The Team is the Hero
Welcome back to the kARTwe Kronicles. This blog is designed to give you bite-size and timely updates on the development and evolution of the kARTwe Project. If you are new to this blog, please check out my introduction to and explanation of the objectives and context of the kARTwe Project HERE
In this edition I will talk about Networking and Partnerships. Very early in life, I discovered that I was not very clever. This didn’t bother me. I have approached life and projects, in a wide range of domains, with a simple yet effective strategy. I am not very clever. But my moderate success is facilitated by surrounding myself with people who really are clever – each in their dedicated domain. I then find ways making them work together for maximum and mutual benefit. This way of working is based on two key pillars – Networking and Partnerships.
In this blog I will discuss with you some of the key partnerships that propel the kARTwe Project forward. I will do this over two blogs. In this blog I talk about “Upstream” networking and partnerships. Upstream refers to the networking and partnerships that take the project from concept to concrete.
In the next blog I will talk about “Downstream” networking and partnerships. Downstream networking and partnerships refer to collaboration efforts that take a now active project out of the domain of the project stakeholders and into the domain of a wider audience. But first, lets look at the Upstream aspects of networking and partnerships for the kARTwe Project.
The Team is the Hero
My first partnership is with our team. I presented the concept of the kARTwe Project. Predictably, there was opposition. I am used to it. I love it! There is always opposition to a new idea. The process of opposition to and debating of a new idea is a refining process. It also creates idea ownership.
I am the only non-Ugandan on the team. Our leadership team is made up of:
- Milly – General Manager. She brings with her deep experience in customer service and marketing. She is Senior Cabin Crew for Uganda Airlines. She has held many senior positions at telecom companies and at pharmaceutical companies.
- Cathy – Program Manager. Cathy will approach and evaluate proposals from a logistical and implementation perspective. She will deal with all administrative issues related to projects
- Joan – Project Manager. Joan implements projects in the field. Her contribution is vital. She is a child of Katwe. This is where she was born and raised. She more than anyone else knows what would work and what would not work in the community.
- Hillary – Brand Ambassador (Volunteer) Hillary is Director of Marketing for the biggest drinks company in Uganda. He knows everyone who is worth knowing. He is a door opener. One call from him gets me a meeting with those who normally in accessible.
- Humphry – Public Relations Officer (Volunteer) Humphrey is head of a powerful PR and Communications company. He knows every journalist and media executive. He opens doors for us. He also advises how best we can take our story to market.
This group of wonderfully talented and generous people work together to refine the project proposal many, many times. They take the proposal, a diamond in the rough and turn it into a jewel of sparkling lustre.
Communicating Community
Feed a Million Mouths International (FAMMI) www.fammi.org is the kARTwe Project sponsor. We do not have a Messiah complex. We come to the community as Servant Leaders. In our Upstream networking strategy, we have developed partnerships with:
The Local Chairman (LC) – The LC is the equivalent of mayor of the community. This role carries enormous political and social influence. Projects live and die on his say so. The LC has proved himself refreshingly forward looking. He is also committed to serving the Katwe community. He made introductions as easily as a hot knife cutting through butter. Issues that would have taken us months to resolve evaporated with a single phone call from him.
The Katwe Central Primary School (KCPS). Our organisation could have set up a separate office in the community. This would have raised budgetary issues. It would also have raised security issues, when our office was unoccupied. Instead, we partnered with KCPS. We agreed that:
- We would provide a meal for each of 360 pupils who attended school every day
- In exchange, we would have the use of the school for our art education classes every Saturday morning and for other meetings – at no cost.
- KCPS would provide secure storage for our painting materials.
- The Local Women’s Group. This group has enormous opinion shaping leverage in the community. Almost every woman in the community belongs to this group. The group has integrity and credibility. They vouch for the kARTwe Project. Painlessly and at zero cost we have the support of the community behind us.
- Networking and partnerships have allowed us to create shared project ownership of the kARTwe Project. Upstream networking and partnerships have saved us time and money. It has fast-tracked us to community penetration. As a result, the kARTwe Project is not only a FAMMI project – it is also a community project.
One person cannot change the world
but YOU can change the world for one person.