WASHINGTON, D.C. - In recognition ofCreative Associates International Inc.'sexpanding expertise in governance, theU.S. Agency for International Developmenthas awarded the Elections and PoliticalProcesses Indefinite Quantity Contract toa Creative Associates-led consortium.

Announced by USAID on Sept. 14, theIndefinite Quantity Contract (IQC), furthersolidifies Creative Associates' position indeveloping innovative programs to helpcountries establish credible electoral andpolitical processes.

“We've done a good deal of work in elec-tions support,” said M. Charito Kruvant,president and CEO of Creative AssociatesInternational Inc., a 26-year-old profes-sional services firm based in WashingtonD.C. with 16 offices worldwide. “Andwe're very honored and pleased to con-tinue to help build sustainable democ-racies through elections and politicalprocesses support.

“Free and fair elections and politicalprocesses are crucial steps toward sus-tainable democracy,” Mrs. Kruvant said.

This five-year IQC offers CreativeAssociates opportunities to assist USAIDmissions and offices seeking to imple-ment activities in support of electionadministration and observation, politicalparty development, civic education andcitizen participation, as well as supportfor local government, legislatures, andcivil society in pre- and post-electionsenvironments.

A leader in civil society strengthening andpost-conflict transitions, CreativeAssociates has developed innovative pro-grams in advocacy and coalition-building,organizational development and civic edu-cation and applied them to electoral and

political processes. Current activitiesinclude a radio-based civic educationcampaign in Haiti and support for thepeace process and civil society in Liberia.

In 2001, the firm was credited withhelping a broad range of Nicaraguanorganizations observe national elections,lending credibility to the process. Creativesupported electoral reform and legislativemodernization in El Salvador, and advoca-cy for democratic reforms in Serbia afterthe fall of Slobodan Milosevic in Serbiaand Montenegro.

In Peru, following the resignation ofPresident Alberto Fujimori, the firm sup-ported congressional and local govern-ment reform through a combined strategyof research and analysis, public aware-

USAID AWARDS CREATIVE ASSOCIATES ELECTIONSAND POLITICAL PROCESSES IQC

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Produced bbyCommunications and Media Development Unit

ContributorsAlia AfsharKim Mahling Clark Jeff GhannamDick McCallBronwen L. MorrisonAlexandra Pratt Noy VillalobosRichard WagnerThe EQuALLS Project

CREATIVE ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL INC

www.caii.com

Creative Associates International Inc., is a private,

professional services firm headquartered in

Washington, D.C. Since its inception in 1977,

Creative has assisted governments, communities,

NGOs, and private companies worldwide to lead

and manage change.

Local communities support the USAID/OTI Liberia Transition Initiative Accelerated Learning Program by providing local structures forclasses at Lutheran Youth Training Institute in Nyor, Liberia.

5301 Wisconsin Avenue, NWSuite 700Washington, DC 20015

To comment on articles or for more information write to:communications1@caii.com

SUMMER 2005 VOLUME 3, NUMBER 6A QUARTERLY PUBLICATIONSUMMER 2005 VOLUME 3, NUMBER 6A QUARTERLY PUBLICATION

Free and fair elections and political processes arecrucial steps towardsustainable democracy.”

M. Charito KruvantPresident and CEOCreative Associates

“

MINDANAO: Implementing A Standard Curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 2

SOUTHERN SUDAN: Town Planning Responds toUrgent Needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 3

IRAQ: TV Series Encourages PeacefulCoexistence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 4

ALBANIA: Sarah Stephens Says TraffickingPrevention Takes Root . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 5

LIBERIA: Life Skills Training for 4,000 Youths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 6

5 Questions with John Stuart Blackton, SeniorStrategic Advisor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 7

KENYA: Creative Associates EstablishesRegional Office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 8

IRAQ: Singing Praises of Operation Harmony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 9

New Faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 11

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

continued on page 9

Worldwide OOffices

AfghanistanAlbaniaBeninGuatemalaHaitiIraqJordan

KenyaLiberiaPanamaPhilippinesNigeriaUgandaSouthern Sudan

Casting a ballot in Iraq.

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NEW FACES IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

Thea Andersonjoins Creative'sEducation,Mobilization andCommunicationdivision as aManagementAssociate devotedto the

Afghanistan Primary EducationProgram. Thea brings years of profes-sional experience in project financeand administration, grant and con-tract management, and projectstartup and systems.

Most recently, she served as aDeputy Director and ProgramManager for Save the Children UK inAfghanistan, where she was theprimary liaison and negotiator withproject partners, the Afghan govern-ment, NGOs and international agen-cies. Before that, she was theDirector of Finance andAdministration for CHF Internationalin Iraq, where she managed all finan-cial, administrative, humanresources, and procurement aspectsof microfinance and USAID recon-struction programs valued at $ 61million in central and southern Iraq.

Thea's international experience alsoincludes Azerbaijan, DominicanRepublic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador,Guatemala, Honduras, Jordan,Lebanon, Mexico, Nicaragua,Romania, Serbia/ Montenegro andUzbekistan.

Thea received a bachelor's degree inAnthropology, Women's Studies andInternational Studies from GuilfordCollege in Greensboro, NorthCarolina; and a master's degree inInternational Education from HarvardUniversity in Cambridge,Massachusetts. She is highly profi-cient in Spanish and conversant inArabic.

Zelma Harrisonjoins Creative'sHumanResources Unitas Field HumanResourcesCoordinator.Zelma comes toCreative from

World Learning, where she served asa Senior Administrative Director sinceJanuary 2004.

Through her work at World Learning,Zelma brings valuable experience inthe area of human resources admin-istration. From January 2004 untilher arrival at Creative, she liaisedwith headquarters to provide humanresources support and service fornew and permanent employees, par-ticularly for procedures involvingrecruitment, termination and short-term contract hire. During this time,she was also responsible for securityand emergency preparedness proce-dures for three offices located inWashington, D.C.

Before that, Zelma served with thePeace Corps, as a rural developmentvolunteer in Guinea-Bissau, a deskofficer for East Africa, and finally asan administrative officer in Uganda.Her various positions with the PeaceCorps positioned her to train over-seas staff in a variety of finance-related topics, to oversee humanresources management and to act ascountry director for a limited time inUganda. Knowing what it takes towork successfully overseas, Zelmawill be working closely with our fieldpersonnel from her base at head-quarters.

Zelma received a bachelor's degreein political science from SpelmanCollege in Atlanta, Georgia, and amaster's degree in political sciencefrom the University of Chicago. She iscurrently working towards a secondmaster's degree in conflict analysisand resolution at George MasonUniversity in Alexandria, Virginia. Sheis fluent in Fulani, which belongs tothe Niger-Congo language family.

Natalie Topa joinsCreative'sCommunities inTransition divisionas a ProjectOfficer for theSudanParticipatoryTown Planning

Project. She will be based inRumbek, Southern Sudan and workdirectly with Richard Wagner, SudanProject Director.

Natalie brings valuable experiencesin community development andurban and regional planning toCreative. She recently served as aLong-Term Disaster Recovery/Community Development Specialistfor the Federal EmergencyManagement Agency, where she waspart of a multi-disciplinary effort todevelop a plan for sustainable, long-term disaster recovery in an agricul-tural community after the 2004 hurri-canes.

For the past 3 years, she has workedas an urban planner for EDAW, Inc. aleading international consultancy inurban planning and environmentaldesign. Her accomplishments includethe design of an urban regenerationplan for the City of Miami, whichfocused on the empowerment ofunder-represented minorities andlow-income communities, urbandesign, recreation, tourism, transitvillages, economic development andimplementation strategy.

Natalie received a master's degree inUrban and Regional Planning fromthe University of Colorado at Denverand a bachelor's degree in Sociologyand Human Services from Fort LewisCollege in Durango, Colorado. She isfluent in Spanish and proficient inPolish and French.

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EQuALLS: IMPLEMENTING A STANDARDCURRICULUM, HELPING MUSLIM STUDENTSACHIEVE ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

As millions of Filipino children andyouths returned to school toresume their studies of math,

science, English and Filipino lan-guage, about 92,000 others filed intoIslamic community schools where thecurriculum has, until recently, focusedexclusively on the study of the Koran,Islamic subjects and the Arabic lan-guage.

The Muslim community schools,called a madrasah or madaris (for theplural), vary in size and quality. Of theapproximately 1,100 that exist,several dozen are full-time learninginstitutions where the basic course ofstudy, up to the secondary level, takes12 years. Hundreds more are informalschools where students are taught fora few hours on weekends in suchmakeshift classrooms as a mosque, acommunity hall, or the exterior of avillage's Islamic scholar's home.

Although Islamic schools are found inmany areas of the country, includingurban centers like metropolitanManila and Cebu, the single largestnumber, some 440 madaris, arefound in the Autonomous Region inMuslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The Madaris, however, compelled bygovernment orders, are increasinglycomplying with the adoption of a stan-dard curriculum. The nation's leadingeducators, both religious and secular,are starting to appreciate the fact thatall students, whether attending amadrasah or a public school, deservea well-rounded basic education. Toomany youths in Muslim Mindanao aredenied quality basic educations,leading to deplorable consequencesincluding illiteracy, unemployment,poverty, frustration and despair.

“The aim is to have a [madrasah] cur-riculum that is relevant, total and bal-anced, in answer to the aspirations ofFilipinos who want to be goodMuslims and good citizens of theRepublic,” said Salipada Tamano,president of the National Federationof Associations of Madaris and aformer ARMM secretary of education.

In 2004, the issuance of ExecutiveOrder 13 of the office of the ARMMregional government andMemorandum Order 51 of theDepartment of Education, provided astandard curriculum for privately-oper-ated madaris, incorporating the

regular education subjects of English,math, science, Filipino and civics intothe traditional madrasah curriculum.

“Every country has a universal educa-tional system that serves as a basisfor national unity,” says ManarosBoransing, Undersecretary for MuslimAffairs in the Department ofEducation. “In this regard, the provi-sion of the standard curriculum is apositive development for madaris.”

The Department of Education is beingassisted in building the capacity ofmadaris to implement the standardcurriculum by donor organizations,including the U.S. Agency forInternational Development (USAID),and the Australia Agency forInternational Development (AusAID),which assisted in the preparation ofthe curriculum and training modulesin Department of Education subjectsfor the asatitha, or teachers, in Arabic.

