Mike in Ghana with VSO

Mike's assignment with VSO working in Organisational Development (OD)

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Sharing skills and changing lives - handover workshop

Accra, June 16th and 17th. It's the last 2 days of my assignment with VSO Ghana. The idea is that I can pass on some of the skills and capabilities for the organisational development support role that I've developed, to the new Guided Self-Assessment Process (GSAP) support group....

After reviewing the new GSAP process document, it's time for the handover workshop.
I ask the group to construct their own agenda after they've thought about what they do and don't want to do - here I'm just working out timings.
"Set up shop" is where each person identifies the support services they will be providing and what they will need to do it.
The whole workshop is a very practical session. As far as possible, we don't just talk about the possible activities, but participate in them during the workshop itself, i.e. use them to make the workshop work. On the first day this includes some practice facilitating self-assessment. Mark and Krista come up with some great questions that, as a group, we assess ourselves on. Very informative!  
This is probably my favourite moment in the workshop. We have run "Yes But, No But" for everyone to identify how ready they are to be a GSAP supporter, and then found what needs to happen or each person to get to "Yes I'm ready". As we have committed to each of the necessary actions we have taken the step towards 'yes' that this enables. When we all arrive at the 'yes' end of the room we have asked 'what was important in getting here?', and overwhelmingly the mutual support of the group turns out to be the key factor.
I'm glad that we're comfortable enough with each other to have some fairly robust debate!

The activity we spend most time on is "Top Tips".  I could have just written down my top tips and sent them out. But instead I've proposed an activity where we all brainstorm our favourite tips for each step of the new process. Mine are included, but this gives everyone the chance to add to them - or brainstorm their own before they look at the tips I've prepared.
We take turns leading the review of these tips - each step has a different person taking us through the tips proposed for that step. It's a great sharing of skills and ideas.
VSO Ghana permanent staff are fully involved in this as well as VSO volunteers - see the photos of Mary and Emmanuel both leading the session for different steps.
We do a quick evaluation. People are very positive about the participatory approach. They liked that we are open to each other, and ready for feedback. (I tried to squeeze in a quick brain-dump on Thursday morning of some stuff we couldn't cover fully, and this gets questioned - probably too rushed). Everyone is very glad that VSO staff participated at this workshop. And I'm particularly pleased at this comment :"Working as a team - really impressed at working so well together at start of team's life".
And finally, here is the group photo, as at the end of the workshop.
Back row: me. Jemimah, Michael, Dora, Mark, Terry.
Front row: Mary. Olke, Krista.
(Quite an international group - 2 each from Ghana, Holland and England, and one each from Uganda, Australia and Canada).
Emmanuel and Francis were also here earlier (in some of the pictures above), and also Alfred and Tanko  - four more from Ghana - plus Charlotte, working with Francis.
I hand over the workshop output, (followed by photos of the output, in the VSO office the next day), and hand over my remaining post-its and stationery, to the GSAP supporters who will carry on what I've started.  Later that evening we go to Accra airport to meet Anna (my daughter) and Louisa (friend) who are coming to stay - I have just over a week more in Ghana, before I need to head back to UK, but Charlotte has 3 weeks more.
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The different paths to our VSO placements

THE PATH TO CHARLOTTES PLACEMENT

Jan 2009 - With 2 younger children still at university, Charlotte & I apply for short-term work with VSO. Both turned down - I think they aren't taking people short-term unless they have development experience.
(For more insights, see MORE INSIGHTS below).

Feb 2009 - Charlotte offers to go long-term and her application is reconsidered. I will be able to be more flexible (e.g. travel back to UK) if I am her Accompanying Partner (i.e. not volunteering).

April 2009 - Assessment Day, and Charlotte is accepted.

May 2009 - I start to wind down client work, because there is much to be done before we can go overseas.

June 2009 - Preparing to Volunteer course, for both of us.

Charlotte accepts placement in Northern Ghana. We have decided that I will go out with Charlotte to begin with before returning to UK after some weeks abroad.

July 2009 - Skills for Working in Development course for Charlotte.

August 2009 - Family holiday for 9 (Mike, Charlotte, Tom, Sarah, Peter, Abi, Anna, Daniel and Kate) in Normandy.

