AAW Reviewing and development of 'local' theories
From HarambeeWiki
Contents |
Review of the Planning Stage Interview
Situation
- unknown meaning of membership
- busy women
- lack of undersatnding of existing skills
- lack of regular f2f
- keen to use ICTs but diversity in access
Outcomes
- online database
- membership is more meaningful
- more attractive & worthwhile
- member involvement onlist and webspace
- members who realise that ther aer skillls within other orgs and what those skills are
Actions
- developng a database
- interview with members
- collecting stories i.e on needs for skill development
- share info via website/mailing list
- re-introduce newsletter
- use ICTs in action
- find additional resources
Questions for Reviewing the Activity
Interview conducted with Silvie on January 16, 2007 at the Harambee End of Phase I & Phase II Planning Workshops
Questions 1: Situation
Q: In what ways were you mistaken about the situation?
The situation was well captured though there is something that we could have added about the situation. The network has more English speakers than French. We do, however, have a number of members from French speaking countries – some of whom are bilingual but others who have only basic knowledge of English.
Q: Which of my assumptions about the situation misled you?
Q: What have you learned? What different conclusions would you reach about similar situations in future?
Questions 2: Expected outcomes
Q: In what ways were you mistaken about the desirability of the pursued outcomes? So far, we haven’t been mistaken about the desirability of our outcomes.
Q: Which of your reasons for favouring those outcomes misled you?
Q: What have you learned? What outcomes will you try to pursue when next in such a situation?
One thing that we have found is that members are keen to get involved. If we approach them and give the opportunity to contribute, they contribute. Especially when members are contacted individually. The response rate in this case is quite high.
We have had the most success in getting people involved Using a set of tools ie. skype, mailing list etc and ways to communicate ie. one-on-one vs the mailing list etc.
To address the language issued which was not addressed in the planning stage, we will be creating a website that will enable members to add documents using an English or French interface. We won’t be translating the documents but encouraging members to post in English and French. For the mailing list, all members can read English.
One thing that should be pointed out is that members are now expecting a lot from the project.
Questions 3: ACTIONS
Q: Did you succeed in carrying out the planned actions? If not, what prevented or discouraged you? What have you learned about yourself, your skills, your attitudes, and so on? The activities are still being implemented so it is too early to fully answer.
We continue to look for opportunities of bringing members together face-to-face by piggy backing events such as the World Social Forum. We aren’t likely to ever have the funds to bring everyone together – that continues to be a dream.
We also continue to implement the same actions as outline planned from the project’s inception.
Going through the activities...
Database: We are getting ready to go online. We have communicated with our members that we are undertaking the initiative to capture members’ information. The form has been created and will soon be put online.
Interview of Members: We have the guidelines for the interviews which we thought would be useful in carrying out the interviews. We have also identified members who are interested in being interviewees and interviewers.
Sharing info through the mailing list and website: We continue to share through the mailing list. The website will be online soon. It will be in English and French and done in such as way that it is simple for members to contribute.
Newsletter: Still being assessed. We will ask our members to contribute to the newsletter.
ICTs in Action: We are already using a mix of tools. Some of the members have started blogging on the APC blog and will hopefully soon blog on the AAW website.
Personal Profiles: We will profile a number of ICT champions – women who are using ICTs in an innovative way.
Q: If you did carry out the actions, in what ways were you mistaken about the effect they would have? Which of your assumptions about the actions misled you? I think that the actions will lead us to the outcomes that we anticipate.
Q: What have you learned? What actions will you try next time you am pursuing similar outcomes in a similar situation?
I have found that once you start working with members, even though you may never meet face-to-face, you develop a personal relationship with them. You begin to know what they are doing, what are their activities and when you have the opportunity to meet them face-to-face you feel as though you have met them already.
Q: One final question used to support learning utilisation... "When will be your next opportunity to make use of your new insights? What will you do to make use of them?"