A consultative workshop on the imple-mentation of the standard curriculumfor this school year recently was heldin Davao city by ARMM Department ofEducation officials, Islamic educators,and operators of private madaris, with

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Madrasah first-grade students at the Ma'ahad Mahwill Al-Irshadie in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao.

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Sudan has become home to one ofthe world's worst refugee crises.In southern Sudan alone, up to 4

million people are believed to be inter-nally displaced persons (IDPs) andrefugees, who were forced from theirhomes over 21 years of civil warbetween government troops and theSudan People's Liberation Army.

Now with the war's end, the internallydisplaced and other refugees aremigrating to southern Sudan's towns insearch of basic necessities to rebuildtheir lives. But many towns cannotaccommodate the influx of new resi-dents for lack of basics including roads,electricity, schools, health clinics andgovernment buildings.

But in a cooperative agreement withthe U. S. Agency for InternationalDevelopment, Creative AssociatesInternational Inc., is implementing theSudan Participatory Town PlanningProject, which uses satellite imagery tocreate digital maps of ten towns insouthern Sudan.

The project is modeled on a pilotproject that Creative implemented inpartnership with the United NationsDevelopment Programme in the interimcapital of Rumbek. The newly createdmaps will serve as centerpieces for thefuture allocation of government build-ings, roads, schools, hospitals, clinics,parks and neighborhoods. The projectalso provides a road map from whichthe development of community priori-ties can be visualized. Internationaldonors recently pledged $4.5 billion torebuild southern Sudan from scratch tohelp secure the peace and respond tothe needs for infrastructure. Thismapping exercise will be critical toavoiding problems in the rebuildingprocess.

The project facilitates the involvementof southern Sudanese through partici-patory urban planning which is part ofthe nascent nation's transition towardbuilding democratic processes.

In Nairobi, Kenya, for the first time, 20southern Sudanese are being trainedto survey and develop town plansincluding using satellite imagery anddigital mapping as part of the participa-tory town planning project that CreativeAssociates is implementing. The 20trainees, including five women, areemployees of the Secretariat ofPhysical Infrastructure and TownPlanning (SPITP), who are taking part inthe four-week workshop.

“In many ways, there's a critical andstrategic importance to town planning,”said Rich Wagner, Creative Associates'project director of the SudanParticipatory Town Planning Project.“First of all, there's a new governmentwhich is striving for legitimacy mainlyby effectively responding to the needsof its citizens, long accustomed to thedeprivation brought by the long years ofconflict. If [town planning] is done cor-rectly, in an open and transparentfashion, people within these communi-ties will feel confident that governmentis working to serve their interests.”

With southern Sudan on its way tobecoming an autonomous region, thetransfer of power in Juba from the gov-ernment to the Sudan People'sLiberation Movement will try the ability

of state officials to govern effectively.Of the ten towns to be mapped, fourwere controlled by the Khartoum gov-ernment and thousands of soldiers aregarrisoned there who will have to even-tually be transported back to the north.

“The governance challenges in thesetowns are the most complicated andcritical,” Wagner said. “The new govern-ment will have to effectively adjudicatecontested property, avoid urban mis-management of land resources, andestablish a legitimate and effective gov-ernment.”

The Sudan Participatory Town PlanningProject plays to Creative's traditionalstrengths in securing political transi-tion, democracy and governance.Southern Sudan is seeing nearly a com-plete vacuum in governance, exacerbat-ed by the lack of planning. “We startwith the basic tools, map and data-base, and then apply that to considera-tion of a future vision for the town suchas land use patterns, economic organi-zation,” Wagner said.

Creative's work in the town of Juba isparticularly significant because it is tobe the next capital of southern Sudan.Along with town planning, Creative isconducting an assessment in Juba to

SOUTHERN SUDAN: TOWN PLANNING RESPONDSTO URGENT NEEDS, REFUGEE CRISES

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the support of the Education Qualityand Access for Learning andLivelihood Skills (EQuALLS) project.EQuALLS is funded by USAID andimplemented by Creative AssociatesInternational Inc., in partnership withthe Department of Education, localNGOs, local foundations, and privatesector institutions.

Workshop topics ranged from the con-ceptual framework for madaris topractical considerations, such asfinancial sustainability, formal recogni-tion and accreditation of these institu-tions, and training in the teaching ofDepartment of Education subjects.

In the ARMM, the majority of themadaris serve poor communitieswhere they may be the only schoolsfor children and youths. After havingcompleted their studies, however, andlacking a thorough grounding in basicsubjects, even the most motivatedand intelligent madrasah studentswho move into public high schoolsexperience difficulties. Students notonly lack instruction in basic subjects,but also the secondary education cur-riculum is bilingual in Filipino andEnglish, and madrasah students areunprepared in both languages, makingit near impossible for them keep upwith classes. Unable to complete highschool, students find it almost impos-sible to get into universities or othertertiary-level schools accredited by theDepartment of Education.

“With only an Arabic language back-ground, our students get stuck whenthey apply to enter college,” saidArpah Datudacula, who administersthe Nurul Huda Al-Islamiah, amadrasah in Malabang, Lanao delSur.

Without high-school or college educa-tions, young people face fewer jobprospects and limited options toimprove their social and economicstatus. The lack of a secondary educa-tion produces a domino effect whichnot only leaves thousands ofMindanao's youths unemployed buthas also led to increased levels ofanger, frustration and crime in theregion.

With support from the EQuALLSproject, fifteen madaris have begunimplementing the standard curriculumon a pilot basis. Half of these havemade arrangements with a nearbypublic school to exchange teachers fora few hours per week. The publicschool teacher will provide first-grademadrasah students with instruction inthe standard public school curriculum.The other madaris are experimentingwith a different approach, trainingmadrasah teachers to conduct basiceducation classes.

“The involvement of public schoolteachers in mentoring madrasahteachers creates a link with the publicschools, making it more possible formadrasah students to take equivalen-

cy or placement exams in order totransfer to public schools at a laterpoint in the education cycle,” says Dr.Tom Kral, chief of the USAID Office ofEducation in Manila.

According to Moner Bajunaid, anIslamic education specialist based atCreative Associates' project office inCotabato City, the pilot projectappears to be a simple step, but it is ahighly significant one for Islamic edu-cators opening their doors to thePhilippine education system.

“This is the first time that the nationallanguage [Filipino] is being taught inMindanao madaris,” said Bajunaid.“Considering longstanding fears andcultural biases in Mindanao that dateback to the Spanish regime, this is abreakthrough.”

“Among Philippine madaris, the ideaof bringing in the Department ofEducation basic curriculum is in theprocess of becoming universallyacceptable,” says Boransing. “Themain problems lie in implementation,and this is where the internationaldonors are being helpful.”

—EQuALLS Project Staff

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Tom Kral, ChiefUSAID Office of Education in Manila.

africa

Rumbek is one of ten South Sudan towns where Creative Associates, in partnership withUSAID, initiated a strategic town planning project. Last year's Rumbek Town MasterPlan, marked the region's first initiative of public engagement and consensus building atthe municipal and grassroots levels for a comprehensive town plan.

EQuALLS: IMPLEMENTING A STANDARD CURRICULUM, HELPINGMUSLIM STUDENTS ACHIEVE ACADEMIC EXCELLENCEcontinued from page 2

“The involvement of public school teachers in mentoringmadrasah teachers creates a link with the public schools,making it more possible for madrasah students to takeequivalency or placement exams in order to transfer topublic schools at a later point in the education cycle.”

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Not long after the fall of Baghdad,the city's main museum, with itspriceless collection of artifacts,

and nearly all of the city's culturalcenters, were looted or destroyed.Gone, too, were scores of musicalinstruments including pianos, violins,cellos, guitars and traditional Arablutes. In light of the destruction, theWhite House asked federal agencies tofind ways to help rebuild culturalresources in Iraq.

In April 2004, the National Endowmentfor the Arts (NEA) approached CreativeLearning, the non-profit sister organiza-tion of Creative AssociatesInternational Inc., to help transport anddeliver musical instruments donated byAmericans to help rebuild the shattereddreams of Iraqi student musicians.

“The genesis of the project was thatduring that terrible period of bombingand subsequent looting of cultural arti-facts in Baghdad, there was a smallnews clip that ran showing thesmashed instruments at the school ofmusic and ballet,” said Pennie Ojeda,International Coordinator for theNational Endowment for the Arts inWashington, D.C. “The clip showed asmashed piano and several professorsweeping.”

Reaction to the footage was swift. TheNEA launched a campaign to helpreestablish musical training for the nextgeneration of Iraqis through the cre-ation of a public-private partnership.And soon, Operation Harmony wasborn.

The looting of the Baghdad School forMusic and Ballet made an impressionon Americans who donated instru-ments with the help of Boy Scouts,church groups and musical instrumentshops to the NEA. At least 230 classi-cal instruments valued at $130,000were collected and sent to the NEAwhich entrusted Creative Learning withtheir shipment and delivery toBaghdad. Dr. Sabah Al-Jadoa, aCreative Associates employee inBaghdad, channeled $3,000 in fundsto the Baghdad School of Music andBallet to replace some of the instru-ments that were lost.

“The teachers at the school were verytouched by the donation,” Al-Jadoa toldCreative Associates staff recently. Inappreciation, the teachers presentedCreative Learning with a commemora-tive plaque for its efforts. To Al-Jadoa,the chance to help Iraqi music studentsremains a source of great pride. “I wasjust touched by the donation, that

someone from outside donated to Iraqichildren. It was a sense of joy to do thejob, to improve the quality of studentsin Iraq on the art side - which ismusic,” Al-Jadoa said.

In appreciation of Al-Jadoa's commit-ment to Operation Harmony, CreativeLearning's President, Bill Kruvant, said:“There's something very special aboutpeople putting themselves out volun-teering for the arts, because art issomething thatunites all peopleacross cul-tures, races,ages. It is artthat alwaysbrings outthe best inpeople.”

—Alexandra Pratt

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Muhammed ElissaIraqi Training Instructor

“Your attitude toward the task ahead is crucial. You must

share with [your colleagues], not teach them or tell them. You

are the messenger. Your attitude will guarantee acceptance.”

