Recalling "the final lap":

Critical interventions October-December 2009

Association to transform capacity building in East Africa

EASUN OD Associates received training in new skills for making interventions to minimise the negative effects of unstated, unwritten and quite often, unconscious cross-purposes in the lives of organisations. OD practitioners recognise that an organisation begins to destroy itself when unacknowledged processes dominate relationships and practices in its work life.

The associate's workshop, whose theme was "surfacing organisational shadow", took place in Moshi, Tanzania, from 4 - 8 October 2009. Ten men and seven women from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda attended the workshop.

"Shadow of an organisation" refers to what is being done that does not contribute to the achievement of the common purpose. Appropriate interventions to address such a situation involve surfacing an organisation's core process (i.e., that which meets the common purpose-making it visible, seeing how it works and where it comes from).

Mentorship and coaching workshops are annual events designed to deepen OD skills of a core group of practitioners associated with EASUN's mission to build awareness and skills for developing civil society relevance and effectiveness in East Africa. The 2009 workshop theme of "surfacing organisational shadow" was particularly important because of the understanding, from an OD perspective, that if the shadow cannot be surfaced (i.e., to bring alignment of organisational purpose with values and "practices in use"), then the intervention is not successful.

An important outcome from the workshop, in addition to new practice skills acquired, was the consensus that the EASUN Associates forum will form a nucleus for building an Association for OD Practice Development in East Africa.
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Holding and playing for common purpose:

Cultural foundation encounters its organisational core process

The situation, in terms of relationships, collaboration, leadership and accountability, seemed rather stuck - it was life exclusively in the shadow area. The few, who believed they were holding the organisational purpose felt extremely justified in what they were working for. The others played along, but for a varied mix of expectations. Organisational discourse was dominated by apportioning of blame, scapegoating and grappling for various kinds of technocratic solutions, such as restructuring, roles-definition and training.

EASUN was pleased to be invited to Kampala in early-December 2009, to facilitate a strategic thinking process for this organisation. At the same time, we recognized the challenge of enabling a conflicted situation to come to terms with its real question.

The most striking image developed by the participants in a workshop exercise to characterise what was happening in the current situation was "the ball is the goal": a soccer field whose two halves were shaded in different colors, with a football, labeled goal, placed at the starting point in the middle of the pitch. Two groups of people are standing inside the goal posts on opposite sides of the field. Arrows from the four corners of the pitch are pointed directly toward the ball.

"Six years wasted…" was the Executive Director's response at the end of the workshop when reflecting on such images, generated by participants themselves.

What was the real question for this organisation at that moment in time? Was the construction of best practice frameworks in the areas of management and accountability likely to be a sufficient intervention, or would they necessarily be relevant as the first line of response, as seemed to be the initial expectation? The image above illustrates this apparent dilemma particularly well - a magnificent field of play, wherein the ball either moves in no specific direction, or it moves all over the place, because it is, in itself, the goal.

Capacity development through strategic initiatives

The dramatic shift in perception by the Director in Kampala was likely because of her discovery that existing chaos and instability was due to the lack of clearly articulated common purpose and systems / processes and appropriate leadership for conscious, day-to-day management. While a number of things may need fixing at any given moment in the life of an organisation, the real (development) question is normally linked to effective carrying / holding of organisational space toward the achievement of its common purpose.

The intervention in Kampala was focused on formulating and clarifying vision, values and mission, as a major strategic and institution building initiative. Further analysis and reflection enabled participating members of the organisation to identify and come to acceptance about what their statements of purpose were indeed asking of them in terms of what they needed to strengthen or change. This led to planning specific action steps to construct, adopt and sustain best practices in specific areas of governance and management.

We were happy, at EASUN, to receive a New Year's message from Kampala five weeks after the intervention, indicating that enhanced shared identity and collaborative management of purpose were beginning to work particularly well for the organisation, especially in driving more effective leadership, relationships and team work in managing programme activities. According to the Executive Director, the intervention came at the perfect moment "in which we needed to do a lot of rethinking about our organisation in order to pave its way for the future. It enabled the staff to realise that they have a responsibility in making this organisation what it can be. This already makes a difference for us as everybody is now motivated to work together towards the goals we defined."

