Work

I've been thinking of writing about our work, but it is a little daunting.  So, bear with me while I give it a shot...

a few self-help group members

Our MCC service worker job in its barest description is to stay connected to four different organizations.  All of these are Maasai programs.  The reason we are connected to these groups is because MCC is their funding organization.  Development funding organizations require proposals and regular reporting.  One part of our job is to help with these kind of tasks.  Most of our job however is about building relationship with the staff and boards of these organizations in order to understand their professional development and capacity building needs.  These groups are all rather fledgling NGOs (non-governmental organization) or CBO's (Community Based Organization).  A small number of the people involved have higher degrees, most of them have a high school degree and probably all of them are the first generation in their family to have any kind of education whatsoever, even the ability to read.

a self-help group project introduction meeting held in the local church. Three self help groups traveled to meet us. Some walk a couple hours each way.

The amazing thing here is that all of these staff we work with can speak three languages, Maa, Swahili, and English.  And they are working with us, their funder, in English.  Though some of the report writing in English that we see needs lots of editing, we can not even imagine ourselves trying to write a report in a third language for people of a completely different culture to read and approve!

What does capacity building mean? This is a term that is common in development and essentially it  includes what many of us who live and work in the U.S. take for granted. For us these are basic things we've learned when we got our first jobs or even growing up watching our parents in their work.  For the folks here, having formal employment is not the norm. Herding the cattle and overseeing a family is more the norm for generations upon generations.

Capacity building training includes but is not limited to:

-management coaching to first time managers with no role models
-teaching computer skills from basic typing, to how to maneuver through the computer, to how to use excel.
-training in development and use of basic policy and procedure for employees and finances
-training in how to operate in an office setting, keep records, etc.
-training in how to run a meeting and work together as a staff
-learning appropriate communication and accountability
-teaching roles of the board and staff
-learning how to behave when you are under full time employment.
-time management training
-etc, etc.

A traditional style meeting: under the acacia tree

Each of our partner organizations are dealing with these things at different levels and are working on different projects. We are attempting to walk alongside and see in what ways and at which points we can contribute to their capacity building.

How do we do this exactly? We regularly visit the offices and catch up on what's going on. We take opportunities to facilitate small debrief meetings of big events they have or to show them new ways to organize their finances in excel.  We listen to the managers and coach them in management issues. Right now we are working with two of the groups to seek further donors. We arrange formal training with an amazing trainer who has been doing capacity building for all her life. She is a wonderful resource for us.

a training on writing and following policies

What exactly are the organizations/projects that we are working with?

Organization #1- This is a food security organization that works with a broad area, teaching farming and livestock techniques, water harvesting, etc- all for the purpose of improving the source of food and water for local households.

Our project manager uses animated stories  and analogies to get her point across, a traditional African method of teaching.

Organization #2- There is another food security organization that has just gone through losing their MCC funding due to massive mismanagement on many levels.  They are re-organizing in order to get back on their feet and perhaps get funding again in the future.  Our role with them is to help arrange training for the new board on how to run an organization, how to use the assets that they currently have, how to hire and to manage staff, how to manage finances. This is a very tangible way that MCC offers an example of God's grace to this community. Not giving up on them even if they had to cut off funding, setting stipulations and then working with them to reach those goals in order to re-gain their integrity and hopefully their effectiveness in their own community.

Organization #3- Because the second organization is essentially out of commission, their constituency is being left high and dry. This constituency consists of 39 self-help groups (registered community groups of 25 people). MCC has decided to run a 2 year project  bringing training  to develop the 10 most ready and eager of these groups and strengthen them in hopes that Organization #2 will be up on its feet and ready to work with these groups again in the future.
Right after our arrival on site in April, we were asked to write the proposal for this project.  We felt out of our league, but we asked questions and listened to the recommendations and amazingly our proposal was approved by July without any need for changes! We are supervising the Project Manager of this project and doing a lot of training with her. She is a very gifted woman and we hope to empower her to use her great gifts. Currently, in order to launch the project well, we are traveling with her 2-3x per week to visit the Self-Help Groups in order to introduce the project. This is strenuous, but we hope it will be well worth it when we see the project up and running smoothly with less need for as much involvement on our part.

We learned about the history of a local spring from this elder as we waited 3 hours for the rest of the group members to arrive for the meeting.

Organization #4- This is an HIV/AIDs program that does awareness training in the communities. It supports children affected and infected by the disease (many are orphans).  It supports and trains clients who are positive.  It is a testing location for people to come and get tested for the disease.  It is working on opening a clinic in hopes of developing it into some income generation.  The odds are great in these situations, but we are praying for God's favor and provision for this organization that is tackling a large and challenging issue for this community.

Most all of our work is done in English due to its complexity.  As we visit Self-Help Groups to do introduction meetings for the project, we listen to a lot of Maa and are growing our ability in listening comprehension.

We pray often for God's wisdom in how to walk alongside these people, to know when and how to share our knowledge and perspective with them.  Most of all, we hope to empower them to grow and learn so they can be fulfilled people working effectively in service to their communities.