Iraqi Training Instructor, Muhammad Eissa

Anew children's cartoon series toair on Iraqi television featuresSunni, Shiite and Kurdish kids

learning and playing together, in thehopes of instilling life lessons in peace-ful coexistence.

The cartoon series is intended to allowIraqi preschoolers to enjoy an age ofinnocence - away from the war that theworld has come to know in headlines.At once educational and entertaining,the show's characters are motivated bythe pursuit of fun, games and curiosity- storylines that reinforce positivebehavior, good deeds, love and under-standing.

The show is “the rainbow at the end ofthe heavy rain! It is a breath of freshair for a generation of children thatgrew up with fear, sadness anddestruction…it is the sort of programthat puts a smile on a child's face,”said Randa Ayoubi, chief executiveofficer of Rubicon, a Jordanian soft-ware company that is working withIraqi trainees to produce the show.

The series is designed by CreativeAssociates International Inc., the IraqMinistry of Education and Rubicon aspart of the Education II project.Creative Associates implementsEducation II with funding from the U.S.Agency for International Development.

Consisting of more than a 100episodes with 13 themes to teach thealphabet, counting, time, colors andshapes, emotions and feelings, amongother subjects, the programs are tar-geted at early childhood development.While similar to the renownedAmerican children's program, “SesameStreet”, the show is distinctly Iraqi, asseen in the show's characters, names,dress and accents.

Shirin, a girl who wears the traditionalKurdish dress, is a typical child who

does not always listen to grown upsand strives to get her way. Through heradventures, children learn how to dealwith disappointment and disagreementwith friends and parents.

“The show teaches children positivevalues, history through fables, intro-ducing our Arabian ancestors, normsand traditions, acceptance of othersregardless of ethnicity and differences,love for the land,” said Lara Safadi,Rubicon's program manager.

The program, which has yet to benamed, is intended to fill a major gapin preschool education in Iraq.Production takes place at Rubicon'soffices in Amman, Jordan, where ateam of more than 30 Jordanians andIraqis, among them six traineesappointed by the Iraqi Ministry of

Education, are producing the first half-hour show to air early next year. TheIraqi trainees have been in training formany months.

“It should be different than any pro-duction in the Arab world, not only inIraq. It's a large production in size andin value in terms of an animated seriesproduced from A to Z by Arabs forArabs,” said Safadi.

Far from being a passive experience,the program is designed to alsoengage parents by providing accompa-nying workbooks with which they andtheir children can work. The program'schild-centered and family oriented phi-losophy helps build bonds with parentsas a way to foster preschoolers'healthy emotional and cognitive devel-opment. Like the cartoon whose char-acters are playful and fun, the work-books contain games and puzzles toentertain children while educatingthem and involving their parents.

“This program is an essential educa-tional opportunity for children, andworks as a supportive element forparents - as a guide,” said one of theprogram's Iraqi staff who is also learn-ing how to be an animator.

For the creators, the program andworkbooks provide children a founda-tion for their lives as they mature inIraqi society. “The characters are likechildren everywhere, looking to carvetheir own place in the world, whiledrawing on the love and care of theirfamilies and friends,” Ayoubi added.

—Alexandra Pratt

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IRAQ: TV SERIES TO ENGAGE CHILDRENIN LEARNING ENCOURAGES PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE

middle east

ness, civil society advocacy and over-sight, and training for elected officialsand their staffs.

“This is a very exciting IQC becausetechnical assistance is not limited justto the conduct of elections,” saidRichard McCall, senior vice presidentof programs at Creative Associates. “Itinvolves strengthening procedures tomitigate potential conflict surroundingthe electoral process, political partydevelopment and engaging civilsociety very actively in the political

and electoral processes in their coun-tries.

“We have assembled a very strongconsortium to respond to the variousrequirements under this IQC, with thehighest possible professional skillsnecessary to achieve successful andsustainable outcomes,” McCall said.

Partners include: ManagementSystems International; The AsiaFoundation; Accenture, LLP; AmericanManufacturers Export Group; Carr

Swanson & Randolph, LLC; Center forStrategic and International Studies;Computer Frontiers, Inc.; Greenberg,Quinlan, Rosner Research, Inc.; KrollGovernment Services; Mud SpringsGeographers; PA Consulting Group,Inc.; PAE Government Services, Inc.;Paige International, Inc. and PublicInternational Law and Policy Group. Aspartners, they offer a full range ofservices and global expertise and sig-nificantly expand USAID's program-ming options in the elections andpolitical processes arena.

USAID AWARDS CREATIVE ASSOCIATES ELECTIONSAND POLITICAL PROCESSES IQC

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IRAQ: SINGING PRAISES OFOPERATION HARMONYmiddle east

A gift from teachersat the BaghdadSchool of Musicand Ballet toCreative Learning,in appreciation ofits efforts toprovide instrumentsto Iraq’s studentmusicians.

“Art is something that unites all peopleacross cultures, races, ages.”

Bill Kruvant—Creative Learning

Characters from the new Ed II early childhooddevelopment television series for Iraqipreschoolers. The program, now in produc-tion, promotes peaceful coexistence and posi-tive values.

“This program is an essentialeducational opportunity for children,

and works as a supportive elementfor parents - as a guide”

Nawar, Program Iraqi staff

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look at possibil-ities formunicipalmanage-ment, land

tenureand eco-

nomic revital-ization.

“It's a strategic opportunity since effec-tively there's a vacuum in governance inthis critically important town. Very fewinternational actors are based in Jubaand little analytic research has beendone. Therefore this assessment willprovide the international communitywith critically needed analyses of short-term and long-term opportunities andconstraints,” Wagner said.

At the heart of the Southern SudanTown Mapping and Planning Project isthe impact that it will have on peoples'lives. The project is establishing aprocess to allow communities to build afoundation for the future. The next stepwill be to convene public participatorymeetings with the government and allinterested stakeholders who will decideon planning options suggested by themaps, such as land use recommenda-tions. “It's a process by which stake-holders and interest groups can consid-er the future directions of their commu-nities, Wagner said. “SouthernSudanese have few opportunities toorganize and participate in open demo-cratic forums where their voices can beheard. So, we see the end result of thisproject as linking the new government

to their constituents that they governand creating a forum by which peoplecan make informed decisions.”

The plans for Juba and the other townspresent an opportunity for southernSudanese to begin anew. “Our experi-ence in Rumbek was that the mapstruly served as a catalyst for interested,sometimes heated public debate,”Wagner said. “This is the essence, thebeginning of a nascent democraticprocess.”

—Alexandra Pratt

SOUTHERN SUDAN: TOWN PLANNING RESPONDS TO URGENTNEEDS, REFUGEE CRISES

africa

Creative Associates InternationalInc., has expanded its operationsto East Africa with the opening of

the East Africa Regional Office (EARO)based in Nairobi, Kenya.

“One objective is to establish both afoothold and a significant footprint in theEast Africa,” said Peter Parr, Creative'sEast Africa Regional Director. SinceEARO opened, Creative Associates hasimplemented projects in southernSudan.

Choosing Nairobi as EARO's base ofoperations provides Creative with strate-gic advantages. “The UN organizationsand all the major donors use Nairobi astheir regional hub for all of their regionaloperations, and by having a presencethere, our ability to meet and talk direct-ly with donors and identify partnerorganizations is enhanced,” Parr said.

Creative's procurement, logistics and

travel administrator, Faisal Sultan, alsooperates from Nairobi, handling $6million in procurement last year andtravel arrangements for Creative's world-wide staff.

In southern Sudan, Creative is imple-menting a town planning project that iscentral to the future growth and expan-sion of the area. The project, theSouthern Sudan Town Mapping andPlanning Project, follows from a pilotproject in Rumbek and combines urbanplanning with civil society strengthening.Using satellite imagery, master plans willbe created for key southern townsstrengthening the capacity of local gov-ernment to work with civil society.

“The two town planning projects fundedby UNDP and USAID will form the frame-work in how all future regional and townplanning is done in the southern region.In other words, Creative is setting thestandard,” said Parr.

Already, the company has established itsreputation. Recently, at the invitation ofthe Sudan People's LiberationMovement (SPLM), the EARO directorwas invited to participate on a fieldassessment mission to advise on thebasic infrastructure needs of three dis-trict towns. “The growing significance ofCreative's role in town planning wasdemonstrated by the fact that Creativewas the only outside organization to beinvited on that mission,” said Parr.

Parr's primary role is to develop strongworking relations with USAID and otherdonors such as the World Bank and theUN organizations as well as local agen-cies.

—Alexandra Pratt

KENYA: CREATIVE ASSOCIATES ESTABLISHESREGIONAL OFFICE IN EAST AFRICA

Sarah Stephens, chief of party ofthe Coordinated Action AgainstHuman Trafficking program,

recently told Creative Associates staffand guests that through coordinatedactivities among communities, NGOsand government, human traffickingprevention efforts have taken root inAlbania.

Stephens spoke at one of Creative'sregular “brown bag” luncheons, wherevisiting chiefs of party and otherCreative specialists and guests have achance to talk about program impactor an expertise. Stephens spoke of therise of trafficking in Albania andCAAHT's activities to stem the flow.Funded by the U.S. Agency forInternational Development (USAID),CAAHT is implemented by CreativeAssociates International Inc.

CAAHT's mission is to strengthen theability of Albanian community leaders,NGOs and government entities toimprove programs that decrease traf-ficking in human beings, and improveand expand services which assist andreintegrate the victims and reduce re-trafficking.

“We've taken an integrated approach,we've demonstrated facilitation ofcoordination among government andnon-governmental partners,”Stephens said. And the strategy has

worked. CAAHT has convened 16Regional Cluster Group meetings withincreasing participation from local gov-ernment, which includes 78 members.Today, the groups are a model ofteamwork, but the drive to coordinatemembers wasn't at first welcomed.

“There was cynicism and pessimismby government and non-governmentalsectors. They had the attitude that wewere just another organization thatwas going to tell them what to do, andteach them what they already know-but we told them we're here to facili-tate and to work with them,” Stephenstold the audience.