Sept 2009 - Anna's 21st party - we couldn't go abroad until after this.
The most common question in September is "Mike, how long are you going out for?" The answer is "I don't know - will decide that when we're out there". Final preparations and off to Ghana. Very busy getting ready to go, but when I'm out there I expect to have plenty of free time for a few weeks...
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THE PATH TO MY PLACEMENT

Sept 2009 Day 2 of In-Country Training - I volunteer to assist VSO Ghana with Organisation Development. For more details, see blog over Oct-Nov 2009. I can't claim any expenses, but volunteers are very gracious at inviting me to stay overnight.

Dec 2009-Jan 2010 Back home, collect Anna and Daniel from university, back out to Ghana for 2 weeks over Christmas (see Charlotte's blog), take them back to university.

Jan 2010. Skills for Working in Development course for me.
Start official placement as Organisational Development Adviser.

So one irony is that I have ended up with exactly what I applied for - a short-term volunteer placement that doesn't clash with university holidays. (Business and Trustee commitments would also have prevented me coming out for 12 months).

The other irony is that I thought it unlikely that Charlotte & I would find work in the same place - she was likely to be in a remote deprived area like Northern Ghana, and I was likely to have a national role given my skills. But now I have a national role, based in the deprived North where most of the volunteers are, which is much better for supporting them than back in Accra, the capital city down South on the coast.
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MORE INSIGHTS - are available here (from our church website in Jan 2010)

What’s In, What’s Out.

The Shenley Christian Fellowship blog gives the opportunity for people in the fellowship to share what’s on their mind with a wider audience. This blog entry comes from Mike Cashman who is an SCF Trustee as Head of Finance.

I’ve just seen a burnt area of semi-forest in the Mole National Park in Ghana. The park ranger explained that fresh grass grows a few weeks later, strong and nutritious, and attracts the wild animals.

What does this have to do with the New Year, the call of Abraham, and being a husband, father, Christian, church member, and professional roles as well? Well, let’s see….

In September 2008 our Church Leader Chris Doig preached on Genesis 12:1, the call of Abraham which came when Abraham was comfortable and settled in Haran – Abraham heard God’s call and left his comfort zone. Later Abraham made a move to Egypt which appears to have been his own idea, and that didn’t work out too well. So - sometimes God calls us to move, and sometimes he calls us to stay, and it’s good to discern which way he is calling. In September 2009, after reflecting on this message, Charlotte (my wife) and I found ourselves in Ghana with Voluntary Service Overseas. Definitely out of the comfort zone.

We can apply this message about God’s call beyond physical movement. Sometimes we need to keep on doing what we’re doing – using the gifts he gave us in our various roles, e.g. Christian, husband, father, church member, professional roles, and indeed our roles in social, community and leisure activities (e.g. gardener, goal-keeper, unofficial agony aunt, devotee of our favourite TV series or soap opera). It may be a juggling act or a plate-spinning exercise, but we feel we are just about managing to fulfil each role. But sometimes there are things that just need to be removed from our lives – not to say they’re wrong, but they just need to go to make space for new growth. I’m not referring to temporary disciplines like giving up chocolate or TV for a while – I mean cutting something right out of your life. Sometimes a friendship is one that no longer benefits either party. (I hasten to add that I have no-one in mind personally as I write this!) Maybe that solo sporting hobby which dates from your unmarried life needs to make way for hobbies which involve the family more.

Our change was a little radical. We both removed many professional and community roles from our lives, trying to do this in an orderly fashion. For Charlotte this included teacher, parish councillor, magistrate, chair of Loughton Residents’ Association, school governor, school governor trainer. What Charlotte found hardest to give up was home and face-to-face contact with friends and family. What else had to go, at least for a while? TV, sweet things in general, newspapers, car-driving, on-tap hot water, to name a few. (Not as many as we feared – we’re glad that much of the time we have running water, internet, email and phone contact). But in working out how we would follow a call to Ghana, some things were the rocks of certainty – for example I would still be a Christian, still a husband, still a dad, still a Church member, but no longer do I swell the viewing figures for ‘Match of the Day’.

January – the month which for the Romans was the month that looked forwards and backwards – is not the only time we can assess this question, but it’s a good time to do it. What is in your life? What perhaps is worth taking right out, even if that is painful, to make space for fresh growth? What might God be calling you to do which is completely new? What fresh growth could occur when there is space for it? Or – as you look at how you are fulfilling the various roles God called you to, do you feel his pleasure and encouragement to continue on the same path?

Mike Cashman is an independent programme management consultant based in Milton Keynes, currently assisting with organizational development in Ghana on a short-term basis. He is married to Charlotte, who is the VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) Teacher Support Officer in Walewale, Northern Ghana. Mike and Charlotte have four children and two daughters-in-law, aged between 19-26.