Smippers spent a week in Johannesburg 25th – 31st January 2009, critically reflecting the last three years of smipping using the “Managing for Impact” (MfI) approach. Being as visionary and as they have been to promote such an approach and through their passion for pro-poor development they also used the platform to vision further the way forward for the initiative. The workshop was blessed with a range of great minds that ensured that nothing was left untouched if not unturned on MfI and humour was not lacking to ensure relaxation of these great minds. After thorough digestion of the past three years of MfI development, promotion and implementation the initiative little seemed to have gone to waste or needed to be binned. All agreed that it was three years well spent. The way forward produced a number of challenges bearing in mind the greatness of the minds in the room and their hunger to see poverty reduced if not eradicated in the world. Such challenges included how to bring MfI to the attention and use of a wider audience, funding for further development of the initiative and bringing in more stakeholders into the ring of promoters.
Challenges are what we live for, without them life would be very boring I can assure you!! Hence, all the participants left the workshop rejuvenated ready to face the challenges in order to ensure MfI grows and sustainable impact is achieved in pro-poor development projects through Managing for Impact.
Viva MfI, aluta continua
As an afterthought!!
The AU is transforming any opportunities there?!! President Barrack Obama needs to reconstruct the USA any volunteers for a course on MfI for him and his lieutenants?!! Ha ha ha
My two cents,
Bernie
February 9, 2009 at 7:25 am
Well reported, Bernie! I am one of those ‘rejuvenated’ participants, though a bit tired. But then this is a good indicator of success on my part.
The activity that stood out for me from the visioning was definitely the outcomes of the independent evaluation conducted by Zenda. There was a lot to celebrate by way of successes of SMIP in the past 3 years,esp. under very challenging circumstances(both anticipated and unforseen), but the feedback certainly left me with a lot of food for thought. The main one I think being that of trying to pitch MfI as something different or special. I tend to assume that because MfI resonates with me, that it will automatically be the same for other practitioners. Of course I realised how narrow this thinking is (and un-MfI) because I should consider first where people are coming from and their specific contexts and world views before making any analysis of how they will perceive MfI.
Anyhow, thank you for making the visioning workshop a worthwhile event- it was certainly worth the exhaustion!