Trafficking in Albania began in theearly 1990s as a result of massiveemigration that began after the fall ofcommunism. “Once you've got move-ment across borders, you have thepotential for trafficking,” saidStephens. Between 1994 and 1997,trafficking had become widespreadbut remained unacknowledged by thepublic and government. From 1997-1999, the collapse of pyramidschemes, political instability and theKosovo crisis which resulted inincreasingly porous borders, increasedthe flow of trafficking in humanbeings.

With the growing attention to the traf-ficking issue by governmental andnon-governmental agencies, it becameclear that the most effective way tostop trafficking was through preven-tion mechanisms. USAID held a work-shop in February 2003 where it askedvarious agencies and groups torespond to the problems of trafficking.The USAID workshop resulted in anRFP that led to the CAAHT project.

Based on the findings of the February2003 USAID workshop, CAAHT wasestablished to help coordinate effortsof various parties concerned abouttrafficking, so that they could sharetheir expertise, refer clients, build

capacity, disseminate information andto work on the problems of reintegra-tion.

Today, 12 grants of more than $1.4million have been disbursed tograntees in all geographic areas ofAlbania. “People outside the capitalhave learned a lot about anti-traffick-ing including their national frame-works and have gotten programmingideas from each other and there'sincreasingly substantive cooperationbetween partners where there hadbeen none before,” Stephens said.

With CAAHT's focus on prevention, onegrantee is producing a nationwideradio soap opera that will focus onhow girls and women are made vul-nerable to trafficking by phony promis-es - for employment, marriage, educa-tions, or other needs. Another grantee,a university, has developed a curricu-lum for social workers and psycholo-gists to instruct them on how to workwith victims and potential victims.

Up to now, CAAHT grants havereached 3,412 people through preven-tion programs. It's also providing 76women and girls protection and reinte-gration assistance. Another 1,014women and girls are receiving assis-tance from a combination of stake-holders.

Another significant component ofCAAHT is its technical input whichhelps in information gathering andanalysis from which further program-ming and legislation can be devel-oped. “From the technical point ofview, through monitoring and evalua-tion, we're trying to do quantitativeand qualitative assessment of theproblem which is not being largelydone elsewhere. We're teaching howto ask the questions and how toanalyze the data,” Stephens conclud-ed.

—Alexandra Pratt

Europe

ALBANIA: SARAH STEPHENS SAYSTRAFFICKING PREVENTION TAKES ROOT

Chief of Party Sarah Stephens spoke toCreative staff about anti-trafficking efforts.

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The Community Youth PeaceEducation Program (CYPEP) ishelping make a difference in the

lives of Liberian youths.

In July, CYPEP trained 4,000 urbanyouths in the methods of conflict reso-lution. One aspect of the program is therequirement that participating youthspledge to foster tolerance in all facetsof their lives, starting with the commit-ment to maintain peaceful and mutualcoexistence in their homes. This pledgeof non-violence in the home is expectedto eventually expand into relationshipscommunity-wide.

CYPEP is an outgrowth of the USAID-funded Liberia Transition Initiative'sYouth Education for Life Skills Program(YES) which will be implemented in 735rural communities throughout Liberiaover a two year period. The YESprogram is focused on war-affectedyouths ages 18 to 30. It seeks to teachbasic literacy, numeracy and essentiallife skills to help them negotiate familylife, health and employment. And theprogram stands to influence thousandsof youths who, ultimately, will assumeresponsibility for Liberia's future. Byenabling urban youths to think throughcritical issues, the program hopes toplant the seeds for lasting peace inLiberia.

CYPEP was created to address a waveof youth-directed urban violence suchas mob justice and crises last October

when young people burnedchurches and mosquesaround Monrovia. Theprogram's primary focusis to constructively

engage youths by pro-moting peaceful co-exis-tence in multi-ethnic,

urban communitiesand detering youth

related violence.

One partici-pant ofthe

CYPEP training said: “I used to alwaysfight whenever Manchester United ofthe English premiership lost a match toanother team. Since the CYPEP trainingcame to my community, I have beenmostly involved in stopping fightsbetween my friends. Today my friendscall me, 'Mr. Peacemaker'.”

During the intensive six week CYPEPtrainings, participants are encouragedto share their experiences and perspec-tives providing them with the opportuni-ty to review their own behaviors. Onefemale participant said during her train-ing program, “I used to be the one toadd to the conflict, but since the train-ing, I have taken on a whole new role. Iam the one who tries to help peopleresolve the conflict whenever and wher-ever I see them.”

CYPEP courses include sessions inidentity, health, peaceful living, goodgovernance and the environment. A 24-year old man noted, “From the programI truly know my role and responsibilityto the community and the need to livetogether in peace and to help developthe community. Interestingly, some ofthe very guys who did a lot of things tome and other people are right in this

town with me. I see them almost everyday but when you know who you are, aswe learned from the program, yourespect other people.”

—Alexandra Pratt

- 6 -

africa

- 7 -

QUESTIONS WITH JOHN STUART BLACKTON,SENIOR STRATEGIC ADVISOR TO CREATIVE

washington, d.c.LIBERIA: LIFE SKILLS TRAINING FOR 4,000 YOUTHSADDRESSES NON VIOLENCE

James Yarsiah, YES Program Manager, with beneficiary of The Community Youth PeaceEducation Program (CYPEP), which promotes peaceful co-existence in multi-ethnic,urban communities and aims to deter youth-related violence.

5For almost 40 years, John Stuart Blackton haswitnessed great changes in the realm of interna-tional development. As Creative Associates' seniorstrategic advisor, he provides an insider's view ofcurrent trends and issues governing internationaldevelopment. He has served as head of missionfor the U.S. Agency for International Developmentin Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Philippines andin leadership roles at the Near East and PolicyBureaus in USAID, Washington D.C. From 1994through 1998 he was a professor of nationalsecurity policy at the National War College inWashington, D.C. and has lectured at numerousconferences on law and governance in Iraq andAfghanistan. He recently spoke with CreativeTimes about the history of U.S. assistance andCreative Associates' strengths in meeting futurechallenges.

Tell us about your role at Creative?

Maybe I can use my job title as a pointof departure: I'm the senior strategicadvisor. My job is to focus on the waythe external environment is changingand what strategic opportunities andchallenges those changes in the envi-ronment pose for Creative. I try to lookat the evolving national security envi-ronment, at the changes in theWashington bureaucracy, at the chang-ing relationships between diplomacy,foreign assistance, and military inter-vention and at the evolution of thegeopolitical environment worldwide andto see how all of these changes bear onhow we may be doing business nextmonth, next year, maybe even in thenext decade.

Give us a bird's eye view of internation-al development aid in 2005.

Over the past decade internationaldevelopment has crystallized into threedistinct and separate spheres—the firstcombines humanitarian efforts withincreasingly well-defined aims of reach-ing the very poor. The second is sus-tainable development with a focus oninstitutions and efforts to maintainthem overtime. The third is the wholenexus of conflict and international secu-rity related issues, which in some waysis becoming the largest of the spheres -to achieve national and internationalsecurity objectives. One of my concerns

is that these three spheres are notcoming together as well as they might;rather, they are drifting apart whetherviewed from the funders' or the practi-tioners' perspectives. On the positiveside, the articulation of the intellectualunderpinnings of each of the threespheres has become better articulatedin recent years, but we are still awaitingthe “great synthesis” that puts them allinto a conceptually integrated whole.

What is the single most important issuein international development today?How should firms like Creative bestaddress the issue?

Probably, from the perspective of theworld's donors, the biggest develop-ment question on the table has to dowith whether development is primarilyachieved by policy reform or by specificinvestments in projects and programs.Here in Washington, that dichotomy isexemplified by the 50-year-old USAID onthe one hand, and the one-year-oldMillennium Challenge Corporation onthe other. Creative has grown up in theshadow of USAID and is staffed andequipped for the world of projects. If theother model, the Millennium Challengemodel, begins to assume real promi-nence in the development world, thanwe at Creative will have to look deepwithin ourselves to see what we wouldhave to do to work in an environmentwhere policy reform and not projectsare the dominant model of internationalassistance. I believe we could makethat transition but that it would not beeasy and would require an enormousand very collaborative effort from allthe associates, all the managers and allthe owners to make it happen.

Would you say there has been a signifi-cant shift in U.S. policy with regard tointernational development and if so,what's behind it?

Yes, there have been two big shifts, inthe last 20 years, and from the end ofWorld War II where U.S. foreign assis-tance policy was built around Cold War

objectives. This gave the overall aidworld a high degree of focus and clarity.The hierarchy of objectives was trans-parent. In the first five or six years afterthe dissolution of the Soviet Union,however, foreign assistance wentthrough a period of uncertainty where itlacked a clear policy rationale. But,beginning during the middle of theClinton administration, a new consen-sus involving both Democrats andRepublicans, evolved around the beliefthat foreign policy could be an effectiveinstrument in mitigating new set of“global threats” that had replaced theold threat posed by the former SovietUnion. These new challenges were seento include narcotics, AIDS, poverty-driven migration (both cross-border andinternal), ethnic conflict, and, particular-ly in the past five years, politicallyinspired terrorism.

What are Creative's strengths inmeeting the objectives of internationaldevelopment trends?

Creative has a number of strengths thatare very relevant to the foreign policychallenges that we face today. First ofall, its practical experience tends to becommunity based, grass roots level. Weare bottom-up in orientation, which setsus apart from many other developmentpractitioners whose core style startsfrom the top and works down. A secondcore strength of Creative is our inbuiltcapacity to mobilize and deploy veryquickly. Both the staff and the companystyle are built around quick response,and the nature of contemporary globalthreats tends to pose challenges thatrequire this quick response. And, thethird truly distinctive advantage thatCreative brings to the contemporaryforeign aid scene is the combination ofa very multicultural staff and a multicul-tural organizational style. So, both indi-vidually and collectively, Creative teammembers are able to size up a situationquickly, appreciate its cultural distinc-tiveness and respond accordingly.

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ARThe program'sprimary focus is toconstructivelyengage youths bypromoting peacefulco-existence inmulti-ethnic, urbancommunities anddetering youthrelated violence.

The Community Youth PeaceEducation Program (CYPEP) ishelping make a difference in the

lives of Liberian youths.

