving the skills of the employees will enable them to better identify solutions for increasing production according to the actual needs of Iraqis.
In recognition of her achievements, the unstoppable Nahla al Taie has been promoted to head of the MoA Information and Training Department in Basrah. As a facilitator for Tatweer’s Leadership and Communications, she has trained over 400 people throughout Iraq. .
Categorization
Topic
- Leadership and Communications
News Type
- Press Release