Caroline Bird: Knowledge Retention Interviews

Rome: World Food Programme (WFP), November 2023.

English

WFPAVI006_1

The Knowledge Retention Interview features Caroline Bird, who is transitioning from Business Engagement Manager in WFP's Regional Bureau for Eastern Africa to Head of Global Partnerships Lab. Caroline joined WFP in 2010 as a Partnerships Officer and later helped establish the Business Engagement function in the Technology Division. Caroline emphasized the importance of bridging the gap between technology and business needs, highlighting that building relationships in TEC is challenging due to its service nature. She advises aspiring Business Engagement Managers to listen and learn from business teams, stressing the value of conversational skills, analytical abilities, and resilience. Caroline underscores the complexity of process simplification, advocating for understanding programmatic needs and allowing customization of standard systems at the Country Office level. She reflects on successful projects such as digitizing beneficiary identity management and training field office colleagues on digital tools, which significantly impacted staff engagement. She also shares a lesson from an unsuccessful project, emphasizing the importance of field-based perspectives in software development. Looking ahead, Caroline believes that addressing problems requires field-level intervention and that fostering a culture of knowledge sharing is crucial for the future of TEC.

Knowledge Retention Interviews

AVI 006

AV-128788