In July, CYPEP trained 4,000 urbanyouths in the methods of conflict reso-lution. One aspect of the program is therequirement that participating youthspledge to foster tolerance in all facetsof their lives, starting with the commit-ment to maintain peaceful and mutualcoexistence in their homes. This pledgeof non-violence in the home is expectedto eventually expand into relationshipscommunity-wide.

CYPEP is an outgrowth of the USAID-funded Liberia Transition Initiative'sYouth Education for Life Skills Program(YES) which will be implemented in 735rural communities throughout Liberiaover a two year period. The YESprogram is focused on war-affectedyouths ages 18 to 30. It seeks to teachbasic literacy, numeracy and essentiallife skills to help them negotiate familylife, health and employment. And theprogram stands to influence thousandsof youths who, ultimately, will assumeresponsibility for Liberia's future. Byenabling urban youths to think throughcritical issues, the program hopes toplant the seeds for lasting peace inLiberia.

CYPEP was created to address a waveof youth-directed urban violence suchas mob justice and crises last October

when young people burnedchurches and mosquesaround Monrovia. Theprogram's primary focusis to constructively

engage youths by pro-moting peaceful co-exis-tence in multi-ethnic,

urban communitiesand detering youth

related violence.

One partici-pant ofthe

CYPEP training said: “I used to alwaysfight whenever Manchester United ofthe English premiership lost a match toanother team. Since the CYPEP trainingcame to my community, I have beenmostly involved in stopping fightsbetween my friends. Today my friendscall me, 'Mr. Peacemaker'.”

During the intensive six week CYPEPtrainings, participants are encouragedto share their experiences and perspec-tives providing them with the opportuni-ty to review their own behaviors. Onefemale participant said during her train-ing program, “I used to be the one toadd to the conflict, but since the train-ing, I have taken on a whole new role. Iam the one who tries to help peopleresolve the conflict whenever and wher-ever I see them.”

CYPEP courses include sessions inidentity, health, peaceful living, goodgovernance and the environment. A 24-year old man noted, “From the programI truly know my role and responsibilityto the community and the need to livetogether in peace and to help developthe community. Interestingly, some ofthe very guys who did a lot of things tome and other people are right in this

town with me. I see them almost everyday but when you know who you are, aswe learned from the program, yourespect other people.”

—Alexandra Pratt

- 6 -

africa

- 7 -

QUESTIONS WITH JOHN STUART BLACKTON,SENIOR STRATEGIC ADVISOR TO CREATIVE

washington, d.c.LIBERIA: LIFE SKILLS TRAINING FOR 4,000 YOUTHSADDRESSES NON VIOLENCE

James Yarsiah, YES Program Manager, with beneficiary of The Community Youth PeaceEducation Program (CYPEP), which promotes peaceful co-existence in multi-ethnic,urban communities and aims to deter youth-related violence.

5For almost 40 years, John Stuart Blackton haswitnessed great changes in the realm of interna-tional development. As Creative Associates' seniorstrategic advisor, he provides an insider's view ofcurrent trends and issues governing internationaldevelopment. He has served as head of missionfor the U.S. Agency for International Developmentin Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Philippines andin leadership roles at the Near East and PolicyBureaus in USAID, Washington D.C. From 1994through 1998 he was a professor of nationalsecurity policy at the National War College inWashington, D.C. and has lectured at numerousconferences on law and governance in Iraq andAfghanistan. He recently spoke with CreativeTimes about the history of U.S. assistance andCreative Associates' strengths in meeting futurechallenges.

Tell us about your role at Creative?

Maybe I can use my job title as a pointof departure: I'm the senior strategicadvisor. My job is to focus on the waythe external environment is changingand what strategic opportunities andchallenges those changes in the envi-ronment pose for Creative. I try to lookat the evolving national security envi-ronment, at the changes in theWashington bureaucracy, at the chang-ing relationships between diplomacy,foreign assistance, and military inter-vention and at the evolution of thegeopolitical environment worldwide andto see how all of these changes bear onhow we may be doing business nextmonth, next year, maybe even in thenext decade.

Give us a bird's eye view of internation-al development aid in 2005.

Over the past decade internationaldevelopment has crystallized into threedistinct and separate spheres—the firstcombines humanitarian efforts withincreasingly well-defined aims of reach-ing the very poor. The second is sus-tainable development with a focus oninstitutions and efforts to maintainthem overtime. The third is the wholenexus of conflict and international secu-rity related issues, which in some waysis becoming the largest of the spheres -to achieve national and internationalsecurity objectives. One of my concerns

is that these three spheres are notcoming together as well as they might;rather, they are drifting apart whetherviewed from the funders' or the practi-tioners' perspectives. On the positiveside, the articulation of the intellectualunderpinnings of each of the threespheres has become better articulatedin recent years, but we are still awaitingthe “great synthesis” that puts them allinto a conceptually integrated whole.

What is the single most important issuein international development today?How should firms like Creative bestaddress the issue?

Probably, from the perspective of theworld's donors, the biggest develop-ment question on the table has to dowith whether development is primarilyachieved by policy reform or by specificinvestments in projects and programs.Here in Washington, that dichotomy isexemplified by the 50-year-old USAID onthe one hand, and the one-year-oldMillennium Challenge Corporation onthe other. Creative has grown up in theshadow of USAID and is staffed andequipped for the world of projects. If theother model, the Millennium Challengemodel, begins to assume real promi-nence in the development world, thanwe at Creative will have to look deepwithin ourselves to see what we wouldhave to do to work in an environmentwhere policy reform and not projectsare the dominant model of internationalassistance. I believe we could makethat transition but that it would not beeasy and would require an enormousand very collaborative effort from allthe associates, all the managers and allthe owners to make it happen.

Would you say there has been a signifi-cant shift in U.S. policy with regard tointernational development and if so,what's behind it?

Yes, there have been two big shifts, inthe last 20 years, and from the end ofWorld War II where U.S. foreign assis-tance policy was built around Cold War

objectives. This gave the overall aidworld a high degree of focus and clarity.The hierarchy of objectives was trans-parent. In the first five or six years afterthe dissolution of the Soviet Union,however, foreign assistance wentthrough a period of uncertainty where itlacked a clear policy rationale. But,beginning during the middle of theClinton administration, a new consen-sus involving both Democrats andRepublicans, evolved around the beliefthat foreign policy could be an effectiveinstrument in mitigating new set of“global threats” that had replaced theold threat posed by the former SovietUnion. These new challenges were seento include narcotics, AIDS, poverty-driven migration (both cross-border andinternal), ethnic conflict, and, particular-ly in the past five years, politicallyinspired terrorism.

What are Creative's strengths inmeeting the objectives of internationaldevelopment trends?

Creative has a number of strengths thatare very relevant to the foreign policychallenges that we face today. First ofall, its practical experience tends to becommunity based, grass roots level. Weare bottom-up in orientation, which setsus apart from many other developmentpractitioners whose core style startsfrom the top and works down. A secondcore strength of Creative is our inbuiltcapacity to mobilize and deploy veryquickly. Both the staff and the companystyle are built around quick response,and the nature of contemporary globalthreats tends to pose challenges thatrequire this quick response. And, thethird truly distinctive advantage thatCreative brings to the contemporaryforeign aid scene is the combination ofa very multicultural staff and a multicul-tural organizational style. So, both indi-vidually and collectively, Creative teammembers are able to size up a situationquickly, appreciate its cultural distinc-tiveness and respond accordingly.

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The program'sprimary focus is toconstructivelyengage youths bypromoting peacefulco-existence inmulti-ethnic, urbancommunities anddetering youthrelated violence.

- 5 -

continued from page 3

- 8 -

look at possibil-ities formunicipalmanage-ment, land

tenureand eco-

nomic revital-ization.

“It's a strategic opportunity since effec-tively there's a vacuum in governance inthis critically important town. Very fewinternational actors are based in Jubaand little analytic research has beendone. Therefore this assessment willprovide the international communitywith critically needed analyses of short-term and long-term opportunities andconstraints,” Wagner said.

At the heart of the Southern SudanTown Mapping and Planning Project isthe impact that it will have on peoples'lives. The project is establishing aprocess to allow communities to build afoundation for the future. The next stepwill be to convene public participatorymeetings with the government and allinterested stakeholders who will decideon planning options suggested by themaps, such as land use recommenda-tions. “It's a process by which stake-holders and interest groups can consid-er the future directions of their commu-nities, Wagner said. “SouthernSudanese have few opportunities toorganize and participate in open demo-cratic forums where their voices can beheard. So, we see the end result of thisproject as linking the new government

to their constituents that they governand creating a forum by which peoplecan make informed decisions.”

The plans for Juba and the other townspresent an opportunity for southernSudanese to begin anew. “Our experi-ence in Rumbek was that the mapstruly served as a catalyst for interested,sometimes heated public debate,”Wagner said. “This is the essence, thebeginning of a nascent democraticprocess.”

—Alexandra Pratt

SOUTHERN SUDAN: TOWN PLANNING RESPONDS TO URGENTNEEDS, REFUGEE CRISES

africa

Creative Associates InternationalInc., has expanded its operationsto East Africa with the opening of

the East Africa Regional Office (EARO)based in Nairobi, Kenya.

“One objective is to establish both afoothold and a significant footprint in theEast Africa,” said Peter Parr, Creative'sEast Africa Regional Director. SinceEARO opened, Creative Associates hasimplemented projects in southernSudan.

Choosing Nairobi as EARO's base ofoperations provides Creative with strate-gic advantages. “The UN organizationsand all the major donors use Nairobi astheir regional hub for all of their regionaloperations, and by having a presencethere, our ability to meet and talk direct-ly with donors and identify partnerorganizations is enhanced,” Parr said.

Creative's procurement, logistics and

travel administrator, Faisal Sultan, alsooperates from Nairobi, handling $6million in procurement last year andtravel arrangements for Creative's world-wide staff.

In southern Sudan, Creative is imple-menting a town planning project that iscentral to the future growth and expan-sion of the area. The project, theSouthern Sudan Town Mapping andPlanning Project, follows from a pilotproject in Rumbek and combines urbanplanning with civil society strengthening.Using satellite imagery, master plans willbe created for key southern townsstrengthening the capacity of local gov-ernment to work with civil society.

