Empowerment in the field…participation in the workplace

Ugandan fieldworkers link organizational structure with effectiveness in community mobilization

EASUN delivered the first module of its facilitation skills training to 15 field workers of CEREDO (Catholic Education, Research and development Organization), in Soroti, North Eastern Uganda. The workshop took place from 12th – 17th July. The second and final module of the course will take place in October 2010.

Fieldwork: a methodology embedded in the mission statement

CEREDO works in the general area of education to improve school performance and increase access to higher learning. In order to sustain the effectiveness of its services in current times, a particularly important area of CEREDO’s work is community sensitization toward reducing HIV prevalence in Uganda. Activities that occupy its field workers include training, service provision, awareness raising and formation of groups that focus on specific issues in local communities. CEREDO’s work is “people’s rights” based, seeking to empower communities to become agents of their own development. This is reflected in CEREDO’s mission statement, which focuses on “activities that improve people’s livelihoods through the advancement of practices that uphold church values.”

The FAF course is based on five themes that address people’s rights through transformational interventions in groups and communities. Central to these themes are facilitation and self-awareness, through which EASUN builds fieldworker’s capacities in facilitating ownership in community project situations. Self awareness of the facilitator is particularly key where “empowerment” is sought as an outcome. FAF training in CEREDO is thus equipping its fieldworkers with skills for facilitating participatory engagement and ownership in learning situations, as well as their own personal development toward heightened self-awareness in community training situations.

What tools?

Participation and empowerment are concepts long associated with development work. They are also values stated and claimed by many civil society organizations in the region. Over a ten year period between 1998 and 2009, EASUN has trained 100 fieldworkers from 26 organizations in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, offering opportunities for them to translate the two great ideas of participation and empowerment into concrete skills through the use of specific tools and techniques. For instance, CEREDO field workers learnt to use a powerful tool for facilitating ownership of learning through an exercise in which they themselves built up a picture of what field work at CEREDO looks like in the current situation. The emerging picture raised questions that they had never thought about before. In this particular exercise they practiced using the action-learning model even before knowing its name. Action learning is introduced, in the FAF course, with the particular emphasis of facilitating ownership, responsibility-taking and commitment in community learning and project situations.

As essential principles in development work, participation and empowerment are relevant not only in fieldwork interventions, but also for governance practices in civil society organizations themselves. In practice, this claim on values is to be assessed around specific qualities such as: 1) appreciative processes and relationships in day-to-day management of an organization; 2) distribution of leadership and responsibility-taking in the workplace; 3) shared learning practices and systems for team and organizational development; 4) team based task-performance and accountability; 5) Working for change outcomes that empower organizational members and communities served.

Aligning organizational ethos and field work goals

Two brief role-plays contrasted the field workers’ new facilitation skills gained through FAF with current managerial behaviours, structure and relationships in CEREDO as an organization. Group discussions after the role plays helped participants to: 1) surface CEREDO’s purpose related to field work; 2) surface critical issues in existing fieldwork practices at CEREDO; 3) generate questions that may guide CEREDO to examine systems and practices that it needs to put in place in order to effectively promote and sustain facilitation postures likely to empower local grassroots communities and groups.

Prior to the role-plays, the fieldworkers had considered CEREDO’s well established organizational systems in the areas of reporting, planning and policies to be sufficient as drivers of success in fieldwork activities aimed at promoting ownership, initiative and control in local communities.

A session on “Aligning fieldwork and organizational practices” enabled participants to 1) strengthen their understanding of field work as an activity related to CEREDO’s organizational purpose; 2) assess how current knowledge, skills, attitudes or behaviours of fieldworkers help or hinder successful interventions in relation CEREDO’s purpose; 3) explore avenues through which fieldwork practices can influence structure, appreciative leadership and other organizational practices in the day-to-day management of CEREDO affairs.

“What practices does CEREDO need to adopt to ensure its own continuous conscious learning, and sustain facilitative qualities of its staff members, both in the field and inside the organization itself?” That emerged to be a question generally shared by participants at the end of the exercise above. It was similar, in content, to a burning question raised on the first day of the workshop by Edimu, CEREDO’s Programme Assistant responsible for community sensitization and mobilization in relation to OVC and HIV & AIDS.

Self-awareness of the facilitator: whose miracle are you looking for?

During the evaluation at the end of the FAF week participants shared how they had experienced the first module of the course, including what they had learnt and how they felt. Bernard Omoding, CEREDO’s M & E officer, eloquently summed up what other participants had expressed in different ways.

I thought the concept of facilitation would simply be about—“you have to be audible, dress well, create opportunities for all people to share their ideas.” I had debated whether I should attend this course at all. However, my mind and interest became more activated when I saw the continuum of the FAF course themes of self-awareness and participation leading to empowerment of communities through outcomes related to people’s rights. The Cocoon story in the “Butterflies and sunshine” exercise was a turning point for me as a facilitator of development in grassroots communities. It helped me see the critical question: “whose miracle are you going to look for in the field?” Fieldworkers and development experts quite often work in communities looking for their own preconceived miracles, rather than patiently building people’s capacities to create and sustain their own miracles? This made me see that there was something completely different in the FAF training.

