jibgar joshi

Reflections on Impacts of Humphrey Fellowship

 

2005

 

Jibgar Joshi

 

Some of my reminisces of the Humphrey Year appeared in June 1999 in the Commemorative Issue 1979 – 1999 of Nepal Association of Humphrey Fellows (NAHF). A decade has passed and the impact of the program is still being realized. That deepens the memory all the more. My ability to make a difference with the deepening of the impact has increased over time. But I have no space here for a revisit to the memories of the Year. I will better focus here on the decade that has just come to an end.

 

I am fortunate in many ways. I got the mini- grant and was lucky enough to time it also to attend the 20^th Anniversary Conference “Building a World Together: The Humphrey Legacy” of the HHH Program. I completed the first part of my mini-grant program at San Diego. My flight from St. Louis to Washington was delayed and the airport of disembarkation was changed. I got the luggage the next morning. I was late for the opening reception. But the excitement of the event was so great that all the inconvenience went unnoticed. The event was remarkable with opportunities to meeting people who have influenced me in a marked way; and also friends. Two Fellows from Nepal got the Leadership Award. I enjoyed receiving it on behalf of one of them and carrying it back home. A special event was held in Kathmandu to acknowledge the awards.

 

I spent some more days in Washington D.C. and met Mr. Duane Kissick, the President of PADCO. He was so nice to organize a dinner meeting for me at his home with other friends from the World Bank who had worked in Nepal. They were deeply concerned with the urban issues of Kathmandu.

 

I had the privilege of serving NAHF as the President. I am glad to recall that some simple changes that I initiated during my tenure in order to make the Association more effective, have sustained. I could clearly relate these with what I learnt during the Humphrey Year. I got opportunities in addressing at different gatherings. And I feel proud having been able to extol some of the ideals of the program. For example, in the launching program of the book “Good Governance”, in the course of my speech, I remarked:

 

It may be, in order, to speak of the potentials of Humphrey Fellows in making the changes in governance and in practicing good governance. Let me recall that HHH Fellowship Program is designed for promising professionals from different walks of public life in their mid-career to spend a year in the U. S. A. to discover their potentials of leadership for public service. They get the necessary freedom to pull in and develop their latent potentials; and on their return home they own the ability to make a difference in the areas of their service and governance. The program provides the Fellows with an opportunity to know how the American system works to mobilize the private sector and community actions. Some of us must have observed the order and harmony that bind different sectors together and learnt the American ways of getting things happen. Things which are too costly to be monitored and regulated are left out of the government control.

 

We also had opportunities to make contacts with Fellows from the region. A dozen of Fellows attended the Agra Conference. Mr. Liqun Jin, Vice President of Asian Development Bank and himself a Fellow, managed to get time for us out of his very busy schedule in Kathmandu to join us for a luncheon meeting. (photos attached).

 

I recently worked, for more than a year, as an Expert on Managing for Development Results. Despite resistances to a shift to a results culture, I felt I succeeded in making a difference. As I look back, I feel The Humphrey Year has helped me to persist for making a difference.

 

I look forward for more opportunities in the future.

Malaysia 2008

 

 

Time period of travel during which activities were accomplished: November 28 to December 7, 2008.

 

Major activities accomplished:

A)    Participation in the 2^nd ICBEDC at Penang, Malaysia, December 3 – 5.

 

I attended the international conference on built environment n developing countries organized by the School of Housing, Building and Planning, University Sains Malaysia (USM) as a presenter/speaker. I made a power point presentation of my paper entitled “Sustainable Ways of Managing for Environmental Services in Nepal” on December 4.

 

 

 

 

 

Making the oral presentation

 

 

Participants listening to my presentation

 

 

 

The conference proved to be useful in updating my knowledge on the fields of my current professional interest. Besides the two key note speeches, there were 155 full papers.

(www.hbp.usm.my/HBPConference/New_Folder2/icbedc08%20Website/AcceptedFullPapers/List%20of%20accepted%20fullpapers001)

 

The conference is about bridging the gap between theory and practice in the context of sustainable built environment. I have found the Malaysian experience in the management of built environment to be of direct relevance to the case of Nepal in many aspects. As a result, I now feel more confident and comfortable in the writing of my forthcoming book “Management of Urban Environment in Nepal”.

