Two Hats

I have two hats to wear at work. My terms of reference have two parts: one to work on gender programmes and other as a special assistant to the head of the agency. So, some meetings I am wearing the gender hat and other occasions I am wearing the other hat. This gets a bit confusing at times, and I try to make sure I am aware of what role I am supposed to play in each setting.

I still do not feel that I am “working working”. Off course I have been working, but I have not been given substantial tasks to manage by myself. For the gender part, I have been involved in making the work plan for this year. Our work is roughly divided into two parts: response to gender based violence (GBV) and participation of women in nation/ peace building after the conflict. We have come up with strategies as to how we allocate our resources in these two areas. I look forward to implementing the activities that we are planning in collaboration with government agencies and national NGOs. Gender is a new unit established last year. We presented our general work plan for this year in an internal meeting this week. We were applauded for our effort, and the team members (three including myself) were very happy. I feel that we are developing a team spirit, and I really like my manager and the colleague.   

As for my other responsibility, I am also feeling my way into the role. I have never worked as a special assistant before. Even though I have a set of responsibilities written on a piece of paper, I am still not very clear how this translates to actual work. So far, I have accompanied my boss to some courtesy visits, helped writing a speech/ remark for an external event, participated in important meetings, researched some issues and compiled relevant information. This role can be challenging as you need to understand systems, procedures and other overarching issues of the agency. At the same time, it is a great opportunity to learn and gain experience. I am very grateful to have this kind of exposure. I am just very anxious to get to the point where I can contribute substantially and produce “results” for my two positions. My past 1 month and a bit flew by so fast, so I really want to make best out of the two years, which is bound to go very quickly.