JOHN HEATHER

USAID SENIOR GOVERNANCE ADVISOR

Babil PRT, Iraq * June—Dec 2009

 

Tourism is our

oil here.

International Development at Babylon

Saddam’s looted palace looms eerily over the fake Babylon he built atop the 3,000 year-old ruins of the world’s greatest ancient city.

Can the power of tourism transform this monstrosity into The Hanging Gardens of Babylon  National Museum, Iraq’s premier cultural hall for ministerial meetings and diplomatic functions?

Read on to learn more about this fantastic tourism assignment in the heart of Mesopotamia.

ABOUT THE CONSULTANT

John Heather is senior partner of Isla Solutions Consulting based in Phoenix. He has over 20 years international development experience with assignments in Guam, Micronesia, Japan, Korea, Macau, Mongolia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Iraq. John is the former chairman of the University of Guam International Tourism Department and currently teaches tourism management online for ASU.

SCOPE OF WORK

The Babil PRT Senior Governance Advisor for Tourism was hired for a 4-month consultancy to address the following scope of work: Analyze the tourism potential for the Babil Province; determine barriers to tourism and advocate solutions; encourage working relationships between local, provincial, national and international tourism and antiquities entities to develop a coordinated tourism strategic plan; promote tourism investment; develop regional programs with Najaf and Karbala PRTs; and, assist Embassy Baghdad and international entities in archeological site management to preserve and promote the Babylon ruins and other heritage sites.

WORK PLAN - GAINING THE INITIATIVE

Because of the assignment’s limited 5-month duration, the primary strategy was NOT to develop a strategic plan that would lead to future action. It was the opposite: gain the initiative by generating immediate action that leads to a future, stakeholder-developed, strategic plan. Momentum is an essential element to success.

After 30 years of a command economy and a stifling political environment, collaboration and broad-spectrum involvement are foreign concepts within communities in Iraq. Reconciliation not only needs to be addressed on a macro level – Shi’a, Sunnis, Kurds – but also on a micro level within the rival towns, tribes, political parties and personalities in each province. Thus, the primary goal focused on getting representative stakeholders around a table on a weekly basis to address a specific project that would support the above-outlined work plan with the following two additional requirements:

1) the project should cost less than $25k, and
2) could be achieved in 3 months.

To ‘gain the initiative’ I created multiple Core Groups, each focused on a ‘quick-win’  collaborative project that would generate province-wide tourism awareness, flush out constraints and solutions to tourism development, stimulate industry – government working relationships, and contribute to the development of a provincial strategic tourism plan.

STRATEGIC CORE GROUPS

 

BABYLON TOURISM ACTION GROUP
The first priority was to have tourism recognized by the government and community as an important economic sector. A $25k QRF funded the BTAG office start up and director salary; the governor took particular interest in the mission and donated office space. Once a antagonistic relationship between the provincial government and the federal antiquities department (which controls all heritage sites), BTAG  has been instrumental in creating a collaborative relationship to address the complexities of developing heritage-tourism sites.  BTAG meets on a weekly basis for expert lectures and field assessments of the province’s archeological, religious and heritage sites, a key component to the tourism strategic plan. Please visit BTAG’s Website.

Mr Haider Habib, BTAG director

Gov. Salaman speaking at the investment conference

Female students take notes at the workshop

YOUTH LEADERSHIP & TRAINING
Youth involvement is key to tourism’s future and an excellent vehicle for raising community awareness. A $25k QRF supported the Youth Save Organization NGO in the development and execution of a 4-day leadership workshop engaging 45 English-proficient youths in developing leadership / tourism / English skills. Morning lectures were followed by afternoon field visits and evening presentations. Particularly important was the involvement of female students, as well as female members of the PC and PRDC. A second workshop in Feb 2010 focused on hotel management, tour guiding and creating a Young Tourism Professionals NGO.

BABLYON TOURISM PROFIT GROUP
The second priority was to energize the private sector. The Babylon Tourism Profit Group focused on a 4-day tourism investment conference and business exhibition with $25k QRF seed money. Over 500 attended the conference; 50 companies purchased booth space in the province’s first business exhibition (Zain cellular, Bank of Baghdad & USAID Tijara were the other main sponsors). The conference was extensively covered by the media. This group will merge into the Babylon Chamber of Commerce to liaise with the Babylon Investment Commission in pursing investment leads from neighboring countries. Please visit BTPG Conference Website and the my Babylon Conf Website.

REGIONAL INTEGRATION
Close working relations with the Najaf PRT led to several productive field visits with the Najaf province tourism, university and government leaders. A Governors Tourism Roundtable is proposed for 2010 bringing the governors of Babil / Najaf / Karbala together to discuss regional tourism strategies, particularly Iranian pilgrimage tourism. Meetings were held with the Baghdad PRT to revive the Iraq Institute of Tourism and to develop hospitality training curriculum.

