A Development Legacy: Life Lessons from the Field
Yvette Malcioln had always dreamed of working overseas, but it was a two-year Peace Corps tour in Ghana that guided her to a career in international development.
“I’d always believed in making the world a better place,” she reflects. “That experience showed me how it could be done.”
Malcioln returned from Ghana and headed to Washington, DC, where she was hired by a government contractor as a Program Manager for the US Agency for International Development’s (USAID) New Entry Training Program for International Development Interns (IDI). The position offered ample opportunity to learn about the Agency and interface with senior USAID staff, which encouraged her to apply as a direct hire. Having been forewarned about the lengthy hiring process, Malcioln submitted an application and decided to accept a recruitment job at Peace Corps. Eighteen months later, USAID finally called.
In October 1995, Malcioln joined the Agency as an International Development Intern in Education. After rotations in several regional bureaus, Malcioln embarked on her first overseas post in September 1997 – an assignment in Benin.
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| Yvette Malcioln with Bureau Assistant Administrator Dr. Kent Hill, Mission Director Chris Crowley, Deputy Program Officer for Moldova Mark Levinson and local USAID staff on her first visit to Moldova as Desk Officer in 2002 |
USAID had established a mission in this tiny West African country to assist with its transition from a socialist to democratic state in the early 1990s. Prior to Malcioln’s arrival and during her tenure there, there had been peaceful power transfers after each of the two post-socialist national elections held – a considerable achievement for a young transitional nation.
“We used to say that Benin was a nice little country in a bad neighborhood,” she smiles. “In fact, its small size was an advantage in terms impact – we were able to accomplish a great deal fairly quickly.”
As Director of Primary Education, one of Malcioln’s legacies was the development of parent associations. Since the general education level is low, teachers were likely to dominate mixed parent-teacher discussion groups. Committed to giving students and their families a voice, Malcioln and her team organized parents independently, teaching them how to establish and manage associations and effect change through advocacy. The model proved very successful and was replicated in communities across the nation and in other USAID Education programs in West Africa.
From Benin, Malcioln took an assignment with USAID/Egypt. It was here that she decided to start a family and began the adoption process back home. In June 2002, Malcioln moved back to Washington as Desk Officer for Moldova and Belarus, in USAID’s Bureau for Europe and Eurasia. By early August, she was on her way back from Haiti with an infant daughter, Michelle. She recounts a conversation about name spellings with her assistant in Egypt.
“I couldn’t decide on a single or double-L,” Malcioln recalls. “But my assistant was adamant: ‘You must give her two Ls – you must not deny her anything!”
Her advice was taken to heart. Today, Malcioln, who was recently married, is preparing to share her love of international service with her daughter and husband. The family will relocate to Madagascar this year, where she has accepted a four-year assignment as Supervisory General Development Officer. Malcioln hopes that the experience will instill key values that will remain with her daughter into adulthood:
“Among the most important lessons to learn are a genuine appreciation and respect for other cultures. One’s responsibility is to make a difference wherever she can and leave the world a better place than when one arrived.”
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A New York City native, Yvette Malcioln is an alumna of Smith College (BA, Sociology) and Columbia University (MA, Organizational Psychology). As the Desk Officer for Moldova and Belarus with the USAID Bureau for Europe and Eurasia, she served as a Washington, DC-based advocate for the field perspective on a variety of key issues, including anti-trafficking, political party strengthening, and the development of independent media. After departing for a post in Madagascar in September 2004, Malcioln has recently returned to Washington as Regional Development Officer in the Central America and Mexico Office of the USAID Bureau for Latin America & the Caribbean.
The US Agency for International Development has provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for more than 40 years.
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