The Romney Institute of Public Management at Brigham Young University's Marriott School named Rebecca Bennion Buchanan Salti as its Administrator of the Year at a banquet held in her honor 15 Feb.
Bonner Ritchie, professor of organizational behavior at the Marriott School who has played an integral role in the Middle East peace talks, presented the award to Salti, a long-time friend.
"Rebecca understands that you define the world — it does not define you," Ritchie said. "She has given the Jordanian people hope and the tools and resources to make the world work."
Salti is the administrator of the Royal Society for Conservation of Nature in Jordan. She manages a network of nature shops run by women, villagers and Bedouin tribes, a program providing new economic opportunities while protecting the fragile landscapes of national parks and conservation areas.
Salti has spent close to twenty years developing income-generating programs for the poor in Jordan. She has served as public information officer for the United Nations Relief Works Agency for Palestine Refugees and founded and directed the Save the Children organization. She developed the first microfinance program in Jordan, which provided income-generating projects for nearly 8,000 mothers and children, including the Bani Hamida Weaving and the Jordan River Designs projects. These projects are now independently directed by local Jordanian boards.
"I determined that if I were to change the lives of these people, then I would need to bring happiness into their lives," Salti said.
The economic system in Jordan kept the people Salti worked with in a cycle of poverty. Salti recognized early that many people she was working with had never seen or handled many of the possessions she took for granted. Her simple philosophy for working with the Jordanian poor was to bring them in physical contact with what had previously been excluded from their lives. This gave them motivation to raise themselves out of poverty.
Salti summed up her experiences in Jordan with a simple lesson: "If a kid hasn't seen an orange, give him an orange to hold."
After receiving her master's degree in mass communications from BYU, Salti continued her education in programs at the University of Utah, University of California, Berkeley, UCLA and the Sorbonne in Paris.
The Administrator of the Year Award is given annually to an outstanding man or woman who has achieved distinction through many years in management in the public sector. Recipients reflect the exemplary ethical and moral commitments as well as untiring public service that are espoused by the Romney Institute.
Past recipients of the award include Elliot Richardson, former U.S. attorney general and ambassador; George W. Romney, three-term governor of Michigan and Manuel Acosta, senior foreign service officer, U.S. Department of State.
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Writer: Peter Carr