 

 

 

 

Plenary Session

 

 

 

Attending the plenary session

We had the cultural program and dinner party in the late evening of 3^rd December. It was a great occasion of getting closer. I got a good opportunity to deepen my contact with the organizers.

 

 

At the dinner with Prof. Ramli, Dean of the School of

Housing, Building and Planning, Prof Abu Hassan (principal contact),

Key-note speaker Prof. Takahasi (left) and others.

 

 

 

Cultural Program

 

 

 

 

With Prof. Ramli (centre), during the

Cultural Program, Dec. 3.

 

I also joined the post conference tour on December 5. It provided another good opportunity to renew some old contacts and make new ones. For instance, I met Mr. Shahid Sohail from Pakistan. More than a decade ago, I had visited his project site when he briefed us, a group of senior executives from Nepal, about his project site of Simli Dam in Islamabad. I also met participants from Centre for Housing, Building and Planning, Bandung, Indonesia, which I visited in 1994.

 

The conference provided a good forum for networking with professionals working on sustainable built environment in different parts of the world.

 

I left Penang for Kuala Lumpur on December 6^th by bus and returned home via Singapore on December 7^th.

 

 

 

 

B)   Seminar Meeting at LESTARI, Bangi, Malaysia, December, 2.[1]

 

LESTARI (meaning sustainable in Malay) is the Institute for Environment and Development, University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).  Prof. Chamhuri Siwar, Principal Fellow of the Institute was kind to organize the meeting. He made a special arrangement for me to address the Faculty, Ph.D. and Graduate Students. I made a power point presentation of the paper entitled “Sustainable Urbanization in Nepal: opportunities and challenges.” at the seminar meeting. My presentation was followed by discussions and the possibilities of collaborative works. Prof. Chamhuri Siwar chaired the meeting and moderated the discussions. The abstract of the paper is available at

http:\\www.ewarga4.ukm.my/ewarga/pdf/112008/21-87.pdf

 

 

 

Presenting the paper at LESTARI

 

 

 

 

 

 

With Prof. Siwar at the seminar meeting

 

 

 

 

Prof Siwar listening to my presentation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deputy Director and Fellows listening to my presentation

 

Before the seminar, we had discussions and I presented my latest three books to Prof. Siwar. In the mean time, he introduced me to Deputy Director and other personnel and acquainted me about the activities of LESTARI.

 

 

With Prof.  Mohd. Shafeea Leman, Deputy Director (left) and Principal Fellow Dr. Shaharuddin Mohmad Ismail

 

 

 

 

 

 

With Dr. Halimaton (centre) and Prof. Siwar (with books I gave)

 

Dr. Halimaton, Principal Fellow, recognized me; we both attended the international conference on Land Readjustment (LR) at Kobe, Japan, in 1995. After my presentation, we discussed the development of the LR project in Kathmandu, the case study of which I had presented in 1995.

 

Prof. Siwar gave me some publications of LESTARI. They are of great value for me and highly relevant to the writing of my forthcoming book.

 

Receiving the LESTARI publications from Prof. Siwar

 

 

 

During the lunch, we had discussions on furthering collaborative efforts. Prof. Siwar has agreed to visit Nepal at his earliest convenience.

 

C.      City tour of Kuala Lumpur on November 30.

 

I had a city tour of Kuala Lumpur on November 30. The tour helped me to better understand the management of built environment in Malaysia. It facilitated my interactions at Penang and LESTARI.

 

The above activities have fulfilled the set objectives through enriching and updating my knowledge, making new contacts and deepening old ones. The knowledge gained will be used in the writing of the proposed book.  I will be publishing the papers soon. I look forward for exchange programs between Nepali institutes and USM and UKM. These institutes so far do not have any students from Nepal and they have shown interest in having them. There will be more of information sharing in the days to come. On the whole the outcomes of the above activities have become a good asset in writing the proposed book. The activities will have impact on the teaching, research and writing that I am doing. The grant has encouraged me to intensify the networking that is critical for my professional development.