Sustaining organisations in the times of HIV & AIDS

EASUN examines OD role in workplace mainstreaming
of H & A

Fifteen OD practitioners and H&A mainstreaming experts met, from 12-15 April 2010, to raise awareness of the impact of H&A on performance and development of Organisations. They also examined how OD can add value to H&A mainstreaming through tools and processes for strengthening Organisational adaptive capacities.

The workshop, organized by EASUN in Moshi, Tanzania, started by observing that mainstreaming H&A in the workplace is an intervention that meets the urgent need to strengthen Organisational resilience in the face of a devastating pandemic. At the same time, it was noted that such mainstreaming will take place in Organisational contexts that are already quite messy in terms of questions related to governance, people’s rights, motivation, leadership and resistance related to how such questions are manifesting themselves.

The workshop thus started an important conversation to enable H&A mainstreaming experts and OD practitioners in East Africa map out complimentary interventions that will address both immediate resilience needs and complex Organisational culture issues that require interventions for transformational change.

Workshop was a powerful change leadership intervention

• Use of metaphors induced creativity and motivated people to bring H&A to life in the images shared;
• Case-studies and experiences enabled participants to discern how OD can support H&A mainstreaming;
• Participatory processes enabled participants to practice transformational leadership capacities such as inclusivity, positive engagement and active listening;
• High energy levels and humour of participants supported dynamic thinking, good feelings and productive encounters throughout the workshop.

The workshop clarified how OD works with bottom up approaches to enable an Organisation generate its own evidence of the need for change. In the process, the client sees its real questions, and energy is generated to transform Organisational practices needed to support change.

What is HIV & AIDS mainstreaming asking of OD?

Examples were offered of specific OD interventions that might accompany workplace interventions that strengthen capacities of Organisations to sustain policies and practices that address H&A in the workplace:

• Use specific tools to generate the Organisation’s will to see underlying issues and take responsibility;
• Construct new systems and learning processes that support Organisational culture change;
• Coach leaders to surface and facilitate shifts around underlying stuck beliefs, feelings and motivations;
• Create “safe space” through interventions such as metaphors and listening exercises, to discuss HIV & AIDS in the workplace.

Transformational approaches are essential to OD

The lingering question for OD practitioners in the workshop was how supporting mainstreaming practices might affect the facilitator’s essential responsibility to support transformation through surfacing unconscious processes in an Organisation, and the nature of relationship that this requires between a consultant and the client situation. Richard, an Associate of EASUN from Safeneighbourhood in Uganda noted the need to manage the boundaries properly, given that both performance and transformation are fundamentally emotional issues that depend upon motivation. Jared, an OD practitioner from Kenya added that the notion of OD responding to HIV & AIDS in the workplace is challenging because the primary responsibility of raising an Organisation’s questions “is not mine”, as an OD practitioner.

As a discipline, OD recognizes that ultimately it is the relationships that change the fate of any system. Simple training, or one-off fixing interventions are not OD. Such limited interventions cannot change an Organisation’s way of thinking, doing things or relating. This has implications on what might ultimately be the relevance of OD for H&A workplace interventions.

Way forward

One of the essential results from an OD intervention is enhanced “will” to see those things that an Organisation is likely to be in denial about. When accompanied by transformations in other areas of the system, such as culture change, an Organisation acquires increased capacity to implement new policies and practices. The process of HIV & AIDS mainstreaming in workplaces may thus be supported by OD through interventions that go beyond modifications of policy or activity results indicators, for instance:

• Organisation-wide change processes that create “acceptance”, shared ownership, and sustainability of purpose or intent;
• Coaching to strengthen leaders’ skills in the use of change leadership tools;
• Surfacing claimed values as the basis for challenging Organisations to take into account the interests of marginalized people.

Doreen, a mainstreaming expert from Uganda noted that the discussion and lessons from the workshop had given her the confidence to stop worrying about the word mainstreaming. “I have struggled in the past, every time an Organisation said, ‘we want to mainstream’. I will now work with the simpler expression of: “How are you going to take HIV & AIDS into account, which seems to require a system-wide process of development”.

