Change - the heart of the matter?

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek….” (Barack Obama, President of the US)

 

Change; this is what I am learning the ECB project is about; Transforming the humanitarian landscape for the benefit of those disaster affected communities that we seek to serve. Whether this change will be revolutionary or evolutionary, it is too early to say. Either way, it is clear that we, as change agents have a big job on our hands.

 

The start-up workshops, so important in laying the foundations for this change, have continued into March and April 2009. Following on from the Bolivia workshop, I had a few days back in the UK. This was long enough for me to accidentally bring the roof down in our new bedroom during some over zealous Do-It-Yourself, and then I was packing my bags again for the next round of workshops, leaving my patient, lovely wife to deal with a pile of rubble and dust. This time Matt and I were headed to Africa for the for Horn of Africa and Niger start-up workshop events.

 

The Horn of Africa workshop was a more complex affair than the previous workshops due to the unique nature of this regional consortium. It was great to work alongside Polly (the lead facilitator) Wynn, Florencio and Elizabeth and we got a really interesting shared analysis of the priorities for the region by the end of day one, which was a superb achievement. Once again Disaster Risk Reduction appeared to be the issue that participants wanted to talk about the most. The affects of climate change on the livelihoods of communities in this region are obvious to see and it is particularly the traditional livelihoods of pastoralists which are suffering from the chronic drought and water shortages.

 

A desire to see more in the way of accountability initiatives being introduced into programming was pleasing to see. Staff capacity development was also on the agenda, supported by the presence of Jonathon Potter at the workshop, the Executive Director of People in Aid.

 

Day 2 went well too as we moved towards the detail of the Consortium Engagement Plan and tried to expand the shared priorities defined from day 1 into a list of objectives and activities. For me it was also a pleasure to be back in this part of the world, having spent nearly three years living in Kenya between 2004 and 2006. During breaks and lunch, it was lovely to be reminded of the beautiful sunbirds and fire finches that fussed around the Lantana and stunning, electric Bougainvillea, and how the rich, red soil smells after the rain. Unfortunately the traffic on the roads of Nairobi remains as awful as ever!

 

Matt and I had to leave on the morning of the last day, in order to make the final trip in this journey to Niger to attend the launch workshop here. It was disappointing to miss the last day, particularly when so much work had gone into the previous two days, but we knew we were leaving the workshop in very capable hands so this lessened the disappointment.

 

After an early start from Nairobi we landed into Bamako in Mali, intending to transit through to Niamey, Niger. Unfortunately, when we arrived, it became apparent that the flight had been cancelled. When we found out that there was no way of making it to the Niger workshop in time, we were both extremely disappointed and trudged off, with heads down, to the complementary hotel that Air Senegal had provided us with as recompense.

 

This news was a huge blow for us, particularly for Matt who up to that point was aiming for his eleventh and final workshop (I was only up to four). While it was extremely comforting to know that a brilliant facilitation team of Jock, Alio, Ramadan, Richard and Katy was in-country to deliver the workshop, this project relies so much on the strength of relationships. We knew that by not being able to personally meet the key stakeholders in country that we had missed an excellent opportunity that would be some time in coming around again.

 

So here Matt and I currently sit, in the Hotel Royal in Bamako. I can think of worse places to be stranded and we may yet get a chance to meet up with the Niger team on the Friday night as our flight back to Europe transits through here for a few hours, so it is not all that bad.

 

With the workshops completed we are now at the point where ideas have been sown, collaboration has begun and it feels like an exciting and important groundswell and momentum is gathering across the agencies. Plans are now being made, alliances are being cemented and relationships being formed between colleagues and stakeholders at the forefront of humanitarian response. These feel like exciting times.

 

And as I lay in bed in Nairobi listening to the thunderstorms that signalled the beginnings of the rains, I fancied that I was hearing the rumbling of that momentum and witnessing the crackle of these bright new ideas and formation of relationships, as they light up the night sky. And this is an appropriate analogy, and Africa an appropriate place to be for the end of these important launch workshops.

 

Anyone who has ever seen the previously barren savannah after the rains have broken, will know how the air becomes fresh, the light sharp and bright and how life awakens and teems and tumbles from soil, seed and riverbed. The revolutionary power of the rain on the landscape is profound and beautiful. I wonder for a while if the ECB project will prove to be the coming of the rains for the humanitarian landscape, the change, in the words of Barrack Obama, that we want to be – nurturing, organic and transformative. I lie in bed thinking a while longer before the constant burr of the Cicada and the heavy aroma of the dark, wet African soil lulls me to sleep.

 

 

 

 

David Hockaday || Global Field Project Manager

Emergency Capacity Building Project (ECB)