James R. Phippard's interview with the Tunisian Community Gazette.

April 18, 2008

TCG: We would like to know more about you:  where were you raised, went to school, etc… 
JRP: I was born in Springfield, MA, went to High School in Greenfield, MA (80 miles west of Boston).

TCG: How about College?
JRP: Catholic University (AB, cum laude), Georgetown Law School (JD), Harvard University (MPA development studies)

TCG: What is you current city of Residence?
JRP: Washington, DC. 

TCG: We know you have a (talented) singer/songwriter daughter, Melanie (www.melaniephippard.com). Tell us about the rest of your family.

JRP:  I am married to Melinda L. Kimble.  She was the Arabic-speaking Labor Attaché at the American Embassy in Tunis. She later was Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans, Environment and Science.  She is now Senior Vice President of the UN Foundation and is deeply involved in issues of climate change and international health (e.g. HIV/AIDS, malaria, measles etc.)

In addition to Melanie, I have three other children: James R. Phippard Jr., Edwin G. Phippard, and Kathleen L. Phippard.

TCG: On November 30 2007, Mr. Carl Leonard, President of ACDI/VOCA (your former employer) announced your retirement. He noted that the retirement would end a career with ACDI/VOCA that began in 1991 and included a stint as Chief Operating Officer during a period of rapid organizational change and growth. 

Leonard further noted: “Phippard, who has lived and worked in West Africa, North Africa and Egypt, joined ACDI as its first VP for Central and Eastern Europe and the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union (CEE/NIS). In Poland, he designed and won ACDI’s first major enterprise development project, as well as a large project privatizing state-owned banks. He also won a large World Bank banking project in Albania. He ultimately expanded the CEE/NIS portfolio to be larger than the whole of ACDI at the time of his hiring. While running the Food for Development division, he became a leading proponent of monetization as a development instrument.” How did you end up having a career in international development?

JRP: I have been retired effective January 15, 2008. However, notwithstanding the retirement, I continue to take on occasional projects with ACDI/VOCA, including work on an upcoming World Bank project in Tunisia.
After serving in the US Navy, I went to Georgetown Law School and later worked as a law clerk for Judge E. Barrett Prettyman, who was on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.  Then there was two years with the National Capital Transportation Agency as counsel and Special Assistant to the Administrator.  NCTA was designing the future rapid transit system for the metropolitan Washington area, including devising the financing plan.  There was then a year as Legislative Director for Cong. John Blatnik as well as Counsel to his subcommittee of the Committee on Public Works. 

While working on the Hill, a call from the General Counsel of USAID led to joining USAID as his special assistant.  I had always had a strong interest in international affairs, and this seemed a perfect fit.  However, I didn’t realize at the time that this move was in effect choosing a lifetime career. Later USAID positions included assistant general counsel for legislation and, later, for Africa, then an overseas position as Regional Legal Advisor in the USAID regional office in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. This office was responsible for 27 countries, so there was considerable travel. At the time there was a severe drought in West and Central Africa, and the U.S. was shipping in large amounts of humanitarian food shipments.

While stationed in Cote d’Ivoire, the U.S. rewarded Egypt and Israel for signing the Sinai Peace Accord, including large aid programs for both countries.  The USAID General Counsel called and asked if I would go to Egypt as Senior Legal Advisor for the considerably ramped-up aid program.  I spent three excellent years in Egypt.

TCG: How did you transition from a Legal Advisor to an Aid Program Manager?
JRP: Near the end of the three-year Egypt tour it seemed it would be more professionally rewarding for me to manage aid programs rather than providing legal advice.  To be better equipped to do that I took a year at Harvard’s Kennedy School to brush up on economics and other international development skills. Following graduation from the Kennedy School was a position in Washington as Director of USAID’s Office of Near East and North Africa.  During that time I met and worked closely with the then Tunisian Ambassador to the US, Habib Ben Yahia, an outstanding diplomat, as well as his excellent embassy staff.  Several European countries were also under the NENA office, and one responsibility was directing the U.S. response to the devastating Italian earthquake. In 1982 I participated in a multi-donor conference for Tunisia. That meeting underscored how much had been accomplished by Tunisia in its development efforts.

TCG: Tell us about your work in Tunisia
JRP: The appointment as Mission Director to Tunisia in 1982 was an extraordinary opportunity, as the Tunisian government had for years been building its human and infrastructure capacity through education and other programs. Family planning programs and the code of women’s rights were the most advanced in the Arab world, and permitted women to be active contributors to the development process. In addition, the Tunisian members of the USAID staff were highly educated and skilled and very knowledgeable about development issues. It was very much a team effort, and much of the success of the programs was due to their contributions. An outstanding member of that team was the agricultural advisor, Salah Majoub, who had an in-depth knowledge of agriculture as well as of the key players in the agriculture sector.

Much of our work was done in coordination with the Foreign Ministry, and at that time the head of the America’s desk was Mohamed Nejib Hachana and now Tunisian Ambassador to the U.S. He was a key element in the success of the development programs, and he has remained a good friend ever since.
One of our best programs was the Technology Transfer Scholarship Program, which sent Tunisians to the U.S. for advanced degrees in engineering, computer science and other technical studies. During tight budget times there were efforts to cut this program, but fortunately they were not successful – we continued this program –one of USAID’s.largest. During short return trips to Tunisia it has always been a great pleasure to see how the graduates of this program have moved into key private sector and government positions. My good friend Rafla Mrabet (Tunisian American Chamber of Commerce) said that in Tunisia they are referred to as “the Tech kids”, and I have met many of them including Minister Jouini. The U.S. has also benefited from this program – Tunisians, now Tunisian Americans, who stayed in the U.S. have made major contributions.

