Work (but wait! I promise flames)

I just finished up a busy two weeks of work that included a mission from Geneva, a joint ILO/UNDP conference on poverty reduction, economic growth and employment, and a workshop on youth participation in policy development. We've come to a point in the National Action Plan where we need to move into the next phase, which is th actual crux of the thing: policy recommendations. With that comes pulling in some new players to help get through the process. The mission sharpened up where we are and where we're headed. More than anything, I felt that this NAP is more than just policy on youth employment- which in itself is an enormous undertaking for Egypt, a country where unemployment is arguably the most crippling challenge facing the country's development- but the NAP is an exercise in creating policy through collaboration. With ministries working independently of each other, and the lack of trust between the private sector and the government, and then add to this the inclusion of youth participation, this NAP collaboration is ambitious, and from what I understand, a monumental move here in Egypt.
As for the conference, I was the rapporteur, which means that I kept my pencil sharp and scribbled down every word I heard in order to produce a final report. The experience reminded me of joining my dad at his work conferences for reception parties when I was younger. Instead of engineers, they were economists. They look remarkbly the same. At the end o the first day, I even played a ound of squash. It was a regional conference for the Middle East and North Africa, which really highlighted how diverse MENA can be, from the oil based economies of the Gulf that are supported by migrant workers to Egypt with its educated masses of unemployed young people.
As part of my work with the Youth Employment Network, I was one of the organizers for the workshop. My first task: find a venue. This might sound simple, but I assure you, it was not. To outline the various challenges that came my way on this journey would take too long, so let me just bring you to the end- at long last, I settled on a venue (the only venue I could locate that could accomodate our booking large booking on two weeks' notice) and the day before the international participants arrived, this venue burned down. That's right, not just a little fire in the kitchen, but balls of burning flames this is the real deal FIRE. As the optimistic ones chimed: the good news is that the fire didn't happen during the conference. There were some moments of panic when we heard the news, but in the end the organizing team pulled through and we ended up at a great location for the workshop. I gave a couple of presentations explaining Egypt's NAP process, but mostly listened and learned from the trainer and youth delegates for the five days. There are lots of interesting youth ngos here and their work is fresh, even though they face many challanges.
Which brings me to my celebration. In the last twenty-four hours I have drank enough strawberry juice to fill a camel's hump, smoked enough sheesha to burst a lung and, ah yes, had a massage at the opulent Marriott Palace. I also took one of the donors on a three hour crash through Cairo which included the pyramids, haggling for scarves and ash trays in the Khan and eating a plate of cousherie before her flight to Nairobi. All it takes is a little effort, and a good taxi driver to see this city strut.