Wow... Eventually, I can't really keep track of all my tasks anymore! It's become quite a lot... I'm helping out wherever someone needs me!:)
Today, for example, is Kitchie's birthday (Have a nice day!), so I volunteered to collect the articles for the media monitoring "financial turmoil" by myself because she's taking a day off! Took aaaages... But I really know what's going on in the world now!
Apart from that, I've been gathering the contact information of all universities and colleges in Manila (around 60 in total!!) because we aim at strengthening our relations by sending them mails when new books and studies are available in the KDC (www.worldbank.org.ph/kdc) or talks are being given on topics that might interest students. It was a bit tiring, but when I drove through Manila on the LRT (or Light Railway Transit) on Monday, I recognised so many universities! In addition, I am now an expert at finding my way through university websites which will come in handy when I continue my own research on where and what to study!
On Friday, I got an introduction on the WB's disclosure policy by Moira and Cheerly. The WB regularly publishes information on it's projects in the Philippines on the website (www.worldbank.org.ph): e.g. the Project Approval Document and Environmental Assessment. This enables the public to inform themselves on what's being achieved and what studies are being assigned during the preparation process (How will a new bridge affect the environment? Will people have to be resettled? What affect will it have on indigenous groups living in the area?). My job was to check which documents are missing. It was really interesting because I got an insight on all projects that are carried out on the Philippines.
In the afternoon there was a talk by CGAP (www.cgap.org/p/site/c/home) on "Microfinancing&Technology". Until recently, most government-to-person payments were carried out in person and in cash. But because of security risks and high transaction costs governments start switching to electronic delivery using mobile phones. EVERY Filipino has one, so that's a good approach!:)
The KCD is trying to increase traffic on the WB Philippines website. A possibility is to set up links between other organisations and the WB homepage, so today Moira asked me to work on that. Apart from that, my job is to improve the attractiveness of the "Related Links" website. I have some ideas...

I'm back! :)
In the last days, I haven't had so much to do... I did media monitoring both days which takes quite some time, but it's getting easier and easier to judge which articles are important and contain new information. I like reading the news like that... just the headlines and scanning over... it doesn't take as long!:)
Then, on Monday, I was able to attend a "World Bank 101" which is a session for the public (university students, press...) about the WB an what it does in the Philippines. First, we got to watch a documentary and then a presentation, followed by a short question and answer session. The students didn't seem very motivated... only their professor asked questions. It reminded me of the good old days in school... :)
Yesterday, my colleague Rom and I did some brainstorming on new KDC outreach programs. At the beginning we had loads of ideas, but as time time by, it was like "Come, just one more...". :)
But as I said, I had a bit of free time in the last days. I used it to research on universities and courses since I am starting college next year and don't know what to do yet... I found some interesting new possibilities, so that was good!

hahahaha wenn ihr mal sehen wollt, was ich fuer eine Blog-Schreiber-Karriere hingelegt habe, dann schaut mal auf die Website der Weltbank auf den Philippinen:

http://www.worldbank.org.ph/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/EASTASIAPACIFICEXT/PHILIPPINESEXTN/0,,contentMDK:21558444~menuPK:442669~pagePK:141137~piPK:141127~theSitePK:332982,00.html

Furchtbares Foto, ich weiss - das muss auf jeden Fall noch geaendert werden - aber irgendwie bin ich stolz... :)

Gestern hat sich ein lieber Freund beschwert, dass er meine englische Beitraege nicht versteht (ich nenne keine Namen... :) ) aber das sind eh nur Sachen ueber meine Arbeit! Insgesamt geht's mir ganz gut... Hatte ein relativ ruhiges Wochenende. Das Highlight war definitiv Sonntagabend, als ich mit meiner Schwester auf meinem Bett bei Starbucks Kaffe und Eis stundenlang "Gossip Girl"-Folgen geguckt hab. Machen suechtig... :)
Ich hatte ziemliche Deutschland-Sehnsucht (Heimweh???) am Wochenende, hab meine Freundinnen vermisst und wollte in mein altes Leben zurueck...
Ab Mittwoch kommt dann eine "weltwaerts"-Freundin (Ina aus Kiel, arbeitet fuer ein Jahr in einer Sprachschule in Cebu) fuer 5 Tage zu Besuch. Auf dem Programm stehen sightseeing, Weiberabend (endlich mal wieder!!), Freitag tanzen im Club "The Embassy" und uebers Wochenende mit den 2 anderen "weltwaerts"-Jungs wegfahren... Ich freu mich schon sehr!

On Thursday, after writing this blog, I had a power point introduction on the KDC (Knowledge for Development Center), it's aim of sharing knowledge and ways of achieving that. Soo... after lunch I had a first attempt at media monitoring, which went well, but it took me at least double the time Kitchie would have needed to finish! I will practice in the next days... I felt so well informed afterwards, although I had only read the titles and skimmed through the articles... :)
In the afternoon, I tried to come up with some ideas to improve the website of the KDC.
Next morning, I was expected at the Asian Institute of Management for a videoconference taking place in the "Development Resource Center" on "Youth Entrepreneurship as a Career Option in East Asia and the Pacific" (http://go.worldbank.org/3O1CZ9QOG0). There were presentations of youth speakers from Thailand, Indonesia, China and the Philippines introducing their projects of supporting youth entrepreuneurs in form of microcredits, advice and connections. After the talks there was an interactive discussion with some more people from Laos and Papua New Guinea.
The whole morning... seeing how a videocon works, meeting interesting, dedicated people, learning a lot on the initiatives of supporting youths in building up their own businesses... was great!!