Strategic Planning The Week (2) that Was

 

Meeting Leaders and Their Teams

My last post about Strategic Planning outlined the process and the background to get to where the diocese is today. In a developing country context what has been achieved is significant to date. The Mara Diocese has 72 parishes and over 100 churches. It is a big organisation that has grown organically since 1985 with huge inputs from Anglican church partners in the UK and Australia. It is a culture organisationall based on heirarchy and fear, and this would be true across the country. 

My week has been spent meeting four leaders and their teams, outlining the plan for their division developed in consultation with the head of that area (best practice would have involved the teams but I am not in an ideal world). 

Tuesday was spent with the Vicar General, Stephen Bwire and his team. Comprising Canon Yona Masinde, Director of Christian Education, Rev Revocatus Gombea, Coordinator of Evangelism, Eliud Mwakalasya, Youth Coordinator, Edward Magote, Men's Ministry Coordinator, Alpha Lugoley, Principal of Bunda Bible College and Martha Obura the Secretary of Mothers' Union.

Edward Magote, Stephen Bwire, Alpha Lugoley, Martha Obura,
Revocatus Gombea, Yona Masinde Eliud Mwakalasya 

The day with this and the three other groups I met with this week was to go through the plan for their area, linking it back to the strategic plan and how they as leaders of units were responsible for their contribution to the overall plan. It is my hope to assist each of them with some sort of workplan but after this week, I am realising that is very ambitious and may need to wait till later in the year when I return. However I am ensuring that position desacriptions are updated and managed to assist two of the first team to develop new PDs.

Wednesday was spent with the Finance Team led by Yona Joseph the Diocesan Accountant who has been in the role for thirty years. The accountant from Bunda, Nickson was there as were the nine cashiers or bursars of each institution that has a financial staff member maintaining accounting records. 

The finance team with Yona the Diocesan Accountant in front

The bursars/cashiers roles have been confused ever since they were reclassifed and many places still expect they will perform administrative duties which historically results in financial matters not being attended to in a timely manner. So we did a position description and had a discussion about the Bishop's expectation that especially in schools, bursars will not take on tasks like typing exam papers which he properly indicates is a responsibility of teaching staff. All in all a good day.

Major Changes to Tanzanian Education

Thursday was spent with the five heads of schools including one vocational college. We went throug hthe education plan. The first goal had to do with the changes to the whole education system. Primary school will now be in English medium nationally in all government schools which is the biggest change, followed by primary education concluding at grade 6 instead of 7 and an additional year being added to high school whic will now have forms 5-7. For primary students, all are now expected to continue to secondary school, rather than a hard barrier being in place and no secondary education for those who fail the national exams.

The Education Secretary outlined the changes but it did not appear to me that anyone understood the enormous amount of work involved. My information about the role of bursars did not get well received but this has been an expectation for a number of years. We did manage to prepare together a position description for heads of schools. I will visit each head separately to assist in developing a school plan.

Friday had me with an eclectic group including the Safe House Coordinator, the Farm Centre Manager, Community Developmnet College Head and the Principal of the Girls Brigade Centre. Apart from preparing position descriptions for three of the four positions, the outline of the Strategic Plan and their role in it was discussed and people seemed to take on the information and actions required enthusiastically.

Saturday had me at the Bible College, an hour's  drive from Musoma. I was spending the day with lecturers outlining the PTC from Moore College Australia It was a day well spent helping to explain this was not the typical didactic style of teaching and that for the students who will come from rural villages, most who have not gone beyond primary school, learning by discussion would help them learn best (it is a differnet style of learning for most here). I am back again next week to continue this discussion and assist in developing a plan for the college.

College entrance

Signing the visitor's book in the principal's office

BBC Library with new computers

When I left last July, the college was purchasing screens donated by Anglican Aid  to go with the 22 desktop computers donated by Sydney Diocesan Services  These desktops are the mini boxes but more powerful than most desktops in this country. Since then the college has connected to the internet which costs nothing for the connection but comes with a monthly cost. This is quite an advanced step for the college. 

As I conclude so is Sunday. It was raining this morning as I wke to leave for 7am church. I managed to tune in to the Sydney rally of the Never Again is Now protest against anti-semitism. It was great to hear the anthem We Are One but we are Many sung given how divided Australia has become due to the Gaza conflict. I bought a rice cooker but I will post about that elsewhere and had a very quiet day.

This is the English congregation. Numbers down due to the rain