Al Tinyan - Good afternoon

It has been a few days since the last post, not necessarily because of poor internet access this time, but because I have been so busy. Honestly, I promise! I even haven't had time for a dip in the hotel pool since Friday morning. I've been on the road at 8.30 and not back at base until well into the evening, I'm having such an adventure, working damn hard and meeting so many fantastic interesting people who desperately want to improve quality of life in their communities.

Working with the Board of Aid for Orphans and the Disabled (AFOD) has to be one of the most satisfying assignments I have ever accepted. Everyone is very committed and despite the intense heat and the fact that everyone else is operating on GMT - Gambian Maybe Time - the people I'm working are more than prepared to put the hours in. It is such a buzz!

Over the weekend we completed the charity's strategic plan developing aims, objectives, outcomes and performance indicators. Up until recently AFOD has been trying to be all things to all people - essentially because the needs are so great.

Now they have a very clear realistic and highly relevant plan that will focus essentially on growing the sponsorship to support orphaned and disabled children to go to school - the educational system here is such that each family has to pay school fees and provide pens, pencils and exercise books. There are no free school meals and unlike the UK there is absolutely no support for the additional costs like school uniform and travel. Consequently orphaned children, of which there are many as the average life expectancy is only fifty and families are often large. Traditionally a child with a disability is seen as having limited economic value as they are destined to a life of begging on the street and consequently families have denied them the opportunity of a basic education. Would you believe however that a child could be sponsored for as little as £20 per annum? Before the week is out we will be working on the content of a website for AFOD, which will include a safe facility for making online donations. If you would like to make a donation, please send me an email and I will send you the link when it is available.

The second aim that AFOD has developed is to provide a sponsorship scheme to support orphaned and disabled young people to develop vocational skills so that they can become more economically active when leave school.It has been most enlightening in our discussions that the kind of examples for training that we have used the most have been traditional soap making and web design - two extremes I know, but it reflects the values of the AFOD members and their desire to support disabled or orpnahed to fulfil their potential and contribute as valued members of their communities.

The third aim will build on the last in that it is to set up a micro finance scheme to provide ongoing support for the people who have been trained to purchase the equipment to practice their newly learned trades. The economy in this part of The Gambia at least is very much dominated by the tourist industry - probably the best paying sector and also by petty trading. The towns are full of tiny shops selling alll kinds of cheap goods and fresh fruit and vegetables that respond to what is very much a hand to mouth existence. I belive many will buy a box of goods at wholesaler, sell each item for a small profit and then buy another box of goods.

The term capacity building is used a lot by the people I am working with. They are very keen to provide the highest quality service they can and recognise that this means that they need to develop their own skills. In developing an aim for the capacity building of AFOD, they want ensure that the young people involved have opportunities to develop their own organisational development and management skills.

Nakam? Bahna!

First of all, can I apologise to everyone who has been waiting for news in the last couple of days. The internet here in The Gambia is a bit hit and miss and over the last two days I haven't been able to get a connection either because of bandwidth speeds or powercuts. If anyone has been trying to email me, I haven't been able to access my account either - and still can't! The best way to contact me will be by sending a comment to the blog.

I am having a great time, working long hours, in stifling heat (Aw, bechod!), but having great job satisfaction.

On Tuesday I led the second of two community workshops based on the Outcomes Approach to Strategic Planning and yesterday I was working directly with the board of Aid for Orphans and the Disabled (AFOD) on their Organisational and Strategic Plans at their office at Bundung Borehole.

The board members as you can see from the picture are nearly all young people, their motivations for improving quality of life in their communities and commitment to action is fantastic. It is so refreshing to listen to them talking about their vision, the values they want to project and genuine desire to serve their people in the best possible way they can.

Travelling by bush taxi is quite an adventure and you see some fantastic sites. I have sat next to breast feeding mother a couple at times and the other evening I was in a small 12-seater minibus - and there were 20 of us in it! The level of material poverty here is huge, but everyone is so happy.










The title of today's post means How is it? It is good! I'm trying to learn a new phrase every day, but there is a choice of range of local languages - Wolof, Mandinga, to name just two. many people speak up to five and English.

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.

Why do we want to work with AFOD?

Aid for Orphans and the Disabled (AFOD) is based in Bundung Borehole on the outskirts of Serrekunda, the largest conurbation in the Gambia.

The charity’s aims are to address the social needs of orphaned children and disabled people in the area. With very little statutory support for these people like we have in the UK, their plight is very much in the hands of other people in the community, but unfortunately prejudice and stigma remains high.

A recent survey carried out by AFOD has shown that in their own local community alone there are nearly 1000 people who are orphaned children or disabled. Some of the greatest challenges are concerned with:

• Education - most orphaned children and disabled people miss out on educational opportunities not because of academic reasons, but because of financial reasons: they cannot afford fees, transport to school, books, uniform and shoes. With very few practical skills, they quite often become street beggars with no hope for a future

• Nutrition - many orphaned and disabled children experience a very limited diet. Research has shown that many such children only have one meal a day, consequently they are at greater risk of other illnesses and early death

• Health - in addition to AIDS, other illnesses like malaria, severe headaches, stomach problems and fevers are rife especially amongst AFOD’s target groups. Medicines are expensive and many orphaned children and disabled people simply cannot get to health centres because they cannot afford transport costs.

No doubt just like us, you are bombarded with appeal letters from dozens of very worthwhile charities. I have to admit that when AFOD's Chief Executive, Lamin Fofanah first got in touch with the Enfys Acumen by subscribing to our eCommunity, I did wonder what was going on and had to stop and think carefully before I responded.

At the Enfys Acumen we are supporting a number of charities in the UK, both with pro bono professional services and as volunteers and donors, so what is special about AFOD?

What has really attracted us to support AFOD is that it was formed and is led by young people who are working together to try to improve quality of life in their community.

Their passion for wanting to make a difference is so encouraging and equally important is that they are not really looking for handouts, but rather the help to develop their skills and resources to move from dreaming to action.

They want to be in a position to improve their lot themselves. Coaching people like this is just the kind of work we relish the most.