While in Washington I had considerable experience with food programs.  They tended to be approved one year at a time, making it extremely difficult to do long range planning. On arriving in Tunisia I led an effort to develop (and persuade Washington to approve) a multi-year PL 480 strategy, which was one of five cited in USAID’s report titled “Negotiating and Programming Food Aid: A Review of Successes.”

Of all our programs, the closest to my heart were our efforts in Central Tunisia, working with poor farmers and communities to help build the skills and technologies needed to increase their incomes and better their lives. One of the driving forces in this effort was Ridha Fekih, the Director of the Central Tunisia Rural Development Agency in Kasserine. With the strong support of Mr. Fekih and Mr. Hachana, I was able to persuade the government to accept the idea that communities in Central Tunisia would be willing to pay their own operating costs of water systems if in turn they were given control of them. This became the Rural Potable Water Institutions Project, which established local water users’ associations, an innovation which later spread through many parts of rural Tunisia. These were democratic associations which elected their own officers, providing many rural areas not only democratic participation, but also real control in managing their own development.

On departing from Tunisia, President Habib Bourguiba presented me with the decoration: “Commander, Order of the Republic", the only director in Tunisia to have been so honored. On returning to Washington, I became special advisor to the chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, who was looking for someone who had operational experience with food aid programs to assist in his reform efforts.  This provided an opportunity to play a key role in the 1990 Farm Bill reform of PL 480 and other food aid programs. At this point I retired from the U.S. Foreign Service as a minister counselor and went to work for ACDI/VOCA.

TCG: But you remained in touch with Tunisia after you returned to the United States.
JRP: When returning to Washington from Tunisia, I was a committed “Tunisophile” and wanted to stay connected to Tunisia and its people.  Amb. Habib Ben Yahia asked several of us with Tunisia connections to resuscitate an organization which had been dormant for years, and we became founding members of the American Tunisian Association (ATA).  The distinguished Middle East expert Amb. Talcott Seelye became the first President.  I took on the presidency when Talcott stepped aside and remain its President. 

From the beginning we had a spring lecture series, with speakers on all aspects of Tunisia; e.g. archeology, business and finance, economics, role of women, history, Tunisian film industry, Tunisian literature, etc. These lectures are open to a broad audience beyond the ATA membership, and are designed to expose Tunisia to as many Americans as possible, building bridges of Tunisian American friendship.  In addition, when senior Tunisian officials and other interesting visitors have come to Washington, ATA members will participate in a breakfast discussion.

ATA has also sponsored trips to Tunisia designed both to showcase the many interesting parts of the country and to meet a variety of Tunisians for dialogue.  During our last trip there was a stop in Kasserine to visit one of the water users’ groups which had been established while I was Mission Director.  It was still going strong.

One additional event I instituted after becoming President of ATA was the “Tunisia Night Out”.  This is a yearly event during which we go to a private home or to a restaurant with a Tunisian chef to enjoy the excellent cuisine of Tunisia.

TCG: How did you become inspired to do the work you do?
JRP: I have always had a strong interest in international affairs since high school.  However, my real inspiration came during my early years at USAID in Washington when I would go out in the field to different countries and see what was being accomplished through the aid program.  After one such trip to Nigeria, the USAID Director there encouraged me to get out of  Washington and go overseas.  Soon thereafter I joined the Foreign Service and never looked back.

TCG: Who were the people that were influential in moving you in the direction you went?
JRP: Several come to mind:
-The USAID General Counsel, who brought me to USAID.
-The USAID Director in Nigeria who encouraged me to go overseas for USAID.
-The USAID Deputy General Counsel and the Egypt USAID Mission Director, who were instrumental in my obtaining the year at the Kennedy School.
-Professors at the Kennedy School, whose deep insights into the economics of development were of great help.
-Ridha Fekih, whose focus on improving the lives of poor farmers in Central Tunisia was a major inspiration.
-The then President of ACDI/VOCA, who invited me to join the firm, thereby giving me the opportunity to spend another 17 years in the field of economic development after leaving USAID.

TCG: What are some of your activities in the US that are related to Tunisia?
JRP: I have always seen my activities in ATA as a means of showcasing Tunisia to Americans who may not be familiar with the country.  It is also a means of providing Tunisian Americans a means of keeping current with developments in Tunisia.

I was a member of the six person U.S. Presidential delegation (headed by former Deputy Treasury Secretary Stu Eizenstadt) to the funeral of former President Bourguiba.

In November 2007, I participated in a Business Delegation to Tunisia, sponsored by the Africa Society of the National Summit on Africa and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.   The objective of the visit was to improve the trade relations between the two countries, explore opportunities for U.S. business in Tunisia and foster a dialogue between the U.S. business community and their counterparts in Tunisia.
 
TCC: Thank you very much, Jim. Some final words to The Gazette readers to conclude this interview…?   JRP: Of all the countries in which I served, Tunisia was the one in which I felt the most fully invested.  My counterparts were skilled, well-educated development practitioners and it was a joy to work with them.  The smiles on the faces of the Tunisian men and women farmers at the dedication of their new water points was a great reward as was the decoration by President Bourguiba.  And now to receive the Ibn Khaldun Award is a very great honor and is, indeed, the capstone of my career.