First I must back track a bit - you may recall that just before the onset of the meetings I headed to Jinja to go horse riding. While it was a great day and as usual amazing scenery I was sore for close to a week after! At first it was my lower back but by mid-week I began to realize how stiff my legs were. If you are looking for a great work-out using muscles that you have forgotten exist hop on a horse and trot and cantor for a couple hours!
Nile River Rapids
Luc and Trude at a photo stop
The full Regional Planning Meetings started on Thursday March 4 (this was preceded by a two-day Communications Seminar and a full day session at the office). One of the exciting things for me was the opportunity to meet the teams from the various countries where RTP works. I had communicated with many of them by email or phone over the past 7 months but now I am able to put faces to all of the names.
The first few days of the meetings were spent reflecting over the past 3 years. It is not often that people have the chance to do this as things move so quickly and there is always a deadline for something. One of the interesting things about the process was that Country Teams were not allowed to use lap tops - all of their work had to be displayed on flip chart paper. Our conference room ended up with new wall paper from all the work they had completed!
The first few days of the meetings were spent reflecting over the past 3 years. It is not often that people have the chance to do this as things move so quickly and there is always a deadline for something. One of the interesting things about the process was that Country Teams were not allowed to use lap tops - all of their work had to be displayed on flip chart paper. Our conference room ended up with new wall paper from all the work they had completed!
Three-Year Trend Analysis
Tanzania Presentation
On Saturday we also had a visit from the Chair of the Canadian Advisory Board. There was a lot of protocol to follow as he was on an official state visit. I have learned the importance of protocol here since my arrival in July and our visit with the Vice-President of Uganda.
Group photo (taken by me) with CAB Chair and his client (Mr. Naveen)
Group Photo taken by Mr. Naveen
(The Uganda Country Manager complemented my understanding of protocol when I refused the front row seat and had our AVP of International programs take it)
By the end of Saturday we had heard from all of the country teams and I was thoroughly impressed with the progress that has been made in just 3 years. Saturday evening was a celebratory dinner and of course there was dancing - there is always dancing at our meetings and everyone takes part. This is definitely one of the difference to meetings in Uganda vs meetings in Toronto.
Saturday Night Dance Party
Sunday we had a very interesting session on Human Resources. It is always a tricky topic as there are so many concerns. Eva and David did a great job navigating us through the new compensation structures and addressing the difficult issues related to one-year contracts for field staff. Monday was International Women's Day - a statutory holiday in Uganda. I took advantage of some free time in the morning to get to the gym (entirely necessary after a week of buffet food!) before heading to the office for another meeting!
By Tuesday the end was in sight and people were getting tired. The group work continued and teams started to plot out the changes they would like to see in our beneficiaries over the next 1, 3 and 5 years. The next step was to map out how to get there!
National Training Officers
The meetings were scheduled to officially end on Thursday but most of us continued with another full day Friday! By 630 on Friday a group of us sat at the Korean Restaurant, were able to relax and reflect on what I think was a successful 12 days!
In the spare time that I had during the meetings I found myself fully immersed in the book Shantaram which apparently will be a movie soon. I highly recommend reading it before the film comes out...as you know the book it is rare that a movie does a book justice.
The weekend was a good one - I did only a little work and tried to catch up on relaxing and my time in the gym. Upon arrival at Kabira on Saturday I was pleasantly surprised to find that they had upgraded almost all of the weight machines! While it through me off my work-out a bit and the old equipment has not yet been removed it was very exciting and is the motivation I need to get my butt in gear after 2 weeks of buffet food! It was also good to catch up with my Kampala friends that I had not seen in a while. We had a group dinner at Lotus Mexican on Saturday night - yummy, yummy drinks. Sunday night Janet and Sonia had a group of us over for homemade pizza and game night! I was sorely embarrassed in a game call Borders where you need to match African borders - my knowledge of North and West Africa is atrocious and I will be doing some studying before the re-match.
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