The Foreign Service Journal, April 2011

A FSA is tremendously pleased to announce the launch of our brand-newWeb site, www.afsa.org . We hope you have already had the chance to visit it; if not, we encourage you to do so at your earliest opportunity. The original AFSA site was launched in 1997 and did not change over the next 14 years. Given the pace of technological advancements, it became increasingly clear that our online pres- ence was well behind the times. The site contained some excel- lent information, but it was difficult to find and often hard to read due to its presentation. “Our new site is designed to better serve our members, the Governing Board and the Foreign Service,”Marketing andOut- reach Manager Ásgeir Sigússon says. The new site is thoroughly up-to-date in every sense. The content will be updated regularly and is more comprehensive than ever. Navigation and accessibility meet top standards, and multimedia applications are used throughout the site. You’ll also A P R I L 2 0 1 1 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 47 American Foreign Service Association • April 2011 AFSA NEWS AFSA Launches Its New Web Site! E very year AFSA looks forward to taking the pulse of the USAID membership. This fifth year of the survey at- tracted significantly more respondents than last year (581 versus 327), of whom 77 percent were located overseas. It is also noteworthy that the major- ity (45 percent) of respondents were entry- level personnel (FS-4 to FS-6), reflecting the effect of the accelerated hiring under the USAID Development Leadership Initiative. Newer employees seem especially eager to share their opinions and concerns. As addi- tional employees enter through the DLI pro- gram and older FSOs retire or leave, the proportion of newer officers overall will con- tinue to increase. This is a signal to USAID that it must take into account evolving demographics. The survey’s goal is to get answers to important questions: What are our members’ main concerns and complaints? How high is morale? How well is the agency performing? Which areas need attention and improvement? What does the ad- ministrator need to know that he is not hearing from other sources? And, finally, are members satisfied with AFSA’s services? These are all important questions; and given that the survey is anony- mous and encourages straightforward honest feedback, it provides valuable information for all of us, including USAID leadership, to im- prove our agency and its mission. The complete survey results can be found in the February issue of The Vanguard newslet- ter on ourWeb site (www.afsa.org/usaid.aspx) . Here we present a summary, with selected graphs illustrating the main points. We hope that this data will stimulate discussion and move us toward meaningful course corrections. AFSA Releases USAID Member Survey Results BY USAID VP FRANCISCO ZAMORA Continued on page 51 Continued on page 52 USAID FSOs believe there is still inequitable treatment between them and State Department personnel with regard to salaries and other benefits.

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