cases from tanzania - Sustainet

Sustainable agriculture: A pathway out of poverty for East Africa’s rural poor
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College (p. 38) extended its training programme of short courses, day-release courses,
certificate and diploma courses and field days, it hired new staff to teach and manage
the extra load.
• Staff capacity building It is important to improve the capacity of staff through training,
mentoring, study tours, etc. In CCS–Eldoret (p. 21), it has been felt important to
improve the capacity of the staff instead of recruiting more people. An annual assessment
identifies staff training needs, and courses to respond to these needs have been offered
since 2003. They have included training on participatory development, facilitation skills
and agroforestry, in the form of short residential courses and exchange visits to other
organizations. CHEMA (p. 77) conducts similar activities. These trainings have reduced
costs and diversified staff skills.
• Staff management Improved services for staff might help them deliver services
more efficiently. This includes clearly defining their roles and responsibilities, providing
adequate salaries and benefits, as well as good management and achievable tasks. It may
be necessary to create a separate human resources unit within the organization to handle
these changes. In the Diocese of Embu (p. 28), staff salary reviews started in 2001.
They are to be carried out every three years to assess performance, identify new targets,
and ensure employee satisfaction. These improvements has made staff feel their work
is better appreciated, and contributes to improvements in their performance.
communication
Effective communication is vital to the smooth functioning of an organization. It includes
both communication within the organization and with external audiences and partners.
• Improving internal communication Communications within the organization can
be a problem, especially where field staff are scattered over a wide area with poor infrastructure.
They can overcome this by establishing working procedures, such as regular
reporting mechanisms, frequent field visits by senior managers, and regular meetings of
field and headquarters staff. Investing in technology can also help: purchasing computers,
establishing internal communication networks (such as internal email), and using mobile
telephones.
• Accessing information To be effective, the organization must be able to obtain information
readily. This includes information about itself: staff must be able to find and
use records and files easily. It also means being able to find information from outside:
information about technologies, government rules and policies, funding opportunities,
technologies, extension approaches, and so on. To ensure this, the organization must
have an effective recording and filing system, and provide staff with opportunities to
obtain information from the outside – for example, through travel, refresher training,
subscriptions to topic-related magazines, telecommunications services and internet access.
• Making the organization known Various aspects of external communication have
been discussed above in the sections on quantitative, functional and political scaling up.
Important audiences include the farmers and other local people the organization serves,
decision makers at various levels, donors, partners, staff of national and local government