What can the Enfys Acumen do for AFOD?

Aid for Orphans and the Disabled (AFOD) is a charitable company registered with the Gambian Government. It started in 2005 and is led essentially by a team of young and enthusiastic people, championed by their Chief Executive, Lamin Fofanah. The needs of orphaned children and disabled people in The Gambia, as in most of Africa, are great and so far AFOD has been trying to be all things to all people. AFOD's activities have included an education opportunity addressing malaria; raising community awareness of the issues faced by orphans and disabled people, specifically targeted at addressing cultural stereotypes and beliefs relating to these people; and sponsoring orphaned and disabled children through the school system.

In order to be more successful in accessing funding and other resources, the AFOD team recognise that they need to be more focussed in setting their priorities and aims.

This is where the Enfys Acumen can really help and make a difference

As an organisational development and coaching practice we work with all kinds of organisations and businesses to clarify their goals, determine the values behind what they do, be specific about their starting point and agree the action steps to achieve what they want to achieve. This is exactly the kind of help that AFOD needs.

Current ideas from the AFOD team include developing training and workshop facilities to help orphans and disabled people to lift them selves out of the despondency their circumstances so often put them in.

They would like to establish a micro finance scheme to provide the basic equipment people might need to set up their own business ventures.

AFOD really wants to develop the capacity to create new opportunities for orphans and disabled people.

The Enfys Acumen is prepared to make a long term commitment at our expense to provide organisational development and coaching support to AFOD, but to truly get the ball rolling and help key people on the right to track, we have been advised that it would be beneficial to spend ten days or so, working with AFOD in the Gambia to develop plans and strategies.

Over the last few weeks we have been exploring ways of making a trip to The Gambia to work with AFOD feasible and have been fortunate to raise the sponsorship to cover travel and subsistence costs.

My flight is now booked and I travel on Friday, 2 November 2007.

It is my plan to keep a daily blog when I am in The Gambia, chronicling the sights I see, the people I meet and the work we do together.

If you want to be kept informed of what is surely an adventure of a lifetime, make sure you subscribe to this blog using the tools on this page.