Project Closure

By John Ko - Executive Vice President, November 12, 2008 06:19 PM

Although, we weren't able to raise the full amount through Global Giving, we're happy to report that this project was completed successfully in early part of 2008. Annabel did fantastic work to create a "training manual" that was used to start a another farmer education project in Rwanda for One Acre Fund. For more information on One Acre Fund, please visit www.oneacrefund.org

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Nearing the end

By Annabel Khouri - MWB Volunteer, December 06, 2007 05:48 PM

I am nearing the end of my time with One Acre Fund. The past few weeks I have focused on tying up loose ends on the HR processes, including the development of a training library for staff that includes multiple management training scripts. The lessons learned have been incorporated into the materials and I feel confident that the process developed will enable OAF to expand its operations to other locations in 2008.

In the coming weeks, I will be doing a few random projects including working with local staff to develop logical file structures and creating a knowledge management process for staff to prevent problems with duplicate efforts and implement some semblance of version control.

Local staff are preparing for the holidays and the elections.


Links:

• Annabel's Blog

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Work Continues with Field Officers

By Annabel Khouri - MWB Volunteer, December 06, 2007 05:49 PM

Work continues with the field officers. They are now in the field working to recruit customers to our program, which has been a challenge. This is an election year and candidates are sending representatives to the rural areas (such as where we work) and handing out money! In some cases, the money is paid out in exchange for the individual’s voting card, so someone can vote on their behalf (though not necessarily for the individual’s preferred candidate). Essentially, they are buying votes from the rural poor who don’t have 2 shillings to rub together, so 100 shillings (less than $2USD) is worth giving up their right to vote! Since we are not giving out money, some people have ignored our meetings, but we continue to try to spread the word. Apparently, there have also been some bad experiences with NGOs who have promised the world to some of these poor farmers and then failed to deliver, which makes for a difficult work environment to say the least. We have to convince the people that we have a proven plan of action to offer, that we are not trying to take advantage, but instead help them. All very challenging indeed! But, the program is doing very well in our first district. Starting up in a new area is difficult and we have to prove ourselves in each new area we move to in order to gain the trust of the people.

Links:

• Annabel's Blog

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Arrival

By Annabel Khouri - MWB Volunteer with OAF, November 20, 2007 05:55 PM

Since my last update, things have moved very quickly on my project. In the span of a week (and with the assistance, patience, and encouragement from the Kenyan staff), I was able to develop a 4-day program for the selection of new staff. The position that One Acre Fund is currently recruiting and hiring is that of a Field Officer (to complete the roll out of a new program). This is the most critical role in the organization since the Field Officers work directly with OAF customers (the farmers). In order for OAF programs to be successful, the Field Officers need to be of the highest caliber. Consequently, this selection process is crucial to finding the best people to fill this role. This week we implemented the selection process, a 4-day interview process that involved 37 candidates, from which we have selected 12. The week went incredibly smoothly (much better than expected given the short time to develop and prepare staff to deliver), with only a few minor scheduling hiccups. The candidates were recruited using referrals from trusted leaders within the community and did not disappoint. They really worked hard and continued to come back day after day to go through a series of exercises and activities. This persistence partly reflects the economic situation in Kenya, unemployment rate is high, but also demonstrates the quality of the candidates and their willingness to work hard in order to be part of OAF.

The pace does not let up, since we have to now train these new hires to go to the field as quickly as possible. My next project is developing a 3-day orientation and training for these new hires. The training takes place next week, so I have gone through a crash course with some of the managers to understand what is already in existence and learn the recommended changes. It is now my job to take all this information and develop a comprehensive program that is simple enough to scale to other areas where OAF works.

It’s very exciting to create these tools and then see them in action the very next week. After it’s been implemented, we review, gather feedback, and make any necessary changes in order to improve the process for next time.

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