Project Coordination - Buchanan

Buchanan street scene

December 16, 2005

As predicted I had a very quiet and peaceful Christmas - for which I'm grateful because responsibilities have now landed quite firmly on my shoulders.
One or two loyal and curious readers have asked what my new job involves. Therefore I present this summary.

I am the Project Coordinator for Merlin in Buchanan, Liberia. I finally took over from my predecessor yesterday, as such I am now referred to by my staff variously as "Bravo-1", "Tom Plus Fifteen Letters" and "Hey you". I haven't received a job description yet but if I adapt the one I had for the town of Harper, where I expected to be posted, I get this:

• Supervision of Buchanan field base;


• Project management based on project proposal, budgets and donor regulations;


• Overall co-ordination of logistics, finance, administration and HR;


• Reporting – internal to Merlin, and external to donors ;


• Representation & liaison with local authorities, NGOs & International Donors;
  Programme development ;


• Security monitoring and management;


• Financial control.
  

I have two main projects and one minor one. One big one is support of the Liberia Government Hospital here in Buchanan. While Merlin only 'advises' we do so with quite a bit of authority because we entirely subsidize all the staff salaries and we pay for all the drugs and other costs. The other main project I manage is Merlin's support for 10 Primary Health Centres around Grand Bassa County, Liberia (for which Buchanan is the capital). Technically I also manage a small project that is constructing a surrounding wall, outpatient clinic and X-Ray laboratory at the hospital grounds.

See my last post for some spiteful comparisons between this job and my last one.

I'm happy to be here - as much for any other reason as because I can finally unpack all my bags. Since I left Kabul on October 8 I've slept in the following places, (plus some overnight flights) none of which were my own (although most were extremely lovely):

Delhi, India
Srinagar, India
Two overnight Indian trains
Bhairawa, Nepal
Kathmandu, Nepal
Delhi, India
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Ottawa, Canada
Two nights on a train to Kamloops, Canada
Penticton, Canada
Overnight train to Vancouver, Canada
Seattle, USA
Richland, USA
Overnight train to St. Paul, USA
Mankato, USA
Overnight train to Albany, USA
Albany USA
Montreal, Canada
Ottawa, Canada
London, UK
Monrovia, Liberia (two different beds)
Buchanan, Liberia
Monrovia, Liberia
Buchanan, Liberia
Monrovia, Liberia ...and now I'm settled in Buchanan (except I may be moving rooms next week!!!