La Valley bids Ja farewell after 3 years of service
Published:Thursday | September 17, 2020 | 12:05 AM
IT IS the end of an era at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), as a vision set three years ago has now been realised, and as such the term for the chief of operations (COO) at the company’s Jamaica branch has come to an end.
Adriana La Valley started her journey at IDB in 2017, and as a woman on a mission, she was deliberate in her decision-making, and as a result, our nation is benefiting from some of those development projects today.
“As a COO, I am responsible for the complete portfolio of activities embedded in our development programmes. Hence, I am a performance coach for development; I am like a bridge that connects the idea with final outcome,” La Valley said. “At IDB Jamaica, we have advised both public and private sectors, but the important thing about working in Jamaica as a partner of the Government is designing programmes together, using things that have worked in other countries and bringing them to here.”
Being performance driven, La Valley could not have chosen a more perfect career, as she was trained as a project finance attorney, but decided to become a development financier. This drive, however, is what ensures that each project that she ventures into not only produces results but they are done on time.
“My purpose is achieving equity and equality, which I bring every day to work. Since I am performance driven, my great passion is seeing ideas materialise. Results – not trying – is what makes a difference in people’s lives,” she shared with The Gleaner just before her term ended last month.
“For example, being a part of Jamaica’s digital transformation has been a wonderful experience, [one of which is] the plan to digitalise health records so you don’t have to rely on the physical paper, and you can have access to it wherever you go, like at the pharmacy or the hospital. It is more efficient,” La Valley explained before sharing that though IDB is a bank, it is not all about lending money, but ensuring that in lending some amount of growth and development occurs within that particular institution.
Project Execution Units
One standout thing that La Valley implemented during her tenure at IDB is the use of Project Execution Units (PEU), which is a temporary structure that is used to ensure that a project is properly executed. To take it a step further, a challenge was given to measure the performance of each project, with the winner of the challenge being the one that achieved or excelled on the previously decided outcome.
“We launched the PEU challenge, which is a one-year challenge that measured the actual results of each project, and compared it to what we had agreed the previous year,” La Valley disclosed. “The year 2020 was exciting, as we learned of challenges but we were also able to see what works and what doesn’t. We had a lot of learning from one PEU to another, and 2020 confirmed the need to be agile and adaptive to achieve results.”
While she enjoyed her time at IDB Jamaica, La Valley is also excited to see what awaits her in Ecuador. She assumed duties there on September 1. She explained that there are some similarities between what Ecuador is currently facing and Jamaica’s past experience, and as such, she can take with her the things she has learnt and implemented here.
“From my journey in Jamaica, I can take away a few examples with me when I go to Ecuador, one of which is the determination, consistency and resilience of the country,” La Valley shared. “I think Jamaica as a country is a relentless one; it is always in a state of mind that gives it the strength to achieve, survive and overcome. That, I think, is awesome because Jamaica is able to stay strong even when other countries are not, and that is something that I am going to take with me when I go to Ecuador,” she told The Gleaner.
“My advice to my replacement is three things: be bold, meaning dream big; number two, be intentional in anything you do; and number three is make it real,” she noted.