Over fifty years ago, Iraq began sending its top engineering graduates to study abroad with the idea they would return home and lead the oil industry. Hussain Aziz was one of these students. He then returned to Iraq and began his career at the Daura refinery in 1969. It was his first job in Iraq’s storied oil industry.
In November 2008, he returned to the refinery again with a unique mission. As a USAID/ Tatweer program advisor, he paired Daura’s top engineers with program mentors to share project management knowledge and learn the latest in international best practices. The project idea is not unlike the opportunity Iraq gave Hussain Aziz as a young engineer. Although Iraqis can no longer leave their country easily, they still have a great desire to improve the energy sector, prompting the Director General of Midlands Refinery to request USAID/ Tatweer’s assistance in mentoring.
“Daura has a prestigious location in the capital,” Aziz said. “It supplies fuels to all of Baghdad’s gasoline stations and provides a specific fuel line from Daura to Baghdad Airport. The insurgents tried to isolate Daura because they knew its strategic importance. Being in Baghdad, a lot of industries were built around Daura. In this way it represents the stability of the country.”
But the retirement age for many of Daura’s top engineers is fast approaching. “The people with experience are due for retirement, and if we lose them, they will be very difficult to replace,” Aziz said. USAID/ Tatweer addressed the retirement age issue at the refinery by creating an active learning program through mentoring and improving systems. In November 2008, thirteen new and five experienced engineers selected by the refinery’s training department, participated in the first of a series of interactive workshops at the Program’s Karada compound. Engineers with all levels of experience, from recent university graduates to procurement managers, shared their concerns and insights on how to improve key aspects of project management at Daura. Two more groups of engineers participated in subsequent deliveries of the workshop series.
“Tatweer has helped in many ways,” said Director General, Dathar Al-Khashab, “I have a letter from one of the members of Tatweer’s new project manager workshops asking me to gather their information for a follow-up task, which shows they’re already using their knowledge here at the refinery.”
“We need to get in touch with the best international companies,” said Ahmed, a young engineering participant. “We want to be in touch with the world.”
As for Mr. Aziz’s perspective on returning to help his countrymen, “I’m only repaying (Iraq) for the opportunity it gave me,” he said.
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Mr. Hussain Aziz greets the new generations of engineers at Daura.
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