NGOs and civil society would be stronger if they worked together, according to Michael Thyge Poulsen, Senior Programme Adviser at Engineers Without Borders Denmark (EWB-Dk).
He made the remarks at EWB-first Dk’s engagement in Sierra Leone with its partners, which took place over the course of two days at the Family Kingdom Conference Hall in Aberdeen, Freetown.
This is the first time the technical-humanitarian organisation has brought together all seven of its partners to engage in and prepare a road map for efficient collaboration and network in their various initiatives.
“We want the partners to develop their internal relationships because I believe the NGOs and civil society would stand stronger,” he adds. They can cover more technical topics if they work together,” he said.
Adding, “We believe it is time since we now have seven partners working in diverse fields, and there are synergies between them, therefore we want to strengthen our collaboration and coordination with our partners.”
During the engagement, feedback was offered on general and specific project lessons learned.
“You can always improve the way you do things,” he added, “so we need feedback on how people view collaboration in general and in specific projects.” What can we do better? How should we proceed in the coming year? Since we hope that this event will be recurrent. So, before we go, we need to transfer the torch, like in the Olympics, and agree on who is pushing this forward and commit ourselves to acting on it, because collaboration can always be improved, especially when it is cross-cultural, since you get to learn from each other.”
Michael highlighted that EWB-