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Living in Luxembourg Business Booster Website Provides Timely Sales Opportunities Celebrating Excellence Department Leaders Honor Stellar Employees, FSNs state.gov/statemag January 2014 Living in Luxembourg Country's Geography Belies Important Regional Role January 2014 // Issue Number 585 10 Celebrating Excellence Department honors top achievers Features 7 Eye on IDPs Development planning yields results 8 Business Booster Site passes leads to firms 14 FSNs of the Year Awardees have people skills 17 Unchanging Mission 14 Chennai’s work similar after a century 18 A Healthier World Office strengthens health diplomacy 20 Luxembourg Nation a great place to work 24 Full Circle Brothers jointly mark careers’ end Columns 2 Post One 3 In the News 6 Diversity Notes 18 26 In Brief 28 Appointments 29 Lying in State 30 Safety Scene 31 Obituaries 32 End State On the Cover A spinning ride entertains attendees at the Schueberfouer, Luxembourg City’s annual fair, which has been held in Limpertsberg since 1340. Photo by Gwenaël Piaser 24 Post One BY ISAAC D. PACHECO Editor-in-Chief Isaac D. Pacheco // [email protected] Deputy Editor Ed Warner // [email protected] Associate Editor Bill Palmer // [email protected] Art Director Peter Ziff // [email protected] In Retrospect Editorial Intern Karen A. Reitman // [email protected] As we herald a new year, we take a look back at some of the stories that stood out Contacting Us in 2013, and a look forward at a number of 301 4th Street SW, Room 348 initiatives that Department employees are Washington DC 20547 [email protected] tackling in 2014. Last year, a distinguished Phone: (202) 203-7115 statesman joined the ranks of State Department Fax: (202) 203-7142 leadership when John Kerry became the 68th Secretary of State in February. The Department Change of Address gained not only a foreign affairs expert, but Send changes of addresses to our staff a leader whose intimate understanding of using the contact information above. diplomacy has guided his public service career, In this issue, we highlight a select group Please include your previous mailing and which continues to inform his daily of individuals who have routinely gone address. engagement with world leaders. above and beyond the call to advance and While gains in leadership and successes in Submissions support Department priorities. Recognized For details on submitting articles to diplomacy buoyed spirits in the Department, for their contributions by Secretary Kerry State Magazine, request our guidelines which was once again recognized as one of the during the annual Department Awards by email at [email protected] or best places to work in America, our poignant ceremony at HST, these men and women download them from state.gov/statemag. losses left scars on our hearts and minds. We embody founding father and first Secretary State Magazine does not purchase mourned the deaths of fallen friends and of State Thomas Jefferson’s credo: “Peace freelance material. coworkers, taken too soon while striving to and friendship with all mankind is our make the world a better place in some of its wisest policy …” Read the full citations and Deadlines The submission deadline for the March most perilous regions. The names chiseled more about these fascinating individuals in into stone and unveiled last May in the issue is January 15. The deadline for the our awards section beginning on page 10. April issue is February 15. Department’s hallowed passageways—Stevens, Whether striving to follow in the Smith, Doherty, Woods, Smedinghoff, footsteps of the aforementioned awardees, State Magazine (ISSN 1099–4165) is Abdelfattah, Fandino and Savage—were stark or simply working to achieve new personal published monthly, except bimonthly in reminders of the sometimes dangerous work goals, Department employees have the July and August, by the Bureau of Human Foreign Service professionals tackle on a daily tools to succeed. The Career Development Resources at the U.S. Department of State. basis. Resource Center’s article on Individual It is intended for information only and is Those names and the lives they represented Development Plans (pg. 7), takes an not authority for official action. Views and have also inspired Civil Service and Foreign inside look at how this self-evaluation and opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the Department of State. The Service employees, who forge ahead despite planning tool can help employees not only social, political, cultural or geographic editorial team reserves the right to select reach their career objectives, but also make and edit all materials for publication. challenges. The good work our overseas posts a lasting impression. engage in daily cannot be overstated, nor In 2014, I look forward to sharing our Follow Us Online appropriately summarized in this short column. contributors’ new adventures and success Suffice it to say, State Department employees’ stories. state.gov/statemag accomplishments ensured that State Magazine’s facebook.com/statemagazine pages never lacked for content in 2013. Happy