I have known Justin Richmond for a long time. We met at a symposium where he was a presenter. He naturally exerted a high level of confidence and humor, and I was able to learn and observe how well his character and personality have helped him throughout his personal and professional experiences.
Having completed my master’s degree in International Relations, I was excited when I learned that I would be working with Justin and the Impl. Project team in Azerbaijan on a project for USAID. The trip would provide me with the perfect opportunity to match my educational background with practical and hands on field experience.
Upon landing in Baku for the start of our project, I was immediately welcomed by the impl. project team and everyone was quick to ensure that I felt safe and comfortable.
In order to complete our data mapping project successfully, we would first need to train local enumerators on the proper way to conduct surveys with locals. The training took place at a hotel in Baku and the impl. project team was very well organized. I was able to seamlessly fit in to help with the registration and intake of participants and to organize and distribute our data collection devices to the enumerators.
Justin made the training look easy, as he had done it numerous times in the past. He gave frequent, small breaks so that the enumerators could absorb all of the information, ask him questions, and he would ask them questions in turn to check their retention of information. We worked cohesively and this allowed us to skillfully and efficiently complete the training on a short timeline. After the training, I was even more eager to go into the ‘field’ and experience data mapping with impl. project.