Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn

Themes and Findings

The IRC JPO programme started in November 2001 as an exchange programme for young water and sanitation professionals in the Netherlands and their counterparts in developing countries. In the first phase, four Dutch JPOs from IRC exchanged organisations with four JPOs from CINARA (Colombia), NETWAS (Kenya), NEWAH (Nepal) and PCWS (Philipines), for a period of 15 months. This phase was concluded in July 2003. In the second phase, which started in July 2003, four JPOs from other Resource Centres participated in the programme. These were NGO Forum (Bangladesh), CREPA (Burkina-Faso) CFPAS (Mozambique) and Mvula-Trust (South Africa). This second phase ends in October 2004.

Approaching the end of the second phase, the JPOs involved in the second phase participated in a reflection workshop on 15 and 16 September 2004. In order to incorporate the voices of the JPOs involved in the first phase as well, the workshop was preceded by an E-conference in which all JPOs and ex-JPOs were invited to participate. During the JPO E-conference, the participants have been sharing stories and ideas in order to evaluate the IRC JPO programme from the point of view of the JPOs.

Themes

Related to the objectives of the IRC JPO programme, the following themes were being discussed during the E-conference:

• The JPO programme and the professional and personal development of the JPOs
• The JPO programme and the Resource Centres
• The JPO programme and the link between IRC and the Resource Centres.

In the beginning of the E-conference, statements were posted which were the take off points for the discussions and the sharing of stories. During the E-conference, the participants were free to post new statements, which would enrich the discussions.

Findings

The major findings of this JPO E-conference are presented below.

Professional and personal development of the JPOs

The way of learning: “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn”. (Issiaka, Burkina Faso)

• Learning by doing
• Exposure visits to other countries
• Interaction with several professional
• Be familiar with and interact with many professional staff during briefing sessions and other times as well, share ideas and knowledge with other international professionals, meet people face to face
• To observe, to reflect, to plan and to act
• For Knowledge generation, content, hardware engineering the JPO programme is regarded less suitable. If you really want something like that, go for an MSc at a University.
• Observe and learn how people work and live in other countries and international organisations
• Opportunity to be exposed to other cultures and to meet people from this sector all around the world.

“You cannot imagine how good facilitators we have in Cinara also. Some are really excellent, but for not experimented young professionals there is not opportunity to be trained by one of them. It is not part of the work’s culture. In that sense IRC gives me the opportunity to do that ” (Arlex, Colombia)

Gained skills and capacities: “personal and professional development are 2 sides of the same coin” (Ratan, Nepal)

• Scaled up understanding about sector themes, concepts and issues and how to deal with them
• Being able to work in a different working environment.
• Adopting to a different situation / culture
• Being diplomatic
• Thinking strategically ahead
• Increased confidence in general
• Increased confidence to talk with co-workers and speaking my mind
• Increased punctuality in maintaining responsibilities
• Enhanced level of English language and enriched communication skill
• Techniques and skills to facilitate meetings and workshops

“I have a belief that the way I use to deliver or carry out my activities will have a big change when I go back. I think I will do things differently this time with more concentration, independence and a lot of strength” (Jabu, South-Africa)

“Personal development complements to the professional development. If you are unable to achieve personal development, you can not enhance your professional development. If you are personally capable to take any risk or responsibility then you can improve your professional aspects as well. (…) professional development is a kind of process that requires long time with continuation. In this regard, JPO programme has opened our eyes towards the professional development and has created a strong base for the future." (Ratan, Nepal)

“Over the course of the last year, besides every thing else I have learnt, I think my most developed skills are working within a hierarchy, being diplomatic (…) I realise that some of these skills might not necessarily be readily applicable in another working situations, but I do feel that these skills enable me to deal with different people and different situations, which makes me a better and more flexible professional.” ( Marieke, the Netherlands)

“I could maybe learn these things even if I am just here in the Philippines, but maybe not that drastic in which through the JPO, have taken only a year.” (Rosali, the Philippines)

The JPO programme and the Resource Centres

All though not all the Resource Centres had a clear perception of how they would be able to benefit from the JPO programme from the start, it is generally recognised that the Resource Centres have been able to benefit a lot from the programme.

“I’m also able to go to other countries to learn more on how projects are implemented. Lessons learnt for my organisation. (…) Every time we participate in meetings, conferences and project, we first think of how our organisation can benefit from this." (Jabu, South Africa)

The JPO programme and the link between IRC and the Resource Centres

In general, the JPOs feel that the JPO programme could contribute to this to a great extent. The personal relations between the JPOs themselves and the relations between the JPOs and the IRC and RC staff plays an important role in this. However, the JPOs identify the need for more planning and strategic thinking to optimise this.

“I think the base has been formed because we (JPOs) know each other and some of us have seen each other’s country and offices. If some joint programmes can be initiated by our organisations on certain thematic issues then we might have greater potentiality to create/strengthen the linkages between RCs” (Ratan, Nepal)

"(…) with some of the RCs only limited other joint activities are taking place, except for the JPO Programme. For example, during the time I was at Mvula, there was only one joint activity between IRC and Mvula (research and writing of a case study) with a limited amount of time to be spent on it. Actually, I did quite a lot of work for other organisations in South Africa that are not part of the JPO Programme (the NGO AWARD and WIN). This was nice, but did not directly benefit Mvula or the relationship between Mvula and IRC. I don’t know either whether there will be many more joint projects in the nearby future between the two organisations, so as to build upon the experiences and networks that both JPOs have made. So, to me, a pre-requisite for strengthening the relation between the two organisations is that a JPO exchange programme fits into a broader framework of cooperation and joint activities." (Stef, the Netherlands)

“(..) I would say I knew more about IRC and its working mechanism rather than other colleagues at NEWAH except our Director. Thus, I can say that JPO are really valuable source of information for both IRC and RC in order to increase effective communication and collaboration for the future endeavour.” (Ratan, Nepal)