The final conversation of the workshop focused on determining how OD processes that transform Organisational culture and practices can be incorporated in H&A mainstreaming work. The workshop recommended specific next steps that seem to offer a healthy interface without infringing on the practice preferences of OD, including:

• Review the Organisational complexity framework to assess specific levels where descriptions or example of H&A may be added;
• Select OD tools and process techniques for fast tracked training of HIV & AIDS mainstreaming practitioners.

At the time of writing this e-news, the first action step above has already been implemented by EASUN and APODEA (Association for Practicing OD in East Africa). EASUN is also planning a pilot training of HIV & AIDS mainstreaming experts in the use of selected tools for transforming Organisational culture and governance.

For more information contact alando.anyona@easun-tz.org. For information on APODEA contact jonyachsnr@yahoo.co.uk
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Alando completes two years of internship at EASUN and
shares her story

Chance, holding my hand,
Led to these shifting sands of learning,
A stepping stone in motion,
My comfort standing no ground.

Two years! Not so long,
Yet so much growth, so much change,
Challenged afresh with each passing day,
The bar raised with every step I took.

So glad was I, to learn with the best,
Well set on a glowing path to my triumph,
Seeing the gold in me; taking it, owning it,
Became my everyday song.

Alando Anyona was enrolled in EASUN’s internship programme for young women leaders from April 2008 to March 2010. Next intake for interns: November 2011. Minimum requirements: age between 25 and 35, first University degree.
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New interns learning to lead transformational change

A fresh duo of young women joined EASUN’s internship programme after Alando, the last of the first two interns, completed her two years in March 2010. Njura Lusingu joined in November 2009, coming from an IT background, in which she received her training at Jomo Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya. Marcella Mwambe came in March 2010 from Dar es salaam, where she taught at Mbagala Kuu Tuition centre.

One of Marcella’s interests in the internship is to become familiar with the practice of OD. A particular activity that has stood out for her since coming to EASUN was the OD and HIV & AIDS mainstreaming workshop (see above). In terms of her own leadership development, the most memorable event was when she presented her first book review, on “paradox”, just one month after joining the programme: “It gave me confidence, and the insight that if I work hard I will make it as a transformational leader.” In the area of self-development Marcella sees her biggest challenge to be “the fascinating area of learning to live with paradox”, which, she says: “can be frightening, like walking in a dark wood on a moonless night.” Marcella is currently taking the lead in working with colleagues to review EASUN’s gender policy.

Njura characterizes what she has learnt so far as “supporting others to develop themselves”. The most outstanding experience she has had in her own leadership development at EASUN at this point has been the formal coaching sessions, which she attends at least once a month.

Both Njura and Marcella are currently immersed in preparing for the FOD, EASUN’s eight month training course that they will start in August 2010. “I am looking forward to the FOD with excitement and focused attention in my preparations”, says Njura. The two interns are also currently burying their heads in planning their first “big event” on the internship timetable
(4th June 2010), when they will conduct a learning meeting and share, with all EASUN programme staff, how they have experienced the internship since January, including responsibilities they have taken so far in 1) personal development; 2) leadership in team situations; 3) planning and coordinating various programme activities and events.

Njura feels particularly challenged with the practice of “holding a mirror to myself” toward sustaining the practice of being a reflective, facilitative leader. She also appreciates team learning and mutual support at EASUN and the way “individuals here take responsibility for self development as a key components of a learning Organisation.”

For more information on the internship programme contact mosi.kisare@easun-tz.org

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FOD cycle "N": Last opportunity to register

Facilitating Organisation Development (FOD) course is offered by EASUN for leaders of civil society Organisations in East Africa. Over 160 leaders have attended the course since its inception in 1997 and are sharing great stories of transformation in their leadership practices and facilitation skills in capacity building work. Apply now and join a growing community of development practitioners experiencing paradigm shifts in facilitating transformational change in Organisations and individuals.

Module 1 of Cycle "N" will be held from 15th – 21st August 2010. Modules 2 and 3 will take place in November 2010 and March 2011, respectively. Ask for application materials from: alando.anyona@easun-tz.org. The deadline for new applications or confirmation of intent to participate is 15th June 2010.

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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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