It has been three weeks since I started working at AVOH and I am proud to say that my students (... those that are left of the original 5) are fully competent using computers and programs like Microsoft Word, Excel and the Internet. With that said, the last few weeks have definitely had their share of challenges. For starters, when I first began giving lessons on the computer, I had five students... Four women (Florence, Safora and Nathalie) and one man (Ismail). They were all present for the first week, although two kept falling asleep in class because they didn't eat anything before coming.
The second week I lost two – the first one because she kept calling in sick and not producing doctor's notes... But then the truth came out and we found out she was pregnant, which means she will stop all of her schooling until after she has the child – which means she will be 21 and probably have a hard time finding an association or agency willing to pay for her schooling because they try to help younger students. And apparently, as Mme. Drabo later explained to me, the baby's father is known for having unprotected sex with many women – which means there's a higher chance of him, and in turn the girl, of having AIDS. The girl has yet to get tested, and Mme. Drabo told her to get everything taken care of before she comes back to work and school... Her health is the number one concern at this point. This is when I realised that Mme. Drabo is more than a boss to these women... She is a mother as well. Thus the name "Tanti", which they all call her – this is what you call a woman who is older than you that you respect...
The second girl I lost apparently doesn't want to continue learning how to use the computer because she is afraid of it... And this is the one I spent extra time with because she was having a harder time learning... I felt like she was making good progress... But one lesson I've learnt here is that you can't help someone who isn't willing to help themselves. The third week – this week – I lost the third girl because she continued to fall asleep in class even after my forcing her to eat something... And after several hours teaching her how to use Word and Excel (and many more hours practicing), she still took three hours to type up a simple one-page graph, in between leaving to go talk to whoever and falling asleep. I still had hope so I continued on – because she was the girl who was going to take over the administration of the association when the current secretary goes on maternity leave. Tuesday I got back to work and I only had two students left – the current secretary and Ismail, the last student. I found out right away that the third girl was no longer going to be responsible for administration because she repeatedly gave away the association's money to friends and family... And this Association cannot afford that. Even after the hundreds of thousands of francs Mme. Drabo spent on sending her to accounting and management seminars she still ended up where she is now... And I find myself with only two students left.
This might sound like a failure of sorts, but I have a much better view of my situation: Quality reigns over quantity. Although there are only two students (one of which is pregnant and will be going on maternity leave in a few months), they are the best students a teacher could ask for. Ismail is really motivated and willing to learn new things, and by Wednesday he was already surfing the internet and researching packaging suppliers for the lists we have to make this week. Nathalie was also up there with Ismail, and by Friday they both set up their own Yahoo e-mail accounts and sent me several test-e-mails afterwards. Ismail was so excited about the abundance of information available on the net he immediately checked out the latest Euro cup football score. Don't ask me who won – I still don't know.
So my new plan is to teach these two everything I know about marketing and management and IT, and they will in turn teach whoever they choose (based on competency and initiative) to carry on once Nathalie goes on maternity leave. This means that it is only the three of us with Mme. Drabo who will be working on marketing. Which is similarly a positive thing because smaller groups tend to be more efficient (than larger ones) when trying to bang out five-week marketing plans. So for this week, the first task is to come up with a logo – I already have a few ideas drafted, so I need the group's input and consensus and will then go on save in several different formats on the computer for printing. I'm going to make sure both Ismail and Nathalie do all of the computer stuff, which means creating and modifying the logo and saving it in different formats etc... So they master their IT skills. After the logo we're going to finish the brochure – which we will in turn save in different formats and then send to whatever international agencies we want for donation and project requests... Say... Asking for donations to fund a project to expand the factory? It's all in the master plan folks...
And after the brochure it's on to developing a list of all the events that AVOH will start sending representatives to with samples... After all, marketing is all about making contacts and getting a name out in the open. This list will also be a part of their year-long marketing plan, which they will (hopefully) carry on the next year and after that... The plan is for them to fine tune after each campaign to make it more and more efficient... And this also makes any new volunteers' job easier, seeing an established and comprehensive marketing plan that encompasses all the Association's future plans. I sure wish I had that before I got here.
Another challenge I have is determining the best plan for packaging. Either we do like Coca Cola and ship our product (dried mangos, nectar and jam) in large containers and leave the packaging up to the retailer, or we secure packaging with a local supplier – who is expensive for the quality of packaging – and ship out to the foreign retailer. I'm pretty sure plan A is the winner but I have to see with the group – they know the transportation and other costs involved with doing business here so they have the upper hand in information. So that's our packaging dilemma. On top of that, I continue to receive more responsibilities and am doing my best to manage them along with the ones I already have. This Friday, I held an executive meeting (with the heads of departments). I was surprised, because as everyone else was getting ready to take notes with their pads and pens, the head of production (and chief of the most important department of the association) was sitting there arms crossed. I found myself interrupting the meeting halfway through and asking her why she wasn't writing notes – in front of everyone – seeing as her department was the most important one and she should be the first one looking to learn new ways to improve efficiency in her department. She then left the room and came back – 15 minutes later – with a piece of paper and pen and started taking notes immediately. What an evolution.
During this meeting I noticed several challenges facing the development of this organisation: namely the fact that Mme. Drabo, the president, is responsible for everything. There is no clear hierarchy except for her. She doesn't delegate tasks (even to her head of production... which I don't blame her but things still need to change)... She even went as far as speaking for people when I specifically asked them questions... Not on purpose but because she simply does everything for them anyway... I've never seen a seventy-something year old work so hard in my life. This woman is so determined she is an inspiration – but what I'm afraid of is that no one will be able to carry on the operations after she retires for good. So one of the meeting's objectives was to put down on paper (and in turn the computer) a clear hierarchy – chain of command – with specific people's names and their specific CLEAR tasks... For example: Ismail is now the head of accounting – which includes him keeping all accounts up to date on excel, and organising all of the weekly and monthly reports for the president... Which means he collects all the quantities and costs from the different production heads... who report solely to him and then he reports to the president... no if's, and's or but's. Nathalie is now the head of administration... she deals with all documents – right down to typing up the minutes of our executive meeting. She reports directly to the president and prepares any packages (project proposals, official letters, Human Resources, etc...). Now it's just a matter of following through with this chain of command... and having meetings every Friday with the department heads to reinforce the objectives of the association. All I can hope is that they continue after I'm gone – if they don't, they'll drop back into the same cycle they were in before I got there.
These are the things we will work on for the next five weeks... My goodness time goes fast. It feels like it was just yesterday when I got off the plane from Canada. I'm really excited and scared at the same time because I feel like I have a lot riding on these next few weeks. I have to work efficiently and tirelessly so that I attain my mandate's objectives. I will update you on the progress of my work... The logo, brochure, and marketing plan should (hopefully) be on their way to fruition this and next week. But I guess we'll find out in my next blog post!
Until next time, be well, be safe, and don't miss me too much!
A
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