Faculty Commentary: Dr. Wassenaar

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Posted on January 31, 2023 by MCOB Outreach

MCOB Outreach

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Just say yes! A story about women, Afghanistan and the future

A week or so ago I was approached to write a short piece for this publication about some of my work. Of course, I replied, but what would you like me to write about? What would help you the most?

As we talked more about what could be our story, we both realized, there are two stories that could be told, one about some of my work for USAID, but the second, and perhaps more importantly would be the story of the ‘yes’ that led to being invited to participate in that project. I’ll start with the story. 

A few years ago, I was at our annual conference, catching up on new thought in my field, and of course meeting with colleagues from universities from around the world. While we are all busy at these conferences, one colleague in particular appeared a bit extra-stressed, and so I asked “Is there anything I can do to help you?” not ever actually expecting a response in the affirmative. But she said, “Yes! In fact, there is!” She proceeded to explain to me that she and several others had been asked to develop educational materials for a grant through USAID. The goal for this project, which began in 2014, was wide reaching – “that advances opportunities for thousands of young Afghan women to become leaders in government, economy, and civil society” (https://www.usaid.gov/afghanistan/about-us). But as always, reality sets in and things don’t always go as planned—the group tasked with delivering some of the educational materials was behind, over-committed and, well, when I asked if my friend needed help, it was the first Yes! She proceeded to describe what they needed, and it was true, given that I had done this kind of work before, it was not a stretch to do it again. 

Now, it was my turn to say yes—the second. I did so with several misgivings, but given that I had offered, and was sincere in that offer I thought, “I’ll tell her my concerns, we will talk through how to manage her schedule and mine, and let’s make this happen.” And it did. Over the course of four months, I wrote close to 60 different small ‘class-lets’ on various topics ranging from HR/Organizational behavior/Leadership, to general marketing knowledge, even a few related to accounting/general management. We worked as a group, and in total, there were over 200 of these educational experiences created that covered topics related to running a business, all written as straightforward and plainly as possible so it would be simple to translate these materials into Dari or Pashtu for the women who we hoped to reach and teach. Little did I realize what that ‘Yes’ would mean. 

That program, while full of hiccups, reached 1000s of women in Afghanistan before August of 2021 and the Taliban took over. Moreover, the materials from those ‘class-lets’ have been translated to Spanish as well, and are now offered to people as educational opportunities through https://dreambuilder.org/, where women can register for free entrepreneurial training. This site has reached over 140,000 people, in 155 countries. And I was able to be a small part of this, because of a ‘yes.’ 

So that was the story, and now the small lesson. Say yes. Say it more often than no. Say it even when it looks like the thing you will have to do is hard, because you will learn something, you will help someone, and in the future, you can look back and say that you opened more doors for yourself– and maybe also for others–with your “Yes” than you closed with your “No”. 

For more information on the USAID project visit:

https://2012-2017.usaid.gov/news-information/fact-sheets/promoting-gender-equity-national-priority-programs

https://www.usaid.gov/afghanistan/about-us

 

 

 

Dr. Christina L. Wassenaar

Assistant Professor

Management

Mitchell College of Business

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