New air service at the Al Najaf International Airport

BABYLON TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IDEAS — “CREATING CRITICAL MASS WITH A $20M BUDGET”

CONTACT

John Heather

ISLA SOLUTIONS

401 E Bird Ln, Ste 101

Litchfield Park, AZ 85340

623.826.3144

jheather@islasolutions.com 

Skype: jheather

 

ALSO VISIT

Babylon Investment Conf.

Iraq Tourism Blog

Afghanistan Tourism Blog

Geocache Tourism

OTHER INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

 

United Nations—ILO

“Creating the Pulau Weh Tourism Association”

Pulua Weh, Indonesia

 

USAID / Nathan Associates

“Improving Sri Lanka Tourism Data Systems”

Colombo, Sri Lanka

 

USIAD / Chemonics Int’l

“Business Plan for the National Tourist Information Center of Mongolia”

Ulanbataar, Mongolia

 

UNIVERSITY OF GUAM

“Creating & Chairing the UOG International Tourism Department”

Mangilao, Guam

 

GUAM VISITORS BUREAU

“Creating & Managing the GVB Research Department”

Tumon, Guam

 

SOUTH PACIFIC FORUM SECRETARIAT

“Creating the Palau Visitors Authority Research Program”

Koror, Palau

TOP 10 GOVERNANCE LESSONS LEARNED

Following are my personal observations on governance capacity building in Iraq.

TABLE TALK: Your job is to get people around a table at regular intervals to build relationships and address specific problems. Horizontal collaboration across organizational lines is a new concept. Realize that past grudges, differing socio-economic status or contrary political affiliation may be more common than friendships. Compromise is also foreign; be prepared for members to walk out. Try to bind the group around a common cause that will be fulfilled by a quick-win project. Make sure everyone has an assignment.

ROBERTS RULES TO HERDING CATS: Iraqi discussions often times explode into heated and time-consuming tangents. Iraqis have big ideas yet limited experience in execution. Initially, assume the role as chairman and direct the discussion. Train your interpreter to intercede graciously but forcibly. Roberts of Rules of Order training for the group pays wonderful dividends. Lay out your agenda, stick to the talking points. Use a whiteboard or flipchart to map the agenda, decisions and next actions. Give the group an opportunity to vote on action items. Set an end time to close the meeting but encourage the group to continue discussions at lunch or after you leave. Write the meeting minutes soon after and distribute widely.

GET CONNECTED: The Babil Governorate Provincial Reconstruction Development Committee (PRDC) in theory was designated to approve of all our PRT projects. Due to the sporadic meeting schedule, incomplete attendance, and unclear structure, most meetings were “info-complaint” sessions with little work accomplished. A better structure would be to task each PRDC member with chairing one committee, and vice chairing one committee. The committees should be aligned with the PRT staff expertise. These committees would meet in the off week between PRDC bi-weekly meetings to develop an action plan and work on specific projects. The committee chair and vice chair would be tasked with communicating project proposals and updates to the PRDC. I was lucky that Dr Osama [PRDC chairman] and Mr Ali Jaleel [PC heritage advisor] stepped forward as tourism heroes, although there was considerable grumbling that many of my projects went forward without PRDC approval.

THE QRF IS YOUR BEST FRIEND: I challenged each group to short list several tourism projects that could be addressed in 3 months and cost less than $25,000. I chose which one would contribute to the strategic plan, have the best community impact, provide for group collaboration and interaction with government leaders, and have the best chance for funding.

INCLUDE LUNCH: The Iraqis are extremely hospitable people, and expect hospitality when invited for meetings. Always have drinks and snacks. Invite participants to lunch at the DFAC. Use lunch to shorten meeting time – 1000 scheduled, begin at 1030, wrap up by 1200. When in town, patronize local hotel restaurants. PRTs should have a lunch entertainment fund, but don’t, so expect to pay out of pocket.

PRT LETTERS OF SUPPORT: When pursuing community projects provide your Iraqi counterpart with a letter of support from your team leader; the top half in English, the bottom half in Arabic. This proves very useful in getting funding and government support.

LES: It’s best to have a dedicated Locally-Engaged-Staff assigned to your projects. It is very important that they have good standing in the community. Although many are not comfortable with written English, task the LES to write daily summaries.

ILATS: Intelligence wins wars. A contract with a local company to provide research was invaluable in assessing tourism accommodations, attractions and transportation to lessen the dangers encountered beyond the wire.

REWARD COLLABORATION: Iraqi groups will give a Seal as a measure of recognition and thanks. Babil needs to develop a PRT Seal for similar purposes.

DON’T LET THE PERFECT GET IN THE WAY OF THE GOOD: I heard this phrase in training at FSI and it became my mantra every morning. Working in Iraq is two steps forward, one step back. Projects, and the people working on those projects, won’t be perfect. Progress is the key, not perfection.

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