A University of Calgary associate professor made international waves for his work in Afghanistan. Dr. Lorne Jaques is most known for his work with hopeful students through a United Nations program, but is now stepping down as senior director of University of Calgary Global–a program that organizes the international presence of the university.
Picked for the role of director for the UN Institute for Training and Research in New York from an alleged 400 applicants and with experience in over 30 countries, Jaques fit the bill perfectly. Director from 2002 to 2004, he worked on a unique project with UNITAR Hiroshima that allows young Afghani professionals to collaborate with other professionals from around the world. The university and UN work together on the project to train a group of middle managers and intermediate civil servants in Afghanistan to utilize their skills and put together their own projects. It is still active with another a year of confirmed funding.
“Afghanistan doesn’t have enough money of it own to finance a public health program, a roads program, and all the things that a government does,” said Jaques. “The point [of the project] is the process of identifying a need or an opportunity, assembling the resources, putting together a curriculum or a program, and finding some way to evaluate it in the end.”
UNITAR’s role is to teach a handful of Afghanis how to look for external funding from donor countries or elsewhere. The project takes the abilities and hopes the Afghanis already have and helps highlight them in group discussions, personal assignments and presentations. Connecting with individuals in a country too unsafe to allow mentors to travel was an obstacle, but an audio-conferencing software created by a Calgary-based company called Elluminate Live! let people connect from various time zones in one virtual place.
Jaques, however, said he would be prepared to travel to Afghanistan to get a true sense of the country and to show his Afghani students his sincerity in helping them.
“Talking as an administrator here, we have to protect and honour the obligation we have to the safety of our staff. On a personal level, as a person committed to the principles of development and on the basis of the relationship I’ve established with these Afghanis, I would take the risk.”
Jaques prefers to see himself as equal to his colleagues in Afghanistan rather than be called their mentor.
“The people I’ve worked with in Afghanistan are brilliant,” he said. “It’s hard to think of myself as any better than those people. It’s a privilege and a humbling experience to work with these people.”
He explained how awed he is by their ability to find moments of joy even when many have suffered great personal sacrifices and lost family to landmines and Taliban raids.
Recently, the Afghani colleagues had the opportunity to fly to India to meet their mentors during workshops.