For more information and discussion of approaches to capacity development, contact: mosi.kisare@easun-tz.org
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Tanzanian CBO excels in aligning strategy and policy to sustain its institutional development

A community based organisation (CBO) founded in 2003 in Tanga region of Tanzania is particularly unique in its use of theatre to engage rural communities to facilitate local level changes in the areas of HIV/AIDS, and community health. EASUN was privileged to work with board members and management staff of the CBO from 14-15 December 2009 in a process to revise its constitution, seven years after the start of the initiative. The review was prompted by the board's perception of the need to transform the organisation's leadership, structure and systems, in response to its growth in activities and human capacity.

The constitutional review intervention came at a crucial time - immediately after the formulation of a new strategic plan for 2010-2013. This strategic plan indicated specific organisational practice areas that require clear policy support to be implemented with confidence and continuity. The review strengthened the constitution as an effective policy instrument for guiding the organisation through a new phase that demands different forms and relationships in managing structure, leadership and activities. It was perceived, for instance, that the new strategy would require more professionalism in terms of skills and organisational culture, different roles and communication at various levels, including shifts in leadership roles between the board and the secretariat.

In reviewing the constitution for such purposes, the CBO in Tanga demonstrated exceptional awareness and resolve with regard to ongoing management of organisational development and transitions. As noted by the Executive Director of the CBO in her recent communication to EASUN: "One of the greatest lessons... was a new awareness that healthy development and growth of our organisation requires a process of constant self-reflection and sufficient capacity to address the challenges that are inherent to the various stages of organisational development."
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Kenyan fieldworkers discover the key to transformation

Fourteen fieldworkers of eleven Kenyan organisations involved with orphaned and vulnerable children, youth groups and adult education, successfully completed the FAF (Facilitation Skills for Fieldworkers) course offered by EASUN. The second and last module was held in Nairobi, Kenya, from 7th to 11th December 2009.

The participants used the image of a watering can and flower to depict how they had come to visualise the essential posture / role held by a facilitator of development processes for community growth. Key themes of the image included: mutual support, caring, nurturing, strengthening, grounding and interdependence. The image also reflected new discoveries made by the participants during the second module; namely, the facilitative posture (which supports local creativity) and the engaging learning processes (which generate shifts and transformational change).

For information on organisation development (OD) support and training from EASUN, contact: atieno.olwal@easun-tz.org
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Happy new 2010!

At the beginning of the New Year, we at EASUN wish to express our appreciation of your outstanding support in 2009. In particular, we thank CSO leaders in East Africa who continued to affirm and encourage the vision and purpose for which EASUN worked with great satisfaction and success in the previous year.

EASUN Board members have been exemplary in their support, especially the enthusiasm with which they offered time, wisdom and love in sustaining both our purpose and effectiveness.

Our professional Associates from East Africa, South Africa and the UK increased their availability and interaction with EASUN in 2009, thus extending our capacity to respond to expressed needs of CSOs in East Africa. In the same vein, our singular volunteer, Edna, as well as the young women interns, offered priceless contributions to our work and growth, through their positive attitudes and tireless efforts to ensure that our activities were well planned and organised.

We thank HIVOS, PSO (Netherlands) and EED (Germany) for their vision and courage to continue their funding support to an organisation that speaks of development institutional capacity building as a site for liberating the mind, spirit and economic development potential of African communities. We invite you all to support and work with us again in 2010 to establish our new strategy for building civil society as a model and source of transformational leaders in East Africa.

Through collaboration with Reflective Learning UK (RL-UK) we were able to establish ETHOS as a question for leadership and other organisational practices for CSOs in the region. Our special thanks to Professor Tony Ghaye, Dr. Phil Chambers and Jules Holland for their enthusiastic embrace of EASUN as a partner.

And so, we happily celebrate a new beginning in 2010! At the same time, we maintain our resolve to address structural and human development questions that have shackled the potential of African people, communities and institutions.

Mosi Kisare, Executive Director
mosi.kisare@easun-tz.org
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EASUN Centre for Organisational Learning
P.O. Box 6120 Arusha, Tanzania
Tel: +255-(0)27-2548803
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info@easun-tz.org
www.easun-tz.org
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