Communication consultant / Program officer
USAID/Egypt projects (Communication for Healthy Living, Media Development Prgm, Health Systems 20/20
Total years of experience :30 years, 9 Months
Strategic Communication Consultant, June 2011-present
Health Systems 20/20 Egypt (Abt Associates for USAID)
Compiling and presenting project accomplishments in multiple formats: progress reports, professional case studies, online articles, presentations.
Media strategy for public events.
Media Consultant and Editor, October 2008-June 2011
Media Development Program (Management Systems International for USAID)
Undertook capacity assessment of newspapers in three Egyptian governorates.
Designed technical assistance to local newspapers including memoranda of understanding, development plan, business plan outline, and management information system.
Advised, analyzed and reported on study of local news content.
Editor of the program’s technical progress reports to USAID.
Editor of MDP web site, English version.
Write communications materials for the project as needed.
Program Officer II, Communication Advisor, September 2008-February 2011
Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs, Egypt office
Online communications: Developed strategy, vision and work plans for web projects (www.sehetna.com.eg and www.askconsult.org). Recruited, trained and manage three-person web team
Monitoring and evaluation: Responsible for periodic technical progress reports to USAID, tracking of private-sector contributions, compliance with congressional family planning rules, design of data record for training and outreach results. Documentation of project activities including field visits, press releases, submissions to USAID and university newsletters.
Program design: Draft work plans, concept briefs, schedules, budgets, staff scopes of work.
Business development: Write proposals, contracts, scopes of work, memoranda of understanding.
Technical assistance in e-publishing, communications, planning to center field staff and partners.
Institutional relations: Liaise with USAID, counterparts. Prepare presentations, speeches.
Graduate instructor, spring 2007, School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Taught introductory news writing and reporting to 32 students. Wrote syllabus, lectured twice weekly, prepared and graded tests and weekly lab exercise, supervised two teaching assistants, and provided individual feedback and tutoring to students.
Lab instructor, fall 2005 and spring 2006, School of Journalism and Mass Communication. For copy-editing and page design course. Mini-lectures on editing, ethics, and page design with InDesign software, online journalism. Grading, tutoring, leading discussions. Maintained course web site.
Teaching assistant for online course on immigrant health and cross-cultural communications; research assistant for project on immigrant relations, fall 2006, Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs.
Senior Technical Editor and Reviewer
Environmental Quality International, Cairo, Egypt, August 2004-May 2005
Editing: Responsible for ensuring the quality of most studies and issue papers; and of selected documents for contract bids. In addition to editing for format and professionalism, this entailed scrutinizing documents for factual and technical accuracy and compliance with contractual requirements.
Training: Coached other employees on writing. Trained and reviewed the work of a junior editor; wrote company style guide and report format.
Communications: Designed and launched the company’s monthly newsletter. This required monitoring and summarizing all company projects and proposals.
Public Outreach Specialist
U.S. Agency for International Development/Egypt February 2003-March 2004
Public information: Lead employee for production of public materials including press releases and fact sheets about project announcements and events; responsible for gathering, checking, and rewriting the annual “status” report. These duties required obtaining information from technical staff and some 50 external contractors and grantees; writing and formatting documents and converting to web version. Drafted speeches and talking points for USAID/Egypt director and U.S. Ambassador to Cairo for use at events and press conferences. Updated organization’s web site and distributed e-mail newsletter.
Publicity planning: Coordinated scheduling of public and official events by updating organization-wide calendar. Advised USAID managers on publicity strategy. Held primary responsibility for compiling and editing briefing materials for organization directors to prepare for participation in public events and meetings.
Communications Consultant
Abt Associates Inc., USAID/Egypt project Agriculture-Led Export Businesses
November 2002-February 2003
Investors’ Guide to the Egyptian Food-Processing Industry: I produced this guide as a brochure and web site.
Magazine writer September 2001 to October 2002
Egypt: Business Today Egypt, Egypt Today, American University in Cairo’s AUC Today, Oil & Gas North Africa, PC World Egypt, Cairo Times.
Reported and wrote articles for English-language magazines in Cairo; emphasis on international relations in trade and politics. Copy editing and page layout with Quark software.
National editor
Internet Broadcasting, St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S. June 1999 to August 2001
National Convergence Editor: November 2000-August 2001. Oversaw the quick production of online content packages that expanded upon TV stations’ on-air news coverage. Coordinated five employees in producing such packages; communicated with 40 web-site managers to promote the packages and gauge stations’ needs. Wrote brief television scripts.
National Features Editor: June 1999-November 2000. Designed, launched and updated the company’s first system-wide content areas, devoted to technology, health and money. Edited the work of 14 columnists and five staff writers.
Legislative and political reporter
Duluth News-Tribune newspaper, Minnesota March 1996-June 1999
Correspondent at state capitol during three legislative sessions. Filed numerous daily deadline news stories, weekly analysis/feature, and monthly summary of all covered legislation. As the sole staff on site, surveyed all legislation and related political events and developed enterprise ideas. Covered select executive branch agencies.
Legislative and political reporter
Evansville Press newspaper, Indiana July 1993-February 1996
Correspondent at state capitol during three legislative sessions.
Reporter-editor
Press Publications, west suburban Chicago November 1992-July 1993
Lakeland Newspapers, north suburban Chicago* March-November 1992
Focus: Global Public Policy, strategic communications for advocacy. Capstone paper: “Relations between Federal Law-Enforcement and Muslims in Minnesota: Analysis, Recommendations, and Strategy.” Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships., June 2007-May 2008 for studies in Arabic language, human rights law. Awarded by the U.S. Department of Education. Mary A. McEvoy Award for Public Engagement and Leadership, 2008 President’s Student Leadership and Service Award, University of Minnesota, 2008 Best group paper in public affairs, Univ. of Minnesota Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, 2007
Columbia Scholastic Press Association, Gold Circle Award, page one design, 1991 Edmund J. James Scholar and Cohn Scholar in the Humanities, University of Illinois, 1987-1988