“The two town planning projects fundedby UNDP and USAID will form the frame-work in how all future regional and townplanning is done in the southern region.In other words, Creative is setting thestandard,” said Parr.

Already, the company has established itsreputation. Recently, at the invitation ofthe Sudan People's LiberationMovement (SPLM), the EARO directorwas invited to participate on a fieldassessment mission to advise on thebasic infrastructure needs of three dis-trict towns. “The growing significance ofCreative's role in town planning wasdemonstrated by the fact that Creativewas the only outside organization to beinvited on that mission,” said Parr.

Parr's primary role is to develop strongworking relations with USAID and otherdonors such as the World Bank and theUN organizations as well as local agen-cies.

—Alexandra Pratt

KENYA: CREATIVE ASSOCIATES ESTABLISHESREGIONAL OFFICE IN EAST AFRICA

Sarah Stephens, chief of party ofthe Coordinated Action AgainstHuman Trafficking program,

recently told Creative Associates staffand guests that through coordinatedactivities among communities, NGOsand government, human traffickingprevention efforts have taken root inAlbania.

Stephens spoke at one of Creative'sregular “brown bag” luncheons, wherevisiting chiefs of party and otherCreative specialists and guests have achance to talk about program impactor an expertise. Stephens spoke of therise of trafficking in Albania andCAAHT's activities to stem the flow.Funded by the U.S. Agency forInternational Development (USAID),CAAHT is implemented by CreativeAssociates International Inc.

CAAHT's mission is to strengthen theability of Albanian community leaders,NGOs and government entities toimprove programs that decrease traf-ficking in human beings, and improveand expand services which assist andreintegrate the victims and reduce re-trafficking.

“We've taken an integrated approach,we've demonstrated facilitation ofcoordination among government andnon-governmental partners,”Stephens said. And the strategy has

worked. CAAHT has convened 16Regional Cluster Group meetings withincreasing participation from local gov-ernment, which includes 78 members.Today, the groups are a model ofteamwork, but the drive to coordinatemembers wasn't at first welcomed.

“There was cynicism and pessimismby government and non-governmentalsectors. They had the attitude that wewere just another organization thatwas going to tell them what to do, andteach them what they already know-but we told them we're here to facili-tate and to work with them,” Stephenstold the audience.

Trafficking in Albania began in theearly 1990s as a result of massiveemigration that began after the fall ofcommunism. “Once you've got move-ment across borders, you have thepotential for trafficking,” saidStephens. Between 1994 and 1997,trafficking had become widespreadbut remained unacknowledged by thepublic and government. From 1997-1999, the collapse of pyramidschemes, political instability and theKosovo crisis which resulted inincreasingly porous borders, increasedthe flow of trafficking in humanbeings.

With the growing attention to the traf-ficking issue by governmental andnon-governmental agencies, it becameclear that the most effective way tostop trafficking was through preven-tion mechanisms. USAID held a work-shop in February 2003 where it askedvarious agencies and groups torespond to the problems of trafficking.The USAID workshop resulted in anRFP that led to the CAAHT project.

Based on the findings of the February2003 USAID workshop, CAAHT wasestablished to help coordinate effortsof various parties concerned abouttrafficking, so that they could sharetheir expertise, refer clients, build

capacity, disseminate information andto work on the problems of reintegra-tion.

Today, 12 grants of more than $1.4million have been disbursed tograntees in all geographic areas ofAlbania. “People outside the capitalhave learned a lot about anti-traffick-ing including their national frame-works and have gotten programmingideas from each other and there'sincreasingly substantive cooperationbetween partners where there hadbeen none before,” Stephens said.

With CAAHT's focus on prevention, onegrantee is producing a nationwideradio soap opera that will focus onhow girls and women are made vul-nerable to trafficking by phony promis-es - for employment, marriage, educa-tions, or other needs. Another grantee,a university, has developed a curricu-lum for social workers and psycholo-gists to instruct them on how to workwith victims and potential victims.

Up to now, CAAHT grants havereached 3,412 people through preven-tion programs. It's also providing 76women and girls protection and reinte-gration assistance. Another 1,014women and girls are receiving assis-tance from a combination of stake-holders.

Another significant component ofCAAHT is its technical input whichhelps in information gathering andanalysis from which further program-ming and legislation can be devel-oped. “From the technical point ofview, through monitoring and evalua-tion, we're trying to do quantitativeand qualitative assessment of theproblem which is not being largelydone elsewhere. We're teaching howto ask the questions and how toanalyze the data,” Stephens conclud-ed.

—Alexandra Pratt

Europe

ALBANIA: SARAH STEPHENS SAYSTRAFFICKING PREVENTION TAKES ROOT

Chief of Party Sarah Stephens spoke toCreative staff about anti-trafficking efforts.

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Not long after the fall of Baghdad,the city's main museum, with itspriceless collection of artifacts,

and nearly all of the city's culturalcenters, were looted or destroyed.Gone, too, were scores of musicalinstruments including pianos, violins,cellos, guitars and traditional Arablutes. In light of the destruction, theWhite House asked federal agencies tofind ways to help rebuild culturalresources in Iraq.

In April 2004, the National Endowmentfor the Arts (NEA) approached CreativeLearning, the non-profit sister organiza-tion of Creative AssociatesInternational Inc., to help transport anddeliver musical instruments donated byAmericans to help rebuild the shattereddreams of Iraqi student musicians.

“The genesis of the project was thatduring that terrible period of bombingand subsequent looting of cultural arti-facts in Baghdad, there was a smallnews clip that ran showing thesmashed instruments at the school ofmusic and ballet,” said Pennie Ojeda,International Coordinator for theNational Endowment for the Arts inWashington, D.C. “The clip showed asmashed piano and several professorsweeping.”

Reaction to the footage was swift. TheNEA launched a campaign to helpreestablish musical training for the nextgeneration of Iraqis through the cre-ation of a public-private partnership.And soon, Operation Harmony wasborn.

The looting of the Baghdad School forMusic and Ballet made an impressionon Americans who donated instru-ments with the help of Boy Scouts,church groups and musical instrumentshops to the NEA. At least 230 classi-cal instruments valued at $130,000were collected and sent to the NEAwhich entrusted Creative Learning withtheir shipment and delivery toBaghdad. Dr. Sabah Al-Jadoa, aCreative Associates employee inBaghdad, channeled $3,000 in fundsto the Baghdad School of Music andBallet to replace some of the instru-ments that were lost.

“The teachers at the school were verytouched by the donation,” Al-Jadoa toldCreative Associates staff recently. Inappreciation, the teachers presentedCreative Learning with a commemora-tive plaque for its efforts. To Al-Jadoa,the chance to help Iraqi music studentsremains a source of great pride. “I wasjust touched by the donation, that

someone from outside donated to Iraqichildren. It was a sense of joy to do thejob, to improve the quality of studentsin Iraq on the art side - which ismusic,” Al-Jadoa said.

In appreciation of Al-Jadoa's commit-ment to Operation Harmony, CreativeLearning's President, Bill Kruvant, said:“There's something very special aboutpeople putting themselves out volun-teering for the arts, because art issomething thatunites all peopleacross cul-tures, races,ages. It is artthat alwaysbrings outthe best inpeople.”

—Alexandra Pratt

- 9 -

Muhammed ElissaIraqi Training Instructor

“Your attitude toward the task ahead is crucial. You must

share with [your colleagues], not teach them or tell them. You

are the messenger. Your attitude will guarantee acceptance.”

Iraqi Training Instructor, Muhammad Eissa

Anew children's cartoon series toair on Iraqi television featuresSunni, Shiite and Kurdish kids

learning and playing together, in thehopes of instilling life lessons in peace-ful coexistence.

The cartoon series is intended to allowIraqi preschoolers to enjoy an age ofinnocence - away from the war that theworld has come to know in headlines.At once educational and entertaining,the show's characters are motivated bythe pursuit of fun, games and curiosity- storylines that reinforce positivebehavior, good deeds, love and under-standing.

The show is “the rainbow at the end ofthe heavy rain! It is a breath of freshair for a generation of children thatgrew up with fear, sadness anddestruction…it is the sort of programthat puts a smile on a child's face,”said Randa Ayoubi, chief executiveofficer of Rubicon, a Jordanian soft-ware company that is working withIraqi trainees to produce the show.

The series is designed by CreativeAssociates International Inc., the IraqMinistry of Education and Rubicon aspart of the Education II project.Creative Associates implementsEducation II with funding from the U.S.Agency for International Development.

Consisting of more than a 100episodes with 13 themes to teach thealphabet, counting, time, colors andshapes, emotions and feelings, amongother subjects, the programs are tar-geted at early childhood development.While similar to the renownedAmerican children's program, “SesameStreet”, the show is distinctly Iraqi, asseen in the show's characters, names,dress and accents.

Shirin, a girl who wears the traditionalKurdish dress, is a typical child who

does not always listen to grown upsand strives to get her way. Through heradventures, children learn how to dealwith disappointment and disagreementwith friends and parents.

“The show teaches children positivevalues, history through fables, intro-ducing our Arabian ancestors, normsand traditions, acceptance of othersregardless of ethnicity and differences,love for the land,” said Lara Safadi,Rubicon's program manager.

The program, which has yet to benamed, is intended to fill a major gapin preschool education in Iraq.Production takes place at Rubicon'soffices in Amman, Jordan, where ateam of more than 30 Jordanians andIraqis, among them six traineesappointed by the Iraqi Ministry of

Education, are producing the first half-hour show to air early next year. TheIraqi trainees have been in training formany months.

“It should be different than any pro-duction in the Arab world, not only inIraq. It's a large production in size andin value in terms of an animated seriesproduced from A to Z by Arabs forArabs,” said Safadi.

Far from being a passive experience,the program is designed to alsoengage parents by providing accompa-nying workbooks with which they andtheir children can work. The program'schild-centered and family oriented phi-losophy helps build bonds with parentsas a way to foster preschoolers'healthy emotional and cognitive devel-opment. Like the cartoon whose char-acters are playful and fun, the work-books contain games and puzzles toentertain children while educatingthem and involving their parents.

