Monday, August 27, 2012

Organizational Development: TRAINING

Currently, Fount of Mercy's Organizational Development Intern, April Mulcahy, is doing a project where she is monitoring and evaluating training. She just completed training on "Leadership Team-Building" and will have training on "Communication Skills" in the fall. The plan is to then offer these trainings again so more people have the opportunity to attend. In the future, Fount of Mercy would like to train Ugandan facilitators who can then do these trainings in village settings. In addition, we would also like these trainings to specialize in specific needs of the organizations with whom we are partnering. The trainings are 4 weeks long, 2 days a week back-to-back for 2 hours each... for a total of 8 sessions. This allows time for the class participants to actually apply what they are learning. In the most recent "Leadership Team-Building" training, April discussed topics such as communication skills, decision making skills, managing self-development, preventing burnout, ethics, developing team trust, knowing the phases of a team life cycle, etc. They did a lot of self/team evaluation. The training class discussed long lasting NGO leadership styles in the Ugandan context. And finally, how to put all that was discussed in the cultural context and how to overcome challenges. The purpose of these trainings and the follow up activities we are implementing is to get them to support and network each other. This is important since Ugandan culture doesn't incline itself to sharing information and supporting each other. But, these NGO leaders love this! So, with each training, April will focus on a group of 4 or 5 from the training and have them get together to discuss things, do a check-in and share hardships and successes of how they have applied what they learn from the training. She will meet with them once a month for 3 months. She will also do a site visit with each of them so they can have feedback on their progress. Lastly, April will host a "follow up" day with the whole class a month after each training ends. This will allow for a class reunion and April will give a general reminder of the power of networking and healthy accountability. We're really excited about the work April is doing in Uganda! Thanks April! Fount of Mercy

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Life Skills Workshop

We have a couple volunteers traveling to Jinja in September to work with our Community Health Initiative Director, Vanessa Crowley. We're thrilled she's going to have some help and excited about what they will be doing. Vanessa has created a Life Skills Workshop. The workshop was created for both men and women, preferably those who work with adolescents. Our volunteers will be assisting Vanessa in teaching this Life Skills workshop and we're looking forward to what they are able to accomplish. Along with our volunteers from the States, Vanessa has been training a woman named Manuela in Jinja. She will also help teach this workshop in September. Ideally, when Vanessa needs to return to the States, Manuela will continue on her work. A BIG thank you to Vanessa, Manuela, and our September volunteers for their hard work in this Life Skills workshop! Fount of Mercy

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Wanyange Women's Group

The following was written by Julius Wamimbi, Fount of Mercy's Program Associate: I'd like to introduce you to the Wanyange women's group, one of the groups Fount of Mercy is working with here in Jinja. The group has a total of 25 members who are very committed and active with their village bank business. This group started up a village bank business after the class in May this year. The group started their business by contributing a membership fee in order to raise their initial capital. This money was combined with Fount of Mercy's matching capital. It was used to cover the saving box, pad locks, ledger book, and even printing all the required documents for the business (loan application form, members saving sheets, etc.). The business is operating so well now and the members are so committed and active in saving their money on a weekly basis! It has been a great honor for me working with this group in these areas, teaching them business skills and knowledge, keeping track of their records, designing work plans, guiding their weekly meetings, preparing all documents used in village bank and recording their savings using the electronic system - cash book complete. The group members are so excited on how the business is progressing! They have strong leaders who are motivating the members to save and borrow money in order to start up small businesses to improve on their standards of living. Fount of Mercy appreciates the strong group dynamics of these women and we hope for great success in their business and also wish them the best. Best, Julius Wamimbi