Am sorry y’all for not posting early, actually am meant to post weekly.
My first weekend in SA was calm and uneventful (personal choice), I actually wanted to be indoors. Besides, where I reside is very serene with very little chance of mobility options like a cab/taxi. So I stayed on bed for an unusually long period of time. Thereafter, I took out time to work on the Migration corridor literature review for most part of the day. On Sunday, I could not attend church because I barely knew where it was and how to get there, I felt a bit awkward though. By noon I decided to walk down the shopping mall at Waterkloof heights where I did some shopping. It was a good opportunity to also exercise. Eventually, washed some clothes and cooked today.
Entrance to Waterkloof heights shopping mall, SA
Monday with the Capacity Building Project (April 2nd)
Kathryn offered to pick me up from the guest house to the office this morning and I was pleased. On arrival at the office, the MEC (Monitoring, Evaluation, Communications and HIV Prevention) team first had a meeting which I was part of comprising of Zuzelle, Roselyn, Naume, Jabulani and led by Kathryn. The meeting focused on achievements and pending activities as guided by the MEC work plan, upcoming conferences, MEC staffing, the PPRD (Performance, Plan, Review and Development) process and AOB which included updates of my assignment so far in SA. Interesting news – two BLC abstracts have been accepted for presentations at the AIDS 2012 conference. Kudos! The BLC work plan is almost finalized with activities teased out to enhance implementation. ‘The Inside Story’ a film developed/facilitated by the BLC project and its partners has been accepted to be viewed at the Roxbury International Film Festival to be held 14-17 June in Boston, Massachusetts. Hook up to http://roxburyfilmfestival.org/ for more information. Innovative approach of tracking upcoming activities using colored cards was shared by Roselyn and Jabulani. The colored cards represent different BLC projects/countries for each month.
After the meeting, I was able to seek consent from staff via email to post their pictures on my blog which some obliged.
Roselyn and Jabulani brainstorming for a suitable spot for the colored card activity work plan
Thereafter, Zuzelle and I met with Anddy Omuolabi the technical lead on the capacity building (CB) project to gather some information on how the project is grasping with activities in the region. It was another interesting time. He gave us loads of information on the leadership and management development program (LDP) which left me craving for more.
The CB project focuses on two pivotal approaches – “service delivery” and “CB”. Service delivery is focused on Lesotho – partly on the OVC project. While the CB approach is geared towards strengthening Government systems and local capacity of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), there is still a focus on the prevention project. The CB is also strengthening health systems in six (6) countries namely Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland and Lesotho. In Botswana for example, the CB supports 13 health facilities to get accreditation but there is a need to scale up this achievement thus, their partnership with the Ministry of Health and Council for Health services and Accreditation (COHSASA) to mention a few using the LDP program. The LDP uses the framework of the MSH handbook on Managers that Lead to conduct capacity building workshops. Key models were the ‘Leading and Managing for Results model’, ‘the integrated leading and managing process’ and ‘the challenge model’
The CB project focuses on two pivotal approaches – “service delivery” and “CB”. Service delivery is focused on Lesotho – partly on the OVC project. While the CB approach is geared towards strengthening Government systems and local capacity of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), there is still a focus on the prevention project. The CB is also strengthening health systems in six (6) countries namely Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland and Lesotho. In Botswana for example, the CB supports 13 health facilities to get accreditation but there is a need to scale up this achievement thus, their partnership with the Ministry of Health and Council for Health services and Accreditation (COHSASA) to mention a few using the LDP program. The LDP uses the framework of the MSH handbook on Managers that Lead to conduct capacity building workshops. Key models were the ‘Leading and Managing for Results model’, ‘the integrated leading and managing process’ and ‘the challenge model’
Do view some of these models below
Our meeting with Anddy, CB Project. Picture showing Zuzelle and Anddy as we sat at his insightful explanations
One key lesson I learnt from the meeting is that Leaders must learn how to 'inspire' their subordinates so as to bring out the best in them.
Tuesday to Thursday (April 3rd to 5th)
The next few days, Zuzelle was on leave and I did miss her, she always had a way of guiding me, keeping me proactive, ensuring I gathered all the knowledge I could, making me feel free and looking out for my general welfare. She did send back my work with all of her comments and corrections as I dedicated myself to incorporating all of the comments into the literature review. Roselyn taught me a useful way of citing several authors using the endnote library as well as downloading references from the internet into the endnote library using Google advanced search. I later had lunch with Roselyn and we had a chit-chat on the OVC project and how I could develop a closer working relationship with Mathabo the M&E officer for Lesotho OVC project.
By Thursday the office started getting empty. Jabulani did have the time to look through my draft literature review and we had a meeting where we throroughly picked out corrections as well as made additions. It was a fruitful exercise that would make the final draft of the Lit.review a better one. By 2pm almost everyone was on their way out in preparation for the Easter holidays. there was a problem with my modem so Katie was very helpful in getting me another 3G Modem with assistance from Koketso. This would enable me access the internet during the long break. Katie was also kind enough to drop me off at the guest house as she showed me interesting spots around the guest house where I could shop, take coffee, eat out and even a salon. She also unraveled a swimming pool in the guest house where I could even have a spa even though am not much of a swimmer. Interesting updates! We also stopped over to buy some flowers before finally dropping me off at home. I am actually preparing for a swell Easter weekend which would be a surprise detail in my next blog.
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