Think Creative Issue 8

Creative Life

Hind’s work has taken her to several countries in the Middle East and around the globe.

a mission-driven community

Hind Audsley’s career goal was not develop- ment. While studying at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and preparing her thesis on the challenges of governance under SaddamHussein, Hind saw a future in the Foreign Service or a think tank. That changed after the United States and its allies invaded Iraq and USAID implement- ers began looking for regional experts to fill in-country positions. A professor at Fletcher put two and two together —Hind’s thesis and her fluency in Arabic — and recommended she consider a temporary assignment in Iraq. In 2003, Hind took time off fromFletcher and became a policy analyst on a governance project in Baghdad and Mosul. She and her colleagues worked to support local leaders and community members in strengthening governance. “I love seeing that spark of hope in the eyes of the villager or the new local council elected offi- cial,” she says. “There’s that spark where they’re like, ‘Oh. I get it. I have the power to control the outcome of my livelihood, the outcome of my family’s future. I have that power. I get it.’” After two years in Iraq, she returned toMedford, Mass., to complete her master’s degree —now with a focus on international development. “My larger identity is Iraqi” That first Iraq assignment was a boomerang experience. Hind and her twin sister were born in Basra, Iraq, to physician parents. During the height of the Iraq-IranWar in the 1980s, her father received a scholarship in the United States. The girls were just 4 years old when the family emigrated to the United States. The physical distance did not reduce the family’s focus and strong connection to theMiddle East. “I grew up in a household where we were very politically involved,” she says. “We didn’t do anything politically, but my parents read a lot of books. They read all different kinds of newspapers. And so, discussions on politics of the Middle East and the Western world were always at the dinner table. Hind Audsley A passion for Middle East development Staff Spotlight

The family enjoyed living in Virginia but decid- ed to move to Saudi Arabia when Hind and her sister were 13 to stay better connected to their roots in the Middle East. Unfortunately, Hind’s stay in Saudi Arabia lasted only a year. The kingdom did not allow mixed-gender classes in high schools, so their parents sent Hind and her sister to a boarding school in Switzerland. After earning an undergraduate degree in journalism fromVirginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., she took a job with Al Jazeera in Qatar. Two years later, Hind headed to Fletcher. The Middle East – and beyond Upon completing her master’s, Hind followed her passion for the Middle East. During the next six years, she worked on governance projects in Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen and Egypt. In 2011, USAID offered Hind a new position in another conflict area — the Forward Operating Base Rushmore in Afghanistan’s Paktika Province.

After Afghanistan, she took on new assign- ments with implementers in Thailand, Turkey and then in the D.C. area. Hind joined Creative’s Political Transitions Practice Area as the D.C.-based Project Direc- tor on USAID’s North East Regional Initiative in Nigeria in 2016. Three years later, she be- came the Chief of Party for the German-funded Agriculture and Livelihoods Stabilization Partnerships Program in Northeast Syria. “Creative has been really great with allowingme to findmy niche,” says Hind. “Everyone has sup- portedmy wish to get back to theMiddle East.” The program has three objectives: support ag- ricultural development, strengthen livelihoods and build the capacity of local NGOs. “It’s really wonderful to be working so closely with two nationalities, two people,” she says of her Syrian and Iraqi colleagues. The program has also been an opportunity for Hind to be a leader in strengthening and stabi- lizing communities in a region that is both her home and passion. n

Photo by Skip Brown

26 | Think Creative | Fall 2020