Toronto Meeting Update

Implications for WA

Ghana/Burkina Faso Country Meetings

October 2008

Structure of the meetings

1st week – looking back: Accountability presentations from WA, SA, B/A and Parker Calibrating on knowledge and experience Preparation of an ‘accountability report’ for the region for CAP

and board. 2nd week – looking forward:

Brainstorm of possibilities for improvements and prioritization 3rd week – sharing:

N.O. program planning retreat Board meeting

4th week – important/non-urgent Brett and Erika on communications Louis, Ka-Hay and Danny on outreach Met with a donor, figured out McKinsey tool, budgeting, tennis

match with Ka-Hay, meeting with Brian, PM check-outs, etc.

1st week: Looking Back

1. Accountability presentation by Robin and Louis on the last quarter in WA for OLT

2. Accountability presentation by the OLT to the CAP on the last year overseas

3. Accountability presentation by OLT to the board on the last year overseas

All of those will be sent by email shortly. Many apologies for the delay.

Looking back: Success

Creation of sector strategies and sector teams New higher influencing opportunities (Heather in SWAp, Boris at

PAMER/IFAD, Brett at CU-UK, Jen at UNDAF) Significant consolidation of sending processes and in country operational

processes 1st year OVS success factor definition Training and development Selection Coaching and Support overseas

Large increase in sophistication of understanding of sectors we work in (SA) Participatory year planning process in WA including OVS and partners Innovation Fund creation and near term successes in WA Successful integration of 50% more OVS Extension of large percentage of people (6 out of 8 in winter, 6 out of 9

summer) Successful proof of concept of the MoFA program in the UER JF program was more linked to program progress than ever before OVS taking on more responsibility and contributing to progress of entire

program more

Looking back: Unsatisfied

Less Pillar 3 progress than hoped for a year ago Transition/ramp up of new leadership in Southern Africa, new

managers An OVS quit placement 6 months in (2nd out of 330) More selected people dropping out before starting placement

(20%) Needed improvement in capture/articulation of knowledge Increased number of sexual harassment cases with women JFs Lag time for Canada to understand overseas program increasing

and more difficult to message increased sophistication to a Canadian audience

2nd week: Looking Forward

Situation: Extra resources: Fundraising up by 20-25% OVS up by 30% Management capacity up because new hires and no turn-

over Steps:

1. Create a long list of blue sky ideas for program improvements (the list is about 8 pages long, and includes the ideas generated and prioritized in WA).

2. Create categories out of this list such that we can choose a ‘direction’ rather than a specific program improvement.

3. Priorities categories and then the program improvements within the categories.

Looking Forward: Categories

Increasing our donor influence Improving OVS training and alumni services Developing local leaders Improvements to the structure of our programs Creating different services to partners Increasing our credibility Improving our/the sector’s accountability Increasing our resources Articulating our knowledge and results Other crazy and exciting ideas

Looking Forward: Categories

Increasing our donor influence Developing local leaders Improving our/the sector’s accountability Improvements to the structure of our programs Increasing our credibility Articulating our knowledge and results Creating different services to partners Other crazy and exciting ideas Improving OVS training and alumni services Increasing our resources

BA prioritization choiceParker/Louis? choice

Choice of corestrategic areas

Sub-categories from abovestrategic areas

Sector specific /Innovation Fund

What criteria will we use?

Our choice: OP focus on increasing our donor influence OP focus on developing local leaders OP focus on improving our/the sector’s accountability Sector-specific focus Investment of extra resources into existing strategies

What would Dorothy want us to do? She would want us to reach the biggest population with the best

services and the most sustainable solutions.

One of EWB’s bottleneck to impact is our size. We either: become a large NGO or we find leverage points in existing systems

A reframing of what we do...

Rural Population in SSA (1st tragedy)

Organizations Meant to Serve this Population

Private Sector Civil SocietyGovernment

2nd Tragedy EWB’s work

Bringing it to the next level…

Rural Population in SSA (1st tragedy)

Organizations Meant to Serve this Population

High Leverage Organizations (donors HQ and others)?

Strategic areas…

Focus on increasing our donor influence Expanded to identifying and using mechanisms to

“scale-up” our approach and ideas developed at the sectpr level.

Focus on developing local leaders Will be a tool for our sector teams.

Focus on improving our/the sector’s accountability Will be a tool for our ‘replication’ team.

Sector specific focus More resources in the sector teams

Yes for OVS and money

Implications for sector teams

Implications for sector teams: Extra resources for innovation: $30,000 for the region More writing of what works and what doesn’t (tools, opinion

pieces, etc.)… 1 per team for the Fall:• MoFA: A full version of the piloted curriculum • ERA: A first version of the Manual de CdG (EWB style) • AEPHA: A diagnostic tool, especially designed for

‘organisational learning’ • GGG: Results from your field monitoring during the elections

and Nick’s district research (and Jen’s observations?) Ensure there are resources as of January to take on “special

projects” (about ½ person/sector team): conference on capacity building, studies on specific projects (donor lead or EWB led), etc.

Results.ewb.ca

Discussion

What do you think of the reasoning? It’s a big gamble… are you interested in

trying? Can you think of a better way to maximize our impact?

What are you the most disappointed we are NOT doing? How does it compare to the proposal?

Are you excited about it?

Other Discussions

Sector briefs and updates Fair Trade anecdotes/testimonials Recruitment at chapters (use every opp.) Videos (Utube on the website) Innovation and Operations’ fund

Split per team?Split innovation/operations?Other?

Razak, or a Ghanaian employee

Other possible implications

The creation of a list of ‘principles’ to evaluate our strategies:1. Does it maximize the fostering of local leadership?2. Does it maximize sustainability odds by involving the private

sector or the government? Does it address other main sustainability threats?

3. Does it maximize positive outcomes on gender equality?4. Does it create sustainable built-in learning processes? Are

the beneficiaries given an opportunity to old the system accountable?

5. Is/are the innovation component(s) distinctive? Are the associated main assumptions clear?

6. Etc…

October 18th Schedule

The schedule will look like: 09h00-12h00: Sector updates 12h00-13h00: Lunch 13h00-1700: Discussions

Issues to discuss include: Review of the Aug25 version of the strategy: what’s the

update, anything to change, what’s the plan going forward? Communication strategy: how will we correct the situation in

EG, and involve other stakeholders in our strategy Dan (what needs to get done, any implications on the team?) JFs (maybe need to get some info from Alanna before?) Hiring Ghanaians Louis’ role and implications on the team

Visit 3: Agenda

Informal chat: overview of top of mind Exchanging objectives Setting an agenda Asking for a motivation check Addressing the OVS-driven objectives first Addressing the coach-driven objectives second Asking for feedback and giving feedback More informal chat

Visit 3: Coach-driven items

Self-assessment review and discussion Multiple dimensions of contribution to team strategy 1st year OVS indicators McKinsey tool (top 10 categories)

Extension discussion Way forward: plan each of the next months Review of the relationship OVS final report: overview and prep