Update and getting engaged.

GirmaD

Dear Fellows, please find below some questions from the Knowledge and Library Services Section. The questions seek some updates on your experiences so far, with the aim of giving you the opportunity to learn from each other's challenges and best practices. We look forward to receiving your contributions and responses over the next 10 days (by 26 January 2018)

Which Division are you in?
With Whom do you work with?
What are you working on?
What are your experiences so far?
What are your challenges?
What do you need to work better?
What is your subject of interest for the Libguide?

CharFomum

I am in the African Climate Policy Centre of Special Initiatives Division
I work with all the experts in the African Climate Policy Centre and I am supervised by the Officer in Charge, Dr James Murombedzi
I am currently working on African States and the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)
I am tapping quite a lot from the climate governance pool and hope to be an expert in climate governance in the nearest future. my colleagues are friendly and are helping me a lot in my work.
So far, the challenge is time constraint; balancing my research with the daily work of my division to meet up with the limited time I have
I need more time to be able to finish my program, more supervision and guidance
my subject of interest in the Libguide is gender and climate change, though I still need to discuss with my supervisor and other colleagues for their inputs and contributions

Chris

Special Initiatives Division (SID – New Technologies and Innovation Section).
I work mainly with the experts in the section.
I am working on the Blockchain Technology.
I am learning a lot from the Section (NTIS) working with very smart people.
The main challenge is that the section does not match (well) with my background, neither experience nor educational background. But I am doing my best to adapt!

mdiabate

I am in DoA/HRSS.
I work independently for the most part but my supervisor is Sajiv Nair.
I am currently doing an impact assessment on one of the learning and development programs.
My experiences thus far include understanding the administrative function of ECA and everyone's responsibility in working together to facilitate and support the substantive program areas, in order to better accomplish their goals.
Accessing the proper information and gathering data from colleagues in order to properly gauge the impacts of programs or make recommendations in key areas of HR's work.
I would like to have more collaboration and information sharing with colleagues in order to have the most comprehensive reports possible and also not to reproduce and regurgitate content.
I am interested in administrative reforms and how the implementation of these reforms affect the overall work environment and the day to day operations of staff.

Bethlehem_Argaw

I am in the Regional Integration and Trade Division (RITD)/Investment Policy Section (IPS).
I work with experts in the section. My direct supervisor is Wafa Aidi and our section head is Laura Paez Heredia.
I am working on developing UNECA’s Compendium on African Investment. The compendium contains data on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and intra-African investment flows for all African countries at the aggregate level as well as disaggregated by country of origin and economic sector. The information contained in the compendium is planned to be updated continuously and is meant to become an empirical basis for research on FDI in Africa, which in turn will be used to inform decision makers in the area of investment policies on the continent.
My main task includes 1) gathering and compiling Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Intra-African Investment data for all member states from various international and national data sources, 2) analyzing the trend and pattern of FDI flows to the continent and intra-African investment flows, 3) producing investment profile for all member states.
In the meantime, I am also working on my research paper tentatively titled "Gender Parity in Human Capital and Intra-African Investment: Evidence from Threshold Regression". The main objective is to examine, using econometric methods, whether a country’s level of gender parity in education influences the flows of foreign investment.
Though neither investment nor regional integration were my fields of expertise, I am very blessed to join the Investment Policy Section. The quality of leadership and mentorship is the main reason why.
Prior to joining the fellowship program, my education and work mainly focused on social development issues like health, education, employment and wages. It remains an ongoing challenge to align my field of interest with my current work. My supervisor was very helpful in assisting me choose a topic for my research paper that could create a link between the two.
For the Libguide, I am planning to write on "Investment for Africa's Transformation".