AFSANET from the USAID Vice President

April 3 , 2007

Please send any questions or comments to AFSA/USAID Vice President Francisco Zamora at fzamora@usaid.gov.

1) RIP FrontLines, Hello Vanguard: As we have told you before, the longtime USAID newsletter FrontLines has been missing in action since early last year. We are told that this is because all USAID publications are under review. We mentioned some weeks ago that we would be putting out our own “mini- FrontLines” to fill the void, since we believe that our current and retired colleagues should have some way of knowing what is going on at the Agency that doesn’t get covered in Agency notices. We are proud to say that we are now ready to unveil our inaugural issue of The Vanguard. It’s a modest publication, but it covers some of the same bases that FrontLines did. Please click here for the first issue. (464 KB )

2) Farewell: AFSA thanks outgoing HR Director David Eckerson for his solid and honest stewardship of the HR office over the last few years. We have enjoyed working with Dave, and we wish him all the best in his new endeavor. At the same time, we welcome new DAA for Human Resources Gene George, and we look forward to fruitful and open collaboration with him in the coming months and years.

3) Language Training : Our FCS counterpart recently announced the purchase of a number of passwords for Rosetta Stone, an online language learning tool. A number of you wrote in to request a similar program. AFSA in pleased to announce that it was instrumental in working with HR to secure 100 passwords for this software for the use of USAID employees. All the information was included in this March 8 notice, and we hope employees were able to make use of this excellent opportunity.

4) Tax Season is Upon Us : Let AFSA help with your taxes. Our annual tax guide for Foreign Service Officers was published in the February edition of the Foreign Service Journal. For your convenience, we are including a link to the guide right here.

5) We’re Here : As always, we welcome visitors at the AFSA office, which is located in RRB 2.10-C. I am available via phone at 202-712-1631 and via e-mail at fzamora@usaid.gov. Senior Labor Management Advisor Doug Broome is at 202-712-0947 or dbroome@usaid.gov. The main AFSA/USAID number is 202-712-1941, while AFSA HQ is at 202-338-4540.