Daily Archives: February 19, 2020

Snapshot: OFDA’S Percent of Disaster Declarations Responded to Within 72 Hours

February 19, 2020 By in Disasters, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Assistance, Realities of the FS, State Department, Trends, U.S. Missions, USAID Tags: , , , , ,

 

Via State Department FY 2018 Annual Performance Report | FY 2020 Annual Performance Plan
(PDF/p.171)

Performance Goal 3.4.6: Humanitarian Assistance Performance Goal Statement:

By 2022, the United States will increase the timeliness and effectiveness of responses to U.S. government-declared international disasters, responding to 95 percent of disaster declarations within 72 hours and reporting on results. (USAID) Performance Goal Overview/Progress Update The Joint Strategic Plan (JSP) explains that the Department and USAID will support needs based humanitarian assistance through multi-sectoral programs that provide relief from crises, conflicts, and natural disasters. Collaboration with donors and host countries will help identify solutions to displacement, protect populations at risk, reduce the risk of disasters, and foster resilience. USAID/OFDA is the U.S. Government’s lead federal coordinator for international disaster response. The Office’s mandate is to save lives, alleviate human suffering, and reduce the social and economic impacts of disasters worldwide. Responding efficiently to disasters is critical for USAID/OFDA to implement its mandate. As such, this PG aims to ensure that USAID/OFDA continues to respond to disasters rapidly and efficiently.

Key Indicator: Percent of disaster declarations responded to within 72 hours

Indicator Analysis The above figures provide a summary of USAID/OFDA’s immediate responses to new disaster declarations only, as measured by the release of a disaster response cable or submission of an email response with fund cite information within 72 hours of a disaster declaration cable’s circulation; the figures do not take into account disaster redeclarations or adjustments to end-of year disaster response totals.

Note that two of the three delayed response cables in FY 2018 were for Sensitive But Unclassified (SBU) responses related to a politically sensitive complex emergency of high interest to the interagency. The sensitive political nature of these U.S. Government responses necessitated exceptional levels of intra-agency and interagency coordination, which created a lag in USAID/OFDA’s normal response timeframe. Had these delays not occurred, USAID/OFDA’s rate of response within 72 hours would have been 96 percent for FY 2018.

Indicator Methodology USAID/OFDA will source data from 1) an internal program-management database that keeps a record of official cables; 2) Senior Management Team notification of the deployment of a Disaster-Assistance Response Team or the activation of another assistance team; and 3) Information Support Unit records of a disaster declaration. Document review will provide the needed information.

@StateDept’s HR Bureau Rebrands as Bureau of Global Talent Management

February 19, 2020 By in Ambassadors, Foreign Service, Leadership and Management, State Department, Top Ranks, Trends Tags: , , , ,

 

The Director General of the Foreign Service Carol Perez marked the start of her second year as DGHR by announcing the rebranding of the Bureau of Human Resources into the Bureau of Global Talent Management (GTM).

Somebody notes that the name sounds like “a second-rate modeling agency.”

And how do you pronounce the new acronym … “Get’um”? “Git’um”? “Get’m”?

Apparently, DGHR Perez has previously  mentioned during a bureau town hall that the Global Talent Management “better captures the scope and strategic nature” of the  Bureau’s work.  Always great, great when you add the word “strategic” into the fray, makes everything so strategic.  It supposedly also makes two essential features clear — that the bureau is  a global operation, with over 270 posts in over 190 countries around the world, and that the bureau is in “the talent business”, that is, “recruiting, hiring, retaining and cultivating the best people for the mission.”
We were hoping to hear what happens after “cultivating the best people for the mission” but we were disappointed, of course.
She tells her folks: “I know change is never easy, and I don’t expect it to take place overnight. All of the logistics that go into a name change are being executed in-house. This not only saves resources, but also ensures that the effort is led by those who know the bureau best—our own employees. However, it also means that the full roll-out will be gradual. An ALDAC and Department Notice announcing the name change to the wider workforce will go out later this week, but the full transition will be ongoing. I ask for your patience as signage and digital platforms are updated.”
Why is the HR bureau rebranding? The purported reason being “human resources is a critical bureau function, but not the Bureau’s sole function.”  The DGHR says that “the name “Bureau of Human Resources” no longer represents the full scope of our work, and it lags behind current industry standards. This is one small yet symbolic piece of the Department’s larger efforts to modernize.”
Don’t worry, while HR is not the Bureau’s sole function, it remains an integral part of the bureaus work so there will be no/no change in job titles with one exception. Human Resources Officers (HROs) will not/not become Global Talent Officers  (GTOs) and HR Specialists will not/not become Global Talent Specialists. The one exception is the DGHR. Her full title will be Director General of the Foreign Service (DGHR) and now also Director of Global Talent (DGT). 
The full rollout apparently will be gradual and will include updating signage, updating the digital platforms, e-mail signature blocks, and vocabularies.  Folks should be in the lookout for the Strategic (MY.THAT.WORD. AGAIN) Communications Unit (SCU); it will be sending around a checklist, style guide, and templates so everyone can start living loudly under the new brand.
A few bureau offices will also change their names:
HR/REE (Office of Recruitment, Examination, and Employment) will now be known as Talent Acquisition (GTM/TAC).
HR/RMA (Office of Resource Management and Organization Analysis) should now be called  Organization and Talent Analytics (GTM/OTA).
HR/SS  (Office of Shared Services)  will now be known as Talent Services (GTM/TS).
The announcement makes clear that this is not/not a reorganization and there will also be no/no change in core functions!
So they’re changing the bureau’s name and a few offices names, but everything else stays the same. Yay!
The new name is a “symbolic piece” that will make folks think of the department’s “modernization.”
Yay!Yay!
Makes a lot of sense, really. Of all the problems facing the Foreign Service these days, a bureau’s rebranding  should be on top of it. Change is never easy, so go slow, people, make sure the logos, signage and new paint job are done right.

 

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