USAID Training

What was your day like this past Monday? Well, mine started out as usual until 9 o’clock rolled around; at which time the whole staff was informed that we had to cancel everything we had planned to work on and that we were expected to be in staff development for the next two days. That is Zambia for you! I can begin to see why people never plan around here. A fatalistic attitude can definitely set in when all of your well-devised plans are upset by people who have a disregard for planning.

Well, obviously my attitude was not very good, but when I arrived at our conference hall for training, I was very excited to see that my tax dollars were at work. The training was funded by USAID. Yippee! Even in Africa, I am able to experience the joy of American tax dollars.

The purpose of the training was to lead the staff through a self assessment exercise to detail the strengths and weaknesses of the Jubilee Centre. It sounds great in theory, until you realize that this is not America. First of all, the training did not provide sufficient training on the proper way to self assess. This is very important in Zambia because most Zambians have not had many opportunities such as this that require critical thinking. In schools critical thinking skills are not stressed; therefore, the skill of analysis is generally lacking. The presenters did not seem to realize this though in their presentation.

Second, it must be noted that Zambians have been lacking in life opportunities. This is not a fault to anyone, but it is just the way of life. When self-analyzing, it is important to have an ideal situation against which one can reference. Unfortunately, that ideal situation in our minds is based upon the opportunities and experiences we have had. Considering this, the expectations for the ideal situation in the Jubilee Centre were very low in my opinion; therefore, people kept grading themselves higher than we should have. For example, when discussing planning our frame of reference was very low. Compared to other Zambian organizations, we do an excellent job planning for our programs. We are setting our standard too low though when we just compare ourselves to other Zambian organizations. Unfortunately, this is the only frame of reference most people in the Jubilee Centre have had. Again, it is no body’s fault, but I do not feel like the presenters/organizers considered this to the extent that they should have.

The problem in my opinion is that this training was just brought from the States without any true understanding of the situation. Now, I trust that the people are USAID are not stupid and actually tried to tailor the training to the situation. Unfortunately, this is what one continuously sees with many aid organizations. If they truly understood the organizations with whom they are working though, they would have a two step process of analysis. First, they would come through, personally analyze the organization, and help the people of the organization come up with action steps for a six month period. Second, after six months had ended they would come back, formally teach how to self analyze, and then provide more guidance during the process of self analysis.

What can I say though? They did not really ask me how to run their program. I did provide my opinion on their evaluation though. I just thought you should know how your tax dollars are being spent.