The Foreign Service Journal, March 2008

V.P. VOICE: USAID BY FRANCISCO ZAMORA An Open Letter to Administrator Fore C ongratulations on your historic accomplishment in being confirmed as the first femaleUSAIDadministrator. Your qualifications have been justly recognized and your per- formance during your first few months on the job has been impressive. AFSA acknowledges that you are stepping into a challenging environment in an agency experiencing enormous change: in the space of seven years, we have witnessed the depar- ture of two administrators, participated in two major reorga- nizations, begun work in war zones and experienced a radi- cal change in our relationship with the State Department. All USAID employees have felt the stress of these changes. With only one year left in your tenure to accomplish your goals, I take the liberty of offering some observations and recom- mendations that I hope can support your efforts to improve our agency. As you will surely agree, the greatest strength of any organi- zation is its people. Ensuring that the staff is well motivated and fairly treated shouldbe a priority. For this reason, we believe that Foreign Service conditions of employment at USAID must be brought more into line with those of the State Department. As USAIDmoves closer operationally to the StateDepartment struc- ture, there canbe no further justification for continuing the exist- ing double standard. Unlike our State colleagues, USAID offi- cers do not have access to benefits such as student loan reim- bursement, language training for spouses, difficult-to-staff incen- tive differentials,USAAmembership for newofficers or adequate per diem rates for long-term training, among other things. Affording preferential treatment to some groups is unjusti- fied and amounts to conferring second-class citizen status on USAID FSOs. While lack of funding has always been the agen- cy’s response to our requests to redress inequities, we believe it has beenmore due to a lack of management will than an empty wallet. Priorities need to be revisited. ForeignServicemembers also report tous their extreme con- cern over hardships created by the lack of overseas comparabil- ity pay. When they accept overseas assignments, officers ranked FS-1 and below must endure an almost 21-percent cut in the salary that they would otherwise receive inWashington. Senior Foreign Service officers working side-by-side with these lower- grade officers are not penalized in this way. The result is that service outside the U.S. is becoming less and less attractive eco- nomically, especially when officers are forced to live on just one salary per household due to lack of employment for spouses at most posts. BothState andUSAIDofficershave the sameneeds andendure the same risks (witness the tragic deaths of several USAID offi- cers during the last few years). Regrettably, the overseas pay dispari- ty extends even into death. The fam- ilies of those employees assignedover- seas who are killed in the line of duty are also being shortchanged by 21 percent due to the overseas pay gap. The calculation of the one-year death gratuity award- edunder Section413of theForeignServiceAct of 1980 (as amend- ed) excludes Washington locality pay. However, the surviving familyof aForeignService employeebased in theU.S. but detailed overseas on temporary duty who dies in the line of duty would receive the additional compensation derived from locality pay. Equally, since the introductionof anewpay structure for theSenior Foreign Service, the pay, and thus the death gratuity, is now the same inboth situations for an SFS employee. It is therefore con- ceivable that if twoormore officers die in the same incident over- seas, their benefits would be radically different. Such inequities should not be tolerated. And yet, despite these conditions, USAID members con- tinue to answer the call to duty. Since our initial involvement in Iraq, USAID has filled all of its slots on a completely vol- untary basis. TheUSAID staff has stepped up to the plate. They now wait to see if USAID management will respond in kind to their many concerns. In the interest of full disclosure, I should add thatmost FSOs are very concerned about the creation of the “F Bureau” and “agency reforms.” They arenot convinced that the agency ismov- ing in the right direction. Not surprisingly, a recent AFSA sur- vey of USAIDofficers shows that only 16 percent ratemorale as good; close to 80 percent believe things are getting worse. It is time to step back to see if all these “reforms” are truly benefiting the agency. We shouldhave the courage to change course if they are not. AFSA is ready to help. Our recent member survey also indicates that a large part of the staff supports your efforts (45 percent judged you positive- ly), and about an equal number (48 percent) are giving you the opportunity and time toact beforedeciding. AFSAespecially con- gratulates you on your outstanding commitment to diversity in the agency as evidenced by your funding increases for recruit- ment. I hope that the issues raised in this letter will help informyou and initiate a dialog to improve the current situation. Many of these matters are within your authority, and your person- al involvement in implementing the agenda above will be great- ly appreciated. We stand by your side and look forward to our partnership. MA R CH 2 0 0 8 / F OR E I GN S E R V I C E J OU R N A L 63 A F S A N E W S