Professor serves as consultant to Jordan

A Shippensburg University professor has provided the leaders of Jordan with information they need to make decisions crucial to the future of their country.

Dr. Sarah Bryant, professor of finance & supply chain management, spent 10 days in Jordan as a consultant through the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Part of her work involved creating various economic scenarios Jordanian leaders could use for contingency planning, to look at how the country might react to various economic challenges.

"It was a great opportunity," said Bryant, who previously traveled to Egypt while working as a consultant to eight countries on the African continent.

USAID, based in Washington, D.C., is an independent federal agency that provides assistance to other countries. Bryant's involvement in the project came in her role as a senior consultant in the Washington consulting firm, Plexus Consulting Group, LLC.

"They needed someone in economics and finance," said Bryant, an international economist. Her work started weeks before the trip, reviewing previous studies as well as any information she could find in books and online. She even found a Web site for economic scenario writing which "helped me feel comfortable with what I was doing."

After arriving in Jordan last October Bryant met with officials from SABEQ, which is USAID's Jordan Economic Development Program, and then with 26 ministers of various branches of Jordanian government. Bryant said her research continued in Jordan as she gathered as much information as she could about the country, including international protocol, which required she address the ministers as "Your Excellency."

Bryant worked 16-hour days during her stay, shuttling from the hotel to the office of the ministers and back to the hotel, with one exception, a sightseeing trip to Petra, the archaeological site south of Amman.

The overriding issue facing Jordan, she said, is water. "Jordan is very, very concerned about running out of water. They are literally 20 years away from running out of water."

The three scenarios she were called the "same path" (middle of the road) scenario, the "filling the well" (best-case) scenario and the "empty well" (worst-case) scenario. "I really felt the Jordanian government was doing things right. They're doing a lot of strategic planning. They really do follow their national plans. I was very impressed," Bryant said.

Plexus President Steven Worth traveled to Jordan later to conduct focus groups looking at her work. Bryant said the project was so successful that officials want the group to return to continue their work.

In a letter following Bryant's visit, USAID's Mohamad Amawi said Bryant's "exceptional level of commitment and dedication to her work (that) made it enjoyable to all of us working with her."

Worth also praised Bryant's work. According to Worth, "Her interviews generated so much enthusiasm that the whole USAID team became enthused over the potential of this project to mobilize Jordan's business community as well as the public sector around key economic issues and opportunities."