“This program is an essential educa-tional opportunity for children, andworks as a supportive element forparents - as a guide,” said one of theprogram's Iraqi staff who is also learn-ing how to be an animator.

For the creators, the program andworkbooks provide children a founda-tion for their lives as they mature inIraqi society. “The characters are likechildren everywhere, looking to carvetheir own place in the world, whiledrawing on the love and care of theirfamilies and friends,” Ayoubi added.

—Alexandra Pratt

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IRAQ: TV SERIES TO ENGAGE CHILDRENIN LEARNING ENCOURAGES PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE

middle east

ness, civil society advocacy and over-sight, and training for elected officialsand their staffs.

“This is a very exciting IQC becausetechnical assistance is not limited justto the conduct of elections,” saidRichard McCall, senior vice presidentof programs at Creative Associates. “Itinvolves strengthening procedures tomitigate potential conflict surroundingthe electoral process, political partydevelopment and engaging civilsociety very actively in the political

and electoral processes in their coun-tries.

“We have assembled a very strongconsortium to respond to the variousrequirements under this IQC, with thehighest possible professional skillsnecessary to achieve successful andsustainable outcomes,” McCall said.

Partners include: ManagementSystems International; The AsiaFoundation; Accenture, LLP; AmericanManufacturers Export Group; Carr

Swanson & Randolph, LLC; Center forStrategic and International Studies;Computer Frontiers, Inc.; Greenberg,Quinlan, Rosner Research, Inc.; KrollGovernment Services; Mud SpringsGeographers; PA Consulting Group,Inc.; PAE Government Services, Inc.;Paige International, Inc. and PublicInternational Law and Policy Group. Aspartners, they offer a full range ofservices and global expertise and sig-nificantly expand USAID's program-ming options in the elections andpolitical processes arena.

USAID AWARDS CREATIVE ASSOCIATES ELECTIONSAND POLITICAL PROCESSES IQC

continued from page 1

IRAQ: SINGING PRAISES OFOPERATION HARMONYmiddle east

A gift from teachersat the BaghdadSchool of Musicand Ballet toCreative Learning,in appreciation ofits efforts toprovide instrumentsto Iraq’s studentmusicians.

“Art is something that unites all peopleacross cultures, races, ages.”

Bill Kruvant—Creative Learning

Characters from the new Ed II early childhooddevelopment television series for Iraqipreschoolers. The program, now in produc-tion, promotes peaceful coexistence and posi-tive values.

“This program is an essentialeducational opportunity for children,

and works as a supportive elementfor parents - as a guide”

Nawar, Program Iraqi staff

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Sudan has become home to one ofthe world's worst refugee crises.In southern Sudan alone, up to 4

million people are believed to be inter-nally displaced persons (IDPs) andrefugees, who were forced from theirhomes over 21 years of civil warbetween government troops and theSudan People's Liberation Army.

Now with the war's end, the internallydisplaced and other refugees aremigrating to southern Sudan's towns insearch of basic necessities to rebuildtheir lives. But many towns cannotaccommodate the influx of new resi-dents for lack of basics including roads,electricity, schools, health clinics andgovernment buildings.

But in a cooperative agreement withthe U. S. Agency for InternationalDevelopment, Creative AssociatesInternational Inc., is implementing theSudan Participatory Town PlanningProject, which uses satellite imagery tocreate digital maps of ten towns insouthern Sudan.

The project is modeled on a pilotproject that Creative implemented inpartnership with the United NationsDevelopment Programme in the interimcapital of Rumbek. The newly createdmaps will serve as centerpieces for thefuture allocation of government build-ings, roads, schools, hospitals, clinics,parks and neighborhoods. The projectalso provides a road map from whichthe development of community priori-ties can be visualized. Internationaldonors recently pledged $4.5 billion torebuild southern Sudan from scratch tohelp secure the peace and respond tothe needs for infrastructure. Thismapping exercise will be critical toavoiding problems in the rebuildingprocess.

The project facilitates the involvementof southern Sudanese through partici-patory urban planning which is part ofthe nascent nation's transition towardbuilding democratic processes.

In Nairobi, Kenya, for the first time, 20southern Sudanese are being trainedto survey and develop town plansincluding using satellite imagery anddigital mapping as part of the participa-tory town planning project that CreativeAssociates is implementing. The 20trainees, including five women, areemployees of the Secretariat ofPhysical Infrastructure and TownPlanning (SPITP), who are taking part inthe four-week workshop.

“In many ways, there's a critical andstrategic importance to town planning,”said Rich Wagner, Creative Associates'project director of the SudanParticipatory Town Planning Project.“First of all, there's a new governmentwhich is striving for legitimacy mainlyby effectively responding to the needsof its citizens, long accustomed to thedeprivation brought by the long years ofconflict. If [town planning] is done cor-rectly, in an open and transparentfashion, people within these communi-ties will feel confident that governmentis working to serve their interests.”

With southern Sudan on its way tobecoming an autonomous region, thetransfer of power in Juba from the gov-ernment to the Sudan People'sLiberation Movement will try the ability

of state officials to govern effectively.Of the ten towns to be mapped, fourwere controlled by the Khartoum gov-ernment and thousands of soldiers aregarrisoned there who will have to even-tually be transported back to the north.

“The governance challenges in thesetowns are the most complicated andcritical,” Wagner said. “The new govern-ment will have to effectively adjudicatecontested property, avoid urban mis-management of land resources, andestablish a legitimate and effective gov-ernment.”

The Sudan Participatory Town PlanningProject plays to Creative's traditionalstrengths in securing political transi-tion, democracy and governance.Southern Sudan is seeing nearly a com-plete vacuum in governance, exacerbat-ed by the lack of planning. “We startwith the basic tools, map and data-base, and then apply that to considera-tion of a future vision for the town suchas land use patterns, economic organi-zation,” Wagner said.

Creative's work in the town of Juba isparticularly significant because it is tobe the next capital of southern Sudan.Along with town planning, Creative isconducting an assessment in Juba to

SOUTHERN SUDAN: TOWN PLANNING RESPONDSTO URGENT NEEDS, REFUGEE CRISES

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the support of the Education Qualityand Access for Learning andLivelihood Skills (EQuALLS) project.EQuALLS is funded by USAID andimplemented by Creative AssociatesInternational Inc., in partnership withthe Department of Education, localNGOs, local foundations, and privatesector institutions.

Workshop topics ranged from the con-ceptual framework for madaris topractical considerations, such asfinancial sustainability, formal recogni-tion and accreditation of these institu-tions, and training in the teaching ofDepartment of Education subjects.

In the ARMM, the majority of themadaris serve poor communitieswhere they may be the only schoolsfor children and youths. After havingcompleted their studies, however, andlacking a thorough grounding in basicsubjects, even the most motivatedand intelligent madrasah studentswho move into public high schoolsexperience difficulties. Students notonly lack instruction in basic subjects,but also the secondary education cur-riculum is bilingual in Filipino andEnglish, and madrasah students areunprepared in both languages, makingit near impossible for them keep upwith classes. Unable to complete highschool, students find it almost impos-sible to get into universities or othertertiary-level schools accredited by theDepartment of Education.

“With only an Arabic language back-ground, our students get stuck whenthey apply to enter college,” saidArpah Datudacula, who administersthe Nurul Huda Al-Islamiah, amadrasah in Malabang, Lanao delSur.

Without high-school or college educa-tions, young people face fewer jobprospects and limited options toimprove their social and economicstatus. The lack of a secondary educa-tion produces a domino effect whichnot only leaves thousands ofMindanao's youths unemployed buthas also led to increased levels ofanger, frustration and crime in theregion.

With support from the EQuALLSproject, fifteen madaris have begunimplementing the standard curriculumon a pilot basis. Half of these havemade arrangements with a nearbypublic school to exchange teachers fora few hours per week. The publicschool teacher will provide first-grademadrasah students with instruction inthe standard public school curriculum.The other madaris are experimentingwith a different approach, trainingmadrasah teachers to conduct basiceducation classes.

“The involvement of public schoolteachers in mentoring madrasahteachers creates a link with the publicschools, making it more possible formadrasah students to take equivalen-

cy or placement exams in order totransfer to public schools at a laterpoint in the education cycle,” says Dr.Tom Kral, chief of the USAID Office ofEducation in Manila.

According to Moner Bajunaid, anIslamic education specialist based atCreative Associates' project office inCotabato City, the pilot projectappears to be a simple step, but it is ahighly significant one for Islamic edu-cators opening their doors to thePhilippine education system.

“This is the first time that the nationallanguage [Filipino] is being taught inMindanao madaris,” said Bajunaid.“Considering longstanding fears andcultural biases in Mindanao that dateback to the Spanish regime, this is abreakthrough.”

“Among Philippine madaris, the ideaof bringing in the Department ofEducation basic curriculum is in theprocess of becoming universallyacceptable,” says Boransing. “Themain problems lie in implementation,and this is where the internationaldonors are being helpful.”

—EQuALLS Project Staff

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Tom Kral, ChiefUSAID Office of Education in Manila.

africa

Rumbek is one of ten South Sudan towns where Creative Associates, in partnership withUSAID, initiated a strategic town planning project. Last year's Rumbek Town MasterPlan, marked the region's first initiative of public engagement and consensus building atthe municipal and grassroots levels for a comprehensive town plan.

EQuALLS: IMPLEMENTING A STANDARD CURRICULUM, HELPINGMUSLIM STUDENTS ACHIEVE ACADEMIC EXCELLENCEcontinued from page 2

“The involvement of public school teachers in mentoringmadrasah teachers creates a link with the public schools,making it more possible for madrasah students to takeequivalency or placement exams in order to transfer topublic schools at a later point in the education cycle.”

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NEW FACES IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

Thea Andersonjoins Creative'sEducation,Mobilization andCommunicationdivision as aManagementAssociate devotedto the

Afghanistan Primary EducationProgram. Thea brings years of profes-sional experience in project financeand administration, grant and con-tract management, and projectstartup and systems.

Most recently, she served as aDeputy Director and ProgramManager for Save the Children UK inAfghanistan, where she was theprimary liaison and negotiator withproject partners, the Afghan govern-ment, NGOs and international agen-cies. Before that, she was theDirector of Finance andAdministration for CHF Internationalin Iraq, where she managed all finan-cial, administrative, humanresources, and procurement aspectsof microfinance and USAID recon-struction programs valued at $ 61million in central and southern Iraq.

