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| Trainers: extraordinaire |
Last month, I worked with fellow VSO Nicole Johnson to design, and then deliver two training sessions in one week on the theme of: 'Resource Mobilisation'. The first was designed for the organisation where I work, Kenya Union of the Blind, and the second was put together for Nicole's colleagues at the HIV/AIDS-prevention organisation, I Choose Life.
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| KUB staff |
On Tuesday we held a session for KUB staff at a grubby hotel in East Nairobi. I named the training Tutafundraise! (We will fundraise!). 'Mobilising resources' is currently left to just one person, our CEO Jackson. But with his blessing, this was a chance to share sales and fundraising skills more widely. All staff at KUB's head office attended: logistics, finance, programme and reception staff (7 in all). We covered just two sessions in the day: introducing my colleagues to basic sales skills (how to talk about the organisation to external people) and a simple structure for writing a proposal. Although it was a challenge to bring my colleagues 'out' and engage them in discussion, once again people just LOVED the participatory/interactivity of the day, as they are so used to just listening and being 'told'. After the training, whilst I was glad we had introduced these ideas, I didn't really expect anyone in the room to be able to write a proposal or give a sales pitch without more practice. But it was a good start, and they all really enjoyed the chance to get out of the office and learn new things.
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| I Choose Life staff |
On Wednesday we held a session for I Choose Life staff at a nice hotel in West Nairobi. 'Mobilising resources' is currently the responsibility of a team of 5 people, most working part time on proposal-writing. The training was a chance for them and others (15 in total) to build on their skills, think broadly about where resourse might be available and perfect their relationship-building. We covered eight sessions in one day on a variety of topics. Compared to the team I work with, Nicole's colleagues are highly educated, media savvy, and with plenty of exposure to the wider donor landscape. They were also very welcoming and attentive to all 6 hours of training. With the CEO in the room towards the end of the day, we were able to clearly identify further training needs and ways to improve their already well-developed communications.
It was great working with Nicole on these training sessions - lovely to bounce ideas around in the planning stages, and then receive support with the logistics and demands of training a room full of people for whole-day sessions.
The experience of working with two very different groups of people really opened my eyes. My colleagues suffer from a lack of exposure to professional environments and different ways of working, mainly because KUB does not have the leadership or funds to attract experienced people. Also, for those with visual impairment, attending schools for the blind, and socialising mainly in the visually impaired community affects their personal and professional confidence. Training these folks was, in Nicole's words, 'one small slow step at a time'.
It was great working with Nicole on these training sessions - lovely to bounce ideas around in the planning stages, and then receive support with the logistics and demands of training a room full of people for whole-day sessions.
The experience of working with two very different groups of people really opened my eyes. My colleagues suffer from a lack of exposure to professional environments and different ways of working, mainly because KUB does not have the leadership or funds to attract experienced people. Also, for those with visual impairment, attending schools for the blind, and socialising mainly in the visually impaired community affects their personal and professional confidence. Training these folks was, in Nicole's words, 'one small slow step at a time'.
In contrast, Nicole's colleagues were typical of the organisation they represent: I Choose Life is focussed, high-achieving and with clearly a lot of talented professionals. Nicole's Resource Mobilisation placement is obviously very different from mine, but in lots of ways much more challenging - so much is expected, everything moves very fast and a high level of commitment is demanded; it's more like working in the western world. I must say it was a big reverse culture shock to be back in a room of people talking about strategy, communications and donor development. I felt very far from East Nairobi, but I was pleased to discover I can still 'cut it' in that environment despite 9 months working at a much slower pace.
Nicole has brilliantly captured how it all went down in her blog post on the training, so do click through and check it out. The training felt like one of the first tangible achievements of my placement, and highly enjoyable too!
Big thanks to Nicole for suggesting our successful collaboration and being great to work with (go team!) and I Choose Life for being so welcoming and teaching me all about their awesome youth-focussed HIV/AIDS prevention work. Check out their website here.
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