EASUN: Center for Organisational Learning

EASUN reflects and reviews...

Looking back on 2009 at a retreat workshop

EASUN staff participated in a three-day retreat, from 7-9 September in Tanga, to review the organisation's work, growth, achievements and development in 2009. Overall, an early end-of-year reflection proved to be extremely valuable for planning performance and improvement in the upcoming year.

The workshop processes used in Tanga were simple, organic and focused on "meaning-making" from what we had done, felt and learnt during the year. It was an intervention for learning, development and preparation for growth and development in 2010. The information below captures the essence of the methodology used in the review process which, in our view, reflects the true mark and purpose of reflective practice.

The review exercise began with a number of team building activities, from which we drew specific lessons and increased our ability to hear and see more from the differing vantage points of individual workshop participants.

By discussing openly and listening closely, we were able to see the real experiences of EASUN in 2009. This view was confirmed by an exercise in which participants were asked to share what they saw in the simple sketch of a broken-lined circle with two crosses in it. Among the many things shared, one individual noted that she could see 11 spaces in the image. Others, expressing their doubts, demanded a count. In the counting process the group discovered that there were actually 38 spaces in the image.

From this exercise it became clear that "openness" brings "wholeness" to the realities that we experience either as individuals or in team situations, and thus increases the quality of both learning and team work.

The meaning of reflection

Through image-based vocabularies (as in the example above), the 2009 review process became a rich platform upon which staff members learnt together about a number of things that are central to EASUN's approach to facilitating change and development in individuals and organisations. An insight that stood out was "the meaning of reflection".

Two key processes in reflective activity are "looking back" (on experience) and "looking ahead" (toward next steps). In Tanga, a simple walk was used to demonstrate how looking back and looking ahead can take place in one conscious route of learning (i.e., stepping out, creating footprints, looking back on the footmarks and stepping out again). These were acted out to capture an image characterising reflective learning, an activity that becomes developmental when connected by conscious capturing and documenting new learning from the experience.

Important benchmarks achieved in 2009

We were excited to note important successes in 2009, including:

  • 0% of change objectives planned in 2008 were implemented.
  • We were consistent in building organisational systems that sustained our awareness about the role of systems in increasing effective management of our organisation.
  • More staff ventured to write more, which greatly helped in upholding EASUN's communication strategy.
  • Our learning systems worked extremely well in 2009. Consider, for example, the learning site and the various activities that take place in it; including: 1) monitoring and evaluation of EASUN's work and practice; 2) team learning/ development; 3) developmental coaching for leadership and professional growth of staff, associates and interns.

Some remaining issues from the previous plan that are being taken for implementation in 2010 include:

  • strengthening the culture of working through systems;
  • fast-tracking the development of individuals who can provide professional coaching, both inside EASUN and for other CSOs who may seek such support from us.

The stories we celebrate in 2009


  • The internship programme for young women leaders confirmed that having faith in people heals, builds confidence and helps them realize their best potential.
  • We appreciated working collaboratively to develop the new EASUN website - a worthwhile investment that speaks and adds to EASUN's brand and visibility.
  • The ETHOS workshop elevated the concept of "holding space", which is helping people see the real meaning and value of facilitative leadership. It also brought EASUN to acceptance and enhanced advocacy of developmental practices through its stated mission of creating spaces within which individuals, groups, organisations and communities creatively learn to build a better history and new ways of thinking and taking ethical action to improve lives and livelihoods.
  • The impact assessment workshop for FOD and FAF courses demonstrated how reviewing our footprints brings to life the changes and effects that our work adds to the growth of individuals and organisations in East Africa.
  • Strengthening the use of ALC has improved the quality and ownership of learning in EASUN's training of leaders of CSOs and fieldworkers of grassroots development organisations.
  • Planning jointly with a Northern NGO toward the North/South dialogue has opened a window for International NGOs to engage in joint strategic thinking with EASUN.
  • EASUN was effective through a small core staff working professionally, with commitment and drawing on the skills of various associates in East Africa and beyond.
  • Our communication strategy has created and marketed a highly admired face and practice for EASUN.

Stepping out in 2010

EASUN's prioritised development objectives for 2010 include:

  • opening our organisational boundaries as a Learning Centre;
  • strengthening platforms for developing partnerships in capacity building;
  • strengthening internal team learning and leadership development for more effective holding of our organisational space;
  • establishing an association for practicing OD in East Africa (APODEA) to enhance the promotion of facilitative leadership and transformational organisational practices in the region.

For more information on EASUN's reflective learning processes or construction of a "learning site", contact: mosi.kisare@easun-tz.org
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Transforming culture through gender institutionalisation

Seven women and six men from seven civil society organisations (CSOs) across East Africa attended a three-day workshop to assess changes in their organisational practices, especially with regard to conscious gender institutionalisation processes and how they move toward overall organisational culture transformation. The workshop, which took place in Moshi, Tanzania from 24-28 September 2009, was organised as a follow-up impact assessment by EASUN after two gender and organisation development (OD) workshops held in 2006 and 2007.

From an OD perspective, gender mainstreaming is a key ingredient for organisations to achieve the developmental purpose of humanising workplaces towards sustained effectiveness. It is, therefore, essential for the core strategies of organisations that are transforming to become more facilitative of shared leadership, team performance and strategies that are aligned to the developmental visions of CSOs.

A major purpose of the 2006/2007 workshops and the follow-up event of 2009 to establish a learning platform that will support CSOs in the region to feel the need for gender institutionalisation, establish ownership of the necessary gender concepts and generate the will for action to mainstream gender in their organisational mindsets, processes and systems.

The September 2009 workshop primarily assessed the extent to which the previous gender awareness workshops had influenced specific action steps toward gender institutionalisation and, presumably, if there were any perceptions of impact on any particular organisational cultural specifics and practices.

Progress from gender institutionalisation efforts by the participating organisations and the groups they support were shared as follows:

  • Understanding of the gender concept has slowly evolved to become more holistic. Now gender is recognised to be about establishing the "rights / equity based" relationship among different social groups in the society, as opposed to the past when it was thought of in terms of balancing participation of women and men alone.
  • Organisational policies are being reviewed with gender consciousness.
  • Gender policies in place have generally been implemented.
  • Increased awareness and support of varying male and female needs in the work place.
  • Poverty or lack of access to resources increases vulnerability leading to social exploitation of both man and women.

Areas where there are still some glaring gaps were also noted. For example:

  • Gender policies alone are not enough; few organisations have appointed focal persons to lead in implementation and follow up on commitments and practices.
  • Mainstreaming plans, lessons and emerging questions are generally not fully documented.

From the analysis above, workshop participants were left with a stronger than ever conviction that gender is indeed an integral part of development. They came to understand that gender mainstreaming requires organisations to become more conscious of diversity issues and to increase their preparedness to manage these issues effectively.
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This newsshot is also available at: www.easun-tz.org/enews/newsshot_25october2009.html

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EASUN Centre for Organisational Learning
P.O. Box 6120 Arusha, Tanzania
Tel: +255-(0)27-2548803
Fax +255-(0)27-2548289
info@easun-tz.org
www.easun-tz.org
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