Hey everyone,
So everything’s good here. I’ve really been focusing on integrating into my community and networking, so I can draw resources and projects in to help address the multifarious needs of my area. In the world of developmental aid, who you know is everything. The good thing is that the circles are pretty small and not that hard to break into. Having professional experience, and showing some insight, is all you really need to be taken seriously. Everyone I’ve met thus far has been extremely helpful in offering advice, and opening up opportunities for me to take advantage of on behalf of my community and key individuals that I’m helping.
I have a really exciting update on an exchange program proposal I wrote almost two months ago for USAID. A little background: I had met the Cross-Cutting Program Manager for USAID when senior USAID personnel came and presented to all the PCVs in-country during a training seminar on their current initiatives and things happening on a policy-level in-country. After the presentation, I introduced myself to several of the presenters and exchanged contact info. On further follow-up, I was invited to submit my ideas for an exchange program by the Corss-Cutting Program Manager, Yeva. The proposal I submitted for the exchange program, centered on the tourism industry.
To better communicate business and organizational ideas in practical terms, the program will connect entrepreneurs and business leaders who are positioned to capitalize on Armenia’s burgeoning tourism industry in an interactive dialogue with American counterpart organizations, associations, businesses and entrepreneurs in advancing, improving and expanding opportunities within Armenia through a transfer of knowledge, skills and attitudes apropos the tourism trade. The program will focus on enhancing performance on a personal, professional and organizational level.
By engaging a cross-section of the tourism business community in situations where they’re encouraged to interact with people from outside their usual social patterns and professional associations there will be great momentum for inspiring personal and professional understanding through group study, having engaged them in a thoughtful process concerning pursuits and goals they have in common – in this instance, capitalizing on the tourism industry. By introducing diversity into otherwise familiar community scenarios and business situations, this cross-section of entrepreneurs and business leaders will be exposed to new perspectives, ideas and strategies, as well as different concerns and obstacles from those that they may have yet faced, all while addressing issues that have an overall commonality as well as a personal and professional relevance.
The Tourism Community Exchange Program: Entrepreneurial Enterprise will focus on garnering individuals from the business arena who are in positions to not only appreciate and utilize the experience, but translate their Entrepreneurial Enterprise Exchange experience for others within their home community through leadership, communication and facilitation.
Currently the Armenian tourism business community lacks practiced knowledge in: (1) how to capitalize on tourism effectively and efficiently, (2) how to better provide for the industry and cultivate a positive and marketable tourism product, (3) how to communicate the benefits of the community to its current and prospective consumer markets, (4) how to approach tourism in a holistic manner, as seen as an asset that is to be managed, cultivated and provided for, and (5) how to collaborate across business-groups within the tourism industry to address issues that have an overall commonality.
The exchange program will focus on key issues in the tourism trade on a business and community level. Group projects, case studies, interactive learning and dialogue will help participating individuals learn to approach tourism matters through collaborative efforts, and learn the benefits of cooperation.
Anyway, back to it – the proposal was approved by the ACG committee. Project Harmony will be the contractor implementing the project and I’ll be working with them to flush out the details for implementation. I’m really excited about that.
Also, the marketing project for the Sevan Newspaper, underwritten by Eurasia Foundation, was finished and presented to the director of the paper and Eurasia staff. The feedback was very positive, and I’ll be helping with the implementation of the plan soon. I also gave an interview to the Sevan Newspaper and will be featured in an upcoming feature article – so that’s pretty cool.
I also have a meeting with the Competitive Armenian Private Sector (CAPS) tourism team on Wednesday of this coming week, at their offices in Yerevan. We’ll be discussing some ideas I have for tourism development within my community, as well as past successes and failures of CAPS within other communities around Armenia, that I might be able to learn from in creating a vision for the Sevan tourism “product.” I’m really excited about this meeting, and what I’ll be able to learn from the experiences of the people at CAPS. I got the meeting set-up through a chance encounter with the CAPS Chief of Party at a tourism expo I was attending. He was very gracious in setting this up and I’ll look forward to updating you all on the outcomes.
I’m also getting ready to start designing some marketing collaterals for a wonderful organization based out of Gyumri, which is the second largest city in Armenia. The Gyumri Information Technology Center, or GITC, was established in August of 2005. It’s a 2-year post-graduate program with a market driven curriculum. They have two main programs, one focusing on Hardware Design and Software Development and then one in Web Technologies. Their first class had 100% job placement – so amazing!!! The model they’re utilizing is really effective; they have a teaching faculty taken from top Armenian Universities and IT companies, drawn mainly from the capital. They’re basically adjuncts, and are driven in on a rotating schedule, 6 days per week for 10 academic hours per day. The objectives of the organization are to promote IT industry expansion from Yerevan out into the Northern region of the country, drive the formation of an IT infrastructure in the Northern region, promote employment opportunities in the Northern region, prepare qualified IT professionals to work in a production environment, train the work force coming out of their programs with a “Western-minded” business mentality (time = value = money), and finally, bring e-Readiness to the Gyumri area. Their Executive Director is a really dynamic woman, and I’m excited to help her raise funds with this new marketing push. They’re in a real crunch to meet budget needs, and I’m going to do what I can.
On a personal level, I’m getting ready for winter. We had three feet of snow the other day – I’m breaking in my shat-tak-e duds. I’ve busted my ass a few times on the ice here, it’s a serious challenge to get to work without eating mud-slush-tar-gunk at least a few times on the way. I’ve started wearing my Yak-Tracks and it’s mid-November. Yikes.
And my birthday is almost here - November 18th. I’ll be in the capital for an all-volunteer conference, so I have that to look forward to.
What else…I guess that’s it for now – I’ve got a lot of other things going on, but I’ll save that for my next post. Hope all is well for you guys, and I’ll update again soon.
And I just want to say thanks again to the guys over there at Rassai Interactive for making all this possible (www.rassai.com)!!!
-Dietrich
