National Programme Officer, Havana
(translated to English)
What do you love about your work, what is special about it?
I think my work is very special because it makes me feel like a "bridge" between two cultures and ways of seeing life - the Swiss and the Cuban. It makes me look permanently for points of contact, respectful understanding of the differences and the possible areas of collaboration in between.
I also enjoy testing my ability to dialogue, to identify and resolve conflicts, to create links between the different actors in order to achieve our common goals.
It is also special because it gives me the opportunity to meet very diverse people who are committed and believe in what they do, national authorities, community leaders, young students, school teachers and professors or professionals who work for a municipal government.
Most interesting aspects of the context you work in?
What I find most interesting about working in projects of development cooperation is the possibility of supporting concrete innovative changes that contribute to improving people's lives.
In my context and work topics (local development, vocational skills development) changes often occur slowly, as they have to overcome many bureaucratic barriers and established norms, which sometimes seem unbridgeable. It is heartening to see how people's motivation to transform their environment and their creativity and initiative succeed in removing obstacles and achieving desired goals.
If you retired tomorrow and wanted to start a different second career, what would it be?
I would love to return to academic life. Before my experience with Swiss development cooperation I was a professor and researcher on the topic of inequalities and social policies. I believe that after these years in development cooperation I would teach differently, emphasizing the practical value of knowledge, the link between academic knowledge, decision making and proactive citizenship.
What is the most important lesson you have learned from your work?
Even in the most challenging circumstances, if you take a decision that affects the lives of multiple groups, there is always an alternative to consult the people involved and to consider the needs of the most vulnerable. Nothing justifies deciding for others or ignoring disadvantages.
Mayra Espina has been a National Programme Officer since 2011 at the Swiss cooperation office in Havana. She is in charge of technical support and the follow-up and monitoring of local development programmes and strengthening of the vocational skills development in Cuba. As a thematic expert she has coordinated and participated in numerous events and spaces for dialogue between specialists and authorities on decentralized local public policies, local development management and professional technical training for development. Prior to her work at SDC, she was a researcher at the Centro de Investigaciones Psicológicas y Sociológicas and a professor of Sociology of Inequalities and Social Policy at the University of Havana.