Thea's international experience alsoincludes Azerbaijan, DominicanRepublic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador,Guatemala, Honduras, Jordan,Lebanon, Mexico, Nicaragua,Romania, Serbia/ Montenegro andUzbekistan.

Thea received a bachelor's degree inAnthropology, Women's Studies andInternational Studies from GuilfordCollege in Greensboro, NorthCarolina; and a master's degree inInternational Education from HarvardUniversity in Cambridge,Massachusetts. She is highly profi-cient in Spanish and conversant inArabic.

Zelma Harrisonjoins Creative'sHumanResources Unitas Field HumanResourcesCoordinator.Zelma comes toCreative from

World Learning, where she served asa Senior Administrative Director sinceJanuary 2004.

Through her work at World Learning,Zelma brings valuable experience inthe area of human resources admin-istration. From January 2004 untilher arrival at Creative, she liaisedwith headquarters to provide humanresources support and service fornew and permanent employees, par-ticularly for procedures involvingrecruitment, termination and short-term contract hire. During this time,she was also responsible for securityand emergency preparedness proce-dures for three offices located inWashington, D.C.

Before that, Zelma served with thePeace Corps, as a rural developmentvolunteer in Guinea-Bissau, a deskofficer for East Africa, and finally asan administrative officer in Uganda.Her various positions with the PeaceCorps positioned her to train over-seas staff in a variety of finance-related topics, to oversee humanresources management and to act ascountry director for a limited time inUganda. Knowing what it takes towork successfully overseas, Zelmawill be working closely with our fieldpersonnel from her base at head-quarters.

Zelma received a bachelor's degreein political science from SpelmanCollege in Atlanta, Georgia, and amaster's degree in political sciencefrom the University of Chicago. She iscurrently working towards a secondmaster's degree in conflict analysisand resolution at George MasonUniversity in Alexandria, Virginia. Sheis fluent in Fulani, which belongs tothe Niger-Congo language family.

Natalie Topa joinsCreative'sCommunities inTransition divisionas a ProjectOfficer for theSudanParticipatoryTown Planning

Project. She will be based inRumbek, Southern Sudan and workdirectly with Richard Wagner, SudanProject Director.

Natalie brings valuable experiencesin community development andurban and regional planning toCreative. She recently served as aLong-Term Disaster Recovery/Community Development Specialistfor the Federal EmergencyManagement Agency, where she waspart of a multi-disciplinary effort todevelop a plan for sustainable, long-term disaster recovery in an agricul-tural community after the 2004 hurri-canes.

For the past 3 years, she has workedas an urban planner for EDAW, Inc. aleading international consultancy inurban planning and environmentaldesign. Her accomplishments includethe design of an urban regenerationplan for the City of Miami, whichfocused on the empowerment ofunder-represented minorities andlow-income communities, urbandesign, recreation, tourism, transitvillages, economic development andimplementation strategy.

Natalie received a master's degree inUrban and Regional Planning fromthe University of Colorado at Denverand a bachelor's degree in Sociologyand Human Services from Fort LewisCollege in Durango, Colorado. She isfluent in Spanish and proficient inPolish and French.

asia

EQuALLS: IMPLEMENTING A STANDARDCURRICULUM, HELPING MUSLIM STUDENTSACHIEVE ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

As millions of Filipino children andyouths returned to school toresume their studies of math,

science, English and Filipino lan-guage, about 92,000 others filed intoIslamic community schools where thecurriculum has, until recently, focusedexclusively on the study of the Koran,Islamic subjects and the Arabic lan-guage.

The Muslim community schools,called a madrasah or madaris (for theplural), vary in size and quality. Of theapproximately 1,100 that exist,several dozen are full-time learninginstitutions where the basic course ofstudy, up to the secondary level, takes12 years. Hundreds more are informalschools where students are taught fora few hours on weekends in suchmakeshift classrooms as a mosque, acommunity hall, or the exterior of avillage's Islamic scholar's home.

Although Islamic schools are found inmany areas of the country, includingurban centers like metropolitanManila and Cebu, the single largestnumber, some 440 madaris, arefound in the Autonomous Region inMuslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The Madaris, however, compelled bygovernment orders, are increasinglycomplying with the adoption of a stan-dard curriculum. The nation's leadingeducators, both religious and secular,are starting to appreciate the fact thatall students, whether attending amadrasah or a public school, deservea well-rounded basic education. Toomany youths in Muslim Mindanao aredenied quality basic educations,leading to deplorable consequencesincluding illiteracy, unemployment,poverty, frustration and despair.

“The aim is to have a [madrasah] cur-riculum that is relevant, total and bal-anced, in answer to the aspirations ofFilipinos who want to be goodMuslims and good citizens of theRepublic,” said Salipada Tamano,president of the National Federationof Associations of Madaris and aformer ARMM secretary of education.

In 2004, the issuance of ExecutiveOrder 13 of the office of the ARMMregional government andMemorandum Order 51 of theDepartment of Education, provided astandard curriculum for privately-oper-ated madaris, incorporating the

regular education subjects of English,math, science, Filipino and civics intothe traditional madrasah curriculum.

“Every country has a universal educa-tional system that serves as a basisfor national unity,” says ManarosBoransing, Undersecretary for MuslimAffairs in the Department ofEducation. “In this regard, the provi-sion of the standard curriculum is apositive development for madaris.”

The Department of Education is beingassisted in building the capacity ofmadaris to implement the standardcurriculum by donor organizations,including the U.S. Agency forInternational Development (USAID),and the Australia Agency forInternational Development (AusAID),which assisted in the preparation ofthe curriculum and training modulesin Department of Education subjectsfor the asatitha, or teachers, in Arabic.

A consultative workshop on the imple-mentation of the standard curriculumfor this school year recently was heldin Davao city by ARMM Department ofEducation officials, Islamic educators,and operators of private madaris, with

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Madrasah first-grade students at the Ma'ahad Mahwill Al-Irshadie in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao.

PHOTOS BY:LAZARINA TODOROVA

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WASHINGTON, D.C. - In recognition ofCreative Associates International Inc.'sexpanding expertise in governance, theU.S. Agency for International Developmenthas awarded the Elections and PoliticalProcesses Indefinite Quantity Contract toa Creative Associates-led consortium.

Announced by USAID on Sept. 14, theIndefinite Quantity Contract (IQC), furthersolidifies Creative Associates' position indeveloping innovative programs to helpcountries establish credible electoral andpolitical processes.

“We've done a good deal of work in elec-tions support,” said M. Charito Kruvant,president and CEO of Creative AssociatesInternational Inc., a 26-year-old profes-sional services firm based in WashingtonD.C. with 16 offices worldwide. “Andwe're very honored and pleased to con-tinue to help build sustainable democ-racies through elections and politicalprocesses support.

“Free and fair elections and politicalprocesses are crucial steps toward sus-tainable democracy,” Mrs. Kruvant said.

This five-year IQC offers CreativeAssociates opportunities to assist USAIDmissions and offices seeking to imple-ment activities in support of electionadministration and observation, politicalparty development, civic education andcitizen participation, as well as supportfor local government, legislatures, andcivil society in pre- and post-electionsenvironments.

A leader in civil society strengthening andpost-conflict transitions, CreativeAssociates has developed innovative pro-grams in advocacy and coalition-building,organizational development and civic edu-cation and applied them to electoral and

political processes. Current activitiesinclude a radio-based civic educationcampaign in Haiti and support for thepeace process and civil society in Liberia.

In 2001, the firm was credited withhelping a broad range of Nicaraguanorganizations observe national elections,lending credibility to the process. Creativesupported electoral reform and legislativemodernization in El Salvador, and advoca-cy for democratic reforms in Serbia afterthe fall of Slobodan Milosevic in Serbiaand Montenegro.

In Peru, following the resignation ofPresident Alberto Fujimori, the firm sup-ported congressional and local govern-ment reform through a combined strategyof research and analysis, public aware-

USAID AWARDS CREATIVE ASSOCIATES ELECTIONSAND POLITICAL PROCESSES IQC

CREATIVETIMES

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Produced bbyCommunications and Media Development Unit

ContributorsAlia AfsharKim Mahling Clark Jeff GhannamDick McCallBronwen L. MorrisonAlexandra Pratt Noy VillalobosRichard WagnerThe EQuALLS Project

CREATIVE ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL INC

www.caii.com

Creative Associates International Inc., is a private,

professional services firm headquartered in

Washington, D.C. Since its inception in 1977,

Creative has assisted governments, communities,

NGOs, and private companies worldwide to lead

and manage change.

Local communities support the USAID/OTI Liberia Transition Initiative Accelerated Learning Program by providing local structures forclasses at Lutheran Youth Training Institute in Nyor, Liberia.

5301 Wisconsin Avenue, NWSuite 700Washington, DC 20015

To comment on articles or for more information write to:communications1@caii.com

SUMMER 2005 VOLUME 3, NUMBER 6A QUARTERLY PUBLICATIONSUMMER 2005 VOLUME 3, NUMBER 6A QUARTERLY PUBLICATION

Free and fair elections and political processes arecrucial steps towardsustainable democracy.”

M. Charito KruvantPresident and CEOCreative Associates

“

MINDANAO: Implementing A Standard Curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 2

SOUTHERN SUDAN: Town Planning Responds toUrgent Needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 3

IRAQ: TV Series Encourages PeacefulCoexistence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 4

ALBANIA: Sarah Stephens Says TraffickingPrevention Efforts Take Root . . . . . . . . .page 5

LIBERIA: Life Skills Training for 4,000 Youths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 6

5 Questions with John Stuart Blackton, SeniorStrategic Advisor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 7

KENYA: Creative Associates EstablishesRegional Office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 8

IRAQ: Singing Praises of Operation Harmony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 9

New Faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 11

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

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Worldwide OOffices

AfghanistanAlbaniaBeninGuatemalaHaitiIraqJordan

KenyaLiberiaPanamaPhilippinesNigeriaUgandaSouthern Sudan

Casting a ballot in Iraq.

Design bbygraphics/Creative Associates