“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead
Practical Action’s exciting new strategy presents both a challenge and an opportunity – to improve our influencing to better benefit poor people, nationally and internationally.
To support this, last week, eight Practical Action staff came together to kick start our Advocate Development Programme. The aim being to develop a team with the confidence and capacity to speak out, loud and proud (or, where more appropriate, subtly and stealthily) about Practical Action and the issues affecting the communities we work with.
The transformation was palpable. Each advocate now has a personal plan and a group advocacy mission and I am confident that, working together through a six month mentoring programme, they are now well equipped to achieve them. The advocates showed a real commitment to learning, reflecting and developing and by the end of five days were able to translate their passion into powerful and persuasive advocacy. Their newly-honed skills were put to the test with a series of real life advocacy scenarios. They all passed with flying colours!
Below are some reflections from our team of advocates … I have no doubt you will be hearing more from them in the future:
Sam Owilly, Kenya
Last week was a phenomenal! Not only did I meet 7 great advocacy enthusiasts but the seamless interaction of diverse cultures, experience sharing and invaluable learning from the amazing coaches made the London cold fine!
Since the training I have taken time to reflect on my inner spirits – asking myself how best to understand me, my emotions, listening and communicating. I have already noted a difference on how I think and react to issues. The most important thing I have learnt is that it is a good thing to be a professional but that by showing passion and personality I can also drive an agenda to influence and change others. How better to do this than be an engaged advocate? So next time we all go shopping let’s remember to bag some TEA to tee off our TEA (Total Energy Access) campaign to focus energy delivery on the full range of poor people’s energy needs at home, enterprise and community level.
As they say, if hard work is the answer then what is the question?
Monica Cuba, Bolivia
You have to get lost in order to find where you are… I had to travel far, far away from Bolivia, to realize this and also to know where I’m going. Nobody gave us standard answers, just questions and exercises. From this challenge, we together started to un-build …to learn about each other, question and understand ourselves, then develop new skills and find answers to re- build again.
To achieve our new objectives it is time for us to spread all that knowledge, skills and strengths on which we have being working hard – not only with our colleagues but to have an impact in our countries where it matters most.
Haseeb Irfanullah, Bangladesh
We each came from diverse educational backgrounds, professional expertise, and of course, varied expectations. Over the week, the enthusiasm we expressed, the insights we shared, the exposure we had, the feedback we received, the successes we celebrated, and the humour we enjoyed was amazing! All these helped us converge our learning and zeal to identify ourselves as individuals and as a group to work for our organization as influencers. And, by adding sufficient amount of snow − it was fantastic! As a biologist turned development worker, I am interested in evolution − of an organization, of a programme, or of a person. The last week has helped me to reflect, to realize and to evolve as a better advocate for our causes!
Let the evolution continue!
Chiedza Chiuriri, Zimbabwe
I go back to Zimbabwe shining, confident and ready to champion advocacy work. The training taught me that advocacy is not all about talking and making noise about issues. It is also about taking the time to listen to what the other person is saying and understanding where they are ‘coming from’. The Programme has made me more compassionate in doing my work and more ambitious about the change we can make … it begins with me and you … let us be the change that we want to see in the world… together we can do it!”
Samjhana Bista, Nepal
From the very beginning, I had a feeling that this training was unique and will polish my personal skills in getting things done, and I was right! The programme brought people working directly with the community, communication experts, and energy experts. Now I feel everyone in Practical Action should become the champion at their work. All of us had the opportunity to understand ourselves and understand others. Of all, what I learnt is to find my best way to “eat an apple hanging low on the tree”. Somehow, we get the information that there is an opportunity, what we fail to do is to grab that opportunity in the right way.
I’m thankful that this programme has helped me understand myself and my strength which I will be using. I fully trust myself and believe that I will be making change happen in coming days.
Reginald Mapfumo, Zimbabwe
A training with a difference! What an organised workshop in terms of imparting skills … What an arrangement (to stay in a “big brother” set up) … What a way to share skills with others (creating a new group in a matter of 5 days)…What a practical way to assess our development …What a relaxed but intensive way to learn (homework at night, engaging advocacy campaigns and inspiring videos – including Steve Jobs’ famous speech) …What an example of changing the culture and doing things differently to bring about change.
Maliha Shahjahan, Bangladesh
It was simply amazing – a workshop without using the 3 Ps; Powerpoint, Pens & papers – all those orthodox ways usually practiced. We constantly found ourselves in unusual real life situations which we usually think and find difficult. But at the end it all comes down to being a little different – thinking differently and also acting differently. Now I think I have grasped the meaning of Gandhi’s saying, “Be the change that you wish to see in the world”, that we ‘budding advocates’ are so fond of. The connection, which we made with each other and those who support Practical Action, will drive us all to be exceptional ADVOCATES – to become the FACES OF PRACTICAL ACTION.
Keshav Sharma, Nepal
During the training , I was able to learn a lot about myself and avenues of improvement in order to be a vibrant face of Practical Action. There are many takeaways from the training, to give you a taster here are three of them (The training has taught me that I shouldn’t advance beyond 3!); I am now trying to be an ‘empathetic listener’ rather than a desperate talker – reminding me why we have two ears and one tongue! My second take-away is the strength of our network and collectiveness. I feel my strength has been augmented with my new advocate buddies. My third take-away is to think differently and act on ‘can-do’ attitude always.
I look forward to giving a big push on TEA (Total Energy Access), an unprecedented energy campaign, colourful stories and achievements whirling around. I am dreaming..
Our journey starts now……