It changed the meaning of facilitation for me. I need to build my capacities to see, acknowledge, appreciate and work through the wisdom of the local situation. As a facilitator, I need to enhance my ability to “participate”.

For additional information and application procedures for FAF training of your fieldworkers contact alando.anyona@easun-tz.org ________________________________

Associate joins EASUN with a stint at FAF

Doreen Kwarimpa-Atim, from Uganda, is the latest OD Associate to come on board EASUN’s team of practitioners, after excellent performance in cycle “M” of the FOD (Facilitating Organization Development) course, which ended in March 2010. Doreen is an expert in the area of HIV & AIDS mainstreaming before coming into the OD field. She and another close associate of EASUN, Anike Akridge, will join EASUN staff for two days in August to select OD tools that EASUN will use to strengthen HIV & AIDS mainstreamers’ capacities in making deep culture change interventions in workplaces. Earlier on in July 2010, Doreen joined EASUN’s Atieno Olwal and Mosi Kisare to train fieldworkers of the Catholic Diocese of Soroti (see story above).

In addition to delivering a successful first module of the course, the three trainers were privileged to experience the joy and warmth of Soroti District. Atieno and Mosi had the following to say: “The products of this wonderful savannah embraced us in the warmth of its sun and the traditional brown bread (ugali) and vegetables we consumed. We were energized by the pace and rhythm of the people. That man on a bicycle crossing the local soccer field...where was he going? A dumb question indeed...it was simply beautiful to accompany his spirited ride, as he peddled his purpose and focus, engulfed in the golden early morning Soroti sunshine. The girl-child walking the roadside; two plastic, bright yellow containers dangling from each hand. Tall millet and cassava in the fields, amidst scattered bushes and shrubs. The rocky hill, wearing a winding footpath like a necklace on its chest. Numerous small towns like Awoja, and the mighty road bumps that announced their looming presence. All these gave us the most charming escort as we made our way back from Soroti toward Entebbe.”

For expressions of interest to be listed as an EASUN Associate contact mosi.kisare@easun-tz.org ________________________________

Face to face with rapid growth and organizational questions

Okoka, a faith based organization in Dodoma, Tanzania, was supported by EASUN to review its internal organizational environment from 18-20 May 2010. Fourteen (14) women and 8 men participated in the survey workshop.

Through the survey, Okoka members, staff and key stakeholders identified current issues or questions in Okoka’s organizational processes such as structure, relationship and various other organizational practice and capacity areas.

A key intervention in an organizational survey is to increase an organization’s self-awareness in a way that generates its energy and commitment to action-steps in the direction of the desired change. Two frameworks shared by EASUN consultants enabled Okoka members to surface and analyze its emerging issues. This process encouraged participants to take responsibility and come to acceptance about where Okoka was currently doing particularly well, but also specific areas in which the organization required further capacity development. Finally, priority development objectives and action steps were developed in relation to specified outcomes that would strengthen Okoka’s capacity to sustain its stated purpose and mission.

At the end of the survey week, Okoka members shared experiences of their increased awareness of how some stuck situations had come about in the organization, as well as feelings of confidence about Okoka’s new ability to manage its various organizational levels more consciously. Others felt encouraged that they could now see possibilities for more facilitative relationships ahead. EASUN was invited to facilitate Okoka’s strategic thinking and planning process planned for 26-30th July 2010.

For inquiries on OD interventions from EASUN contact atieno.olwal@easun-tz.org ________________________________

Leadership workshop for CBO’s institutional development

EASUN is pleased to invite you to a 3-day consultation that will bring together CBO Leaders from different corners of East Africa to work out strategies that supporting capacity development of CBOs as strategic development actors at grassroots communities. The Consultation will take place from 26th to 29th September 2010, at Uhuru Hostel, Moshi, Tanzania. EASUN will cover costs of full board accommodation for 4 nights in Moshi. Participants are being asked to take their own transport to and from the workshop venue.

The workshop will seek to discover the leadership “link” likely to strengthen CBOs’ capacities for advocacy and, particularly, how such leadership skills might enhance networking among CBOs as development actors in local communities. Grassroots organizations throughout East Africa are already doing remarkable work of service delivery through project activities. At the same time, the project approach continues to scatter them as implementers, whose purposes are shaped by project descriptions and report writing templates. The Moshi workshop will explore possible interventions that would develop the capacities of CBOs as strategic local initiatives able to sustain the knowledge, values and relationships that enhance collaborative ways of responding to social development issues in local communities.

The consultation is part of strategy for institutional development of CBOs in East Africa, based on findings of a five-year Action Research carried out by EASUN between 1997 and 2003, in collaboration with NGOs and CBOs in the region. Please note that there are only 25 places available for sponsored participation in the consultation. Kindly confirm your participation by 20th August 2010 to facilitate our planning process.

For further information and registration forms contact atieno.olwal@easun-tz.org ________________________________

This newsshot is also available at: www.easun-tz.org/enews/newsshot_31july2010.html

If you wish to unsubscribe from the EASUN eNews mailing list, e-mail: webmanager@easun-tz.org

If you have any comments, questions or concerns about this list, your subscription, and/or any of the news shots that you receive, e-mail webmanager@easun-tz.org directly.
________________________________

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
________________________________