Back at Sida to work with International Aid Transparency!
It's official! Today I started working for the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) again, but this time as a consultant through my own company Openhearted AB! I won a public procurement for consultancy services and yesterday was the last day for the other companies who also put in bids to appeal the decision, but it seems like none of them did that, so today I was allowed to work my first day on that contract that will last until end of 2015! It was apparently 433 days since I left my previous position at Sida as their Transparency and Social Media Manager, to go work for the World Bank. A colleague saw in the Intranet that I had been "out-of-office" for 433 days, and this picture is actually from my Instagram feed the day I left! :)
This position at Sida is only part-time though so I will continue to work in the Open Aid Partnership Secretariat, hosted in the World Bank Innovation Labs in Washington DC, although I will work remotely for them and be based here i Stockholm. I am very lucky that my managers at the World Bank and at Sida see this as a good opportunity for both them and me, as we see that there are possible synergy effects between the two positions, as my areas of expertise within both organizations are international aid transparency and open development data.
Below you'll find an attempt of a translation of the assignment I will be working on (some words I found difficult to translate, like "omvärldsbevakning" and "kravställan" that were both words in the title...)
Monitoring, communication and setting requirements for increased transparency in international development cooperation
The consultant will work with monitoring international developments in aid transparency and analyze the work to increase access to data and documentation in international development cooperation. The aim is to provide a basis for Swedish priorities and the Swedish work in the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) Secretariat and to support other countries and international aid organizations work to increase transparency. The work will contribute to the Swedish commitments to transparency in aid. It will be done in close cooperation with other countries and organizations involved in the consortium that constitute the Secretariat, as well as the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Sida transparency manager. The work includes to on behalf of Sida and Sweden provide support and participate in communication activities for other donor countries to pursue and enhance their implementation of the international transparency agenda. In addition, to participate in efforts to spread awareness of IATI and the international transparency work to donors who have not yet implemented transparency efforts according to the IATI standard.
I am very glad to be back at Sida and it was amazing to come to the office today and be welcomed by old colleagues with hugs and smiling faces telling me they are happy to have me back!! <3
