Ana Monzon is a Robertson Fellow and a joint MPA/MAIR student who will take part in the Maxwell-in-Washington program for her Fall 2016 semester. While in Washington, DC, she will begin an internship at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Office of the Millennium Challenge Account, Indonesia- implementing entity of the MCC Compact- in Jakarta, Indonesia
Office of the Millennium Challenge Account, Indonesia- implementing entity of the MCC Compact- in Jakarta, Indonesia

“Indonesia happens all around you” was the motto of my Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Internship at the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) this Summer. My first days here indeed were wild. On my second week, I set out on trip to what was supposed to be a field visit with MCA-I staff from the Green Prosperity (GP) project, the biggest of three projects encompassing the 600 million USD MCC Compact in Indonesia, to monitor cocoa sustainability projects. I never made it, and instead, I was stranded in a layover island for three days (mainly due to an airplane’s broken window and the airport’s remote location). It was a first introduction of all that can go wrong, but also a first wonderful experience in the remoteness of rural Indonesia. As excited as I was to begin my third week of work in Jakarta, my laptop died on the first day back in the office. After many exasperating trips to IT centers, due to the infamous Jakarta traffic, I learned that Indonesia does not carry my laptop for which reason I flew to Singapore on the last week of Ramadan, a week-long holiday!

Once my ordeal was over, almost a month later, I quickly began working on looking at the proposals/ implementation plans of the 8 grantees (e.g., Rainforest Alliance and WWF) of the GP project’s resource management activities, “Window 1”. I was charged with identifying targeted indicators tracked by the MCC’s Indicator Tracking Table, from the grantees’ proposals and developing a thematic roadmap of each; strengthening the link between indicators and the GP Theory of Change in the master M&E plan. These tasks will help support and hold grantees accountable in the coming months and as the MCC Compact comes to an end in 2018.

Excitingly so, and to get contextual background on tasks realized in the office, I also partook in field site visits (unlike in the first attempt, all ensuing visits were a SUCCESS; no broken airplane windows!) for three different purposes; monitoring grantees’ projects, in support of a high-level management delegation from the MCC headquarters in Washington D.C., and to inform a policy paper I will spearhead on another of GP’s activity, Participatory Land Use Planning, for the World Bank’s Conference on Land and Poverty 2017. In every field visit I was marveled by the diversity in Indonesia; each region’s distinct and unique languages, foods, religions, landscapes, and customs (working in MCA-I, staffed by all Indonesians, made this discovering all the more “local”). Underlying commonalities, most characteristically the friendliness and warmth of Indonesians, persisted everywhere I went.

Indeed, Indonesia happened all around me, way too quick and with much intensity, contributing to both my professional and personal growth in ways I never fathomed. This was a dream come true for an international development aspiring professional as myself, and I owe it to all the generosity of all who financially and otherwise made it happen: Terima kasih Maxwell, Robertson Foundation, Clements and Global Awards, MCC, and MCA-I!

Kupang, Indonesia- Visit to the home of smallholder family diversifying income generation through local instrument making/ selling (role of men in the picture below) and hand weaving (as assigned to women)
Kupang, Indonesia- Visit to the home of smallholder family diversifying income generation through local instrument making/ selling (role of men in the picture above) and hand weaving (as assigned to women)
Bandung, Indonesia- Field site visit to verify the progress of project from Window 1 grantee, Consortium HIVOS, and identify lessons learned on utilization of biodigesters, bioslurry and lemna (mixture of cassava flour and grass, fed to cows for extra protein, held in picture below) in West Java.
Bandung, Indonesia- Field site visit to verify the progress of project from Window 1 grantee, Consortium HIVOS, and identify lessons learned on utilization of biodigesters, bioslurry and lemna (mixture of cassava flour and grass, fed to cows for extra protein, held in picture above) in West Java
Subang, West Java- Taking notes during a site visit to Micro-hydro Power House and Cooperative PLTMH Cinta Mekar, realized by Washington D.C. MCC delegation to discuss with IBEKA, GP Window 2 grantee, and cooperative members regarding community-based renewable energy implementation
Subang, West Java- Taking notes during a site visit to Micro-hydro Power House and Cooperative PLTMH Cinta Mekar, realized by Washington D.C. MCC delegation to discuss with IBEKA, GP Window 2 grantee, and cooperative members regarding community-based renewable energy implementation
Bandung, Indonesia- Meeting of MCC and MCA-I country directors and MCC’s Washington D.C. delegation with Mayor of Sukabumi (in the middle) to discuss achievement in procurement of MCC Compact project
Bandung, Indonesia- Meeting of MCC and MCA-I country directors and MCC’s Washington D.C. delegation with Mayor of Sukabumi (in the middle) to discuss achievement in procurement of MCC Compact project
Visit to women’s traditional hand weaving cooperative, Patuh Cooperative, during field site visit in island of Lombok, Indonesia; wearing a traditional wedding dress
Visit to women’s traditional hand weaving cooperative, Patuh Cooperative, during field site visit in island of Lombok, Indonesia; wearing a traditional wedding dress
Learning how to hand-weave at Patuh Cooperative
Learning how to hand-weave at Patuh Cooperative
Selong Belanak Beach, South Lombok- Alongside staff from the GP Participatory Land Use Planning (PLUP) project activity on a remote rural beach on the way to a project site
Selong Belanak Beach, South Lombok- Alongside staff from the GP Participatory Land Use Planning (PLUP) project activity on a remote rural beach on the way to a project site