The official booting out

I finally found out today from our HR department - and that took a while! - that my contract would not be extended beyond the end of 2012.

HR to Jacqui: "What we have been told is that the Programme cannot afford international positions now and 5 Juba positions out of the 15 normally in the structure have been made redundant, including both WASH positions. Your position in Juba was among those phased out, and from the look of things, when your contract ends at the end of December, it will not be renewed."

Boo!

I kinda guessed it, and in many ways I don't think I would have agreed to extending anyway, but I've got mixed feelings about it - I'm excited to go home, and I'm frustrated and tired, but it would be nice to see out the current WASH project into which I've put a lot of time and energy.
Our organisation is going through a process of cost cutting - due to South Sudan being the most expensive Oxfam operation in all 75 countries that we work in around the world! Woah! It figures... inflation is massive, we're doing an emergency WASH operation for refugees near the border, transporting masses of materials up there (sometimes flying them directly from Oxford - what the?!) by plane and barge (expensive!), flying people in and out on leave and short-term contracts... etc etc. Plus we have a very expensive operating environment for our head office in Juba - which is only a support office, and isn't implementing any programs in country. We are paying a lot of rent (someone told me $30,000/month for an office and 2 guesthouses) to house staff there. So Juba is being targeted for a bit of slashing across the board.

On top of that, there are international staff that are more expensive to keep. Like me. And our Livelihoods coordinator. And our Deputy Country Director (whose position is rather redundant within our structure). We have higher costs for lodging and transport, and higher salaries generally

So, we're all going. And being replaced by South Sudanese staff.

Which is great - we should be building the capacity of national staff and putting them in more senior roles so they gain the knowledge and experience of managing staff and programs within a well-known NGO. But ... where ARE all of these qualified South Sudanese? There hasn't been a functional education system in this country for a loooong time ... if ever. People may have been educated in Uganda or Kenya, perhaps in a refugee camp somewhere, but this level of education is far from suitable for the type of staff they're looking for. Some have worked in government, or in NGOs previously, but the calibre of people we're seeking is really lacking.

We couldn't recruit a project manager for our Rumbek Public Health program, despite three attempts. So how are we going to find a South Sudanese to take on my technical advisor role, or other more technical roles?  The other thing that makes me concerned is that with my departure, there are no technical WASH people in the country program - besides those working on the emergency, who have their hands rather full up there in Maban. Our previous WASH Coordinator in Juba did not make it past his 3 month probation; he just wasn't good enough.

And lastly, they're not retaining me at a crucial time in our project, with only three months remaining. The bulk of the work is yet to be completed, but they're not keeping me on to assist the team to implement it. Despite repeated questions from both myself and our program manager, which have fallen on deaf ears, my contract is simply not being renewed. The team can do it, but technical assistance is definitely required. Our project manager is trying his best - and is doing ok - but he's essentially a Public Health Promoter doing a job beyond his capability.

There will also be no handing over of my role to anyone. Normally you'd have a Jacqui replacement recruited a few weeks before she left, to work together with her and learn the ropes. Now there's just going to be a big gap. Until they recruit someone. If they actually do; and I'm worried they won't.

I have also invested a lot of my time and effort into this project, and so have my team. I enjoy working with them, and I feel it would be a good thing to finish the project together with them. I almost feel like a bit of deserter, and while they'll *hopefully* get it all done, they will need as much help as possible to achieve it. But I can't do anything about it. Kinda frustrating.

So: I have around a month remaining before I go home for Xmas ... and I'm going to enjoy every last minute of it.