New Year! @statemag state.gov/rss/channels/ statemag.xml flickr.com/statemagazine 2 STATE MAGAZINE // JANUARY 2014 In the News Secretary Speaks at Work/Life Event On Oct. 30, Secretary of State John Kerry announced a pilot program to offer backup dependent care for Department employees, streamlined procedures and centralized funding for job shares, and the launch of a new childcare facility. He spoke at a National Work and Family Life Month event co-hosted by the employee organization called Balancing Act and the Work/Life Division of the Bureau of Human Resources. The Secretary spoke about his personal experience with work-life issues, and said his Senate office was “always ahead of the curve” in offering flexibility to employees. He said Department leaders must integrate work-life considerations into office practices. Speaking to assistant secretaries and senior leaders, he said: “Make it happen. We all have a stake in creating more flexible work arrangements. They can work for us. Every survey shows how important this is in order to keep talent and attract the next generation of talent, so I want to make this workplace a model in the United States government for Secretary of State John Kerry stands at center alongside Professor Stewart Friedman and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Resources (HR) success.” Marcia Bernicat. Photo by Michael Gross Guest speaker Wharton Professor Stewart Friedman, founding director of the Wharton Project on Work-Life Integration, said leaders at all levels leaders who have employed flexibility to enhance morale, productivity must consider the impact of their decisions on themselves and their fami- and retention. Balancing Act will soon host a digital videoconference lies, communities and workplace. By seeking “four-way wins” among these with Dogu, who will share her approach to these issues. different domains, leaders can enhance productivity and achieve more Founded in 2011, Balancing Act helps the Department enhance authentic leadership and better results. productivity and attract, retain and motivate its workforce by suggest- At the event, Balancing Act presented its first annual Award for Excel- ing and supporting policies that allow for better work-life balance. lence in Work-Life Leadership to Laura Dogu, deputy chief of mission More information is available online: http://lmlist.state.gov (click on at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. The award recognizes Department the Balancing Act list). Embassy Dakar Staff, Family Members Swim to Island swimmers sometimes tire and give up, seeking a ride on the accompanying supply boats. Several swimmers from the embassy started meeting on Friday afternoons to practice for the event at a nearby beach, from which they swam to a small island a half−kilometer away. Starting with just one round-trip swim, the group built endurance and resistance to the salty Atlantic water and were soon able to swim a few kilometers. During the week, they did laps in pools at Mission staff members who swam in the event gather with their children and friends at the starting their homes or at the embassy. beach. Staff members are, at rear from left, Andrea Capellan, Sariah Toze, Kristin Kane, Jill Randall and In the Sept. 29 Traversée, five embassy employees, plus Mary de Boer. three children of employees, participated in the event Photo by Lamine Kane with other Americans, including a Fulbright scholar, Senegal’s 12 months of sunshine and 10 months of moderate schoolteacher and visiting Iowa professor. temperatures make the sport of swimming popular with residents and Consular Assistant Sariah Toze, a marathoner but not a competitive employees of the U.S. Embassy in Dakar. Annually, the big swimming swimmer, called it “a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I appreciated the event is the “Traversée,” or crossing, to Gorée Island, three miles off boats and guidance. While there were times that I wondered if I was Dakar’s coast and Senegal’s most visited site due to its role in the slave going in the right direction, I never once felt that I was left out to sea.” trade. All five embassy swimmers reached the island. For Toze and two The 26-year-old swim event, held by Senegal’s national swimming other swimmers, it was their final go, as they soon will depart post. federation, draws hundreds of swimmers for its professional and However, the other embassy swimmers plan to swim next year, and amateur open-water swim courses. In the often strong current, recruit new athletes. STATE MAGAZINE // JANUARY 2014 3 Embassy Accra Brightens Orphans' Day Members of the U.S. Embassy community in Accra, Ghana, recently donated school supplies to Ghanaian orphans and street children, who were the embassy’s guests for a day of fun. Office Management Specialist Victoria Toussaint and other mission members coordinated the event, which hosted more than 112 Ghanaian children to play games such as a tug−of−peace and potato−sack race, have their faces painted, eat snacks and enjoy the company of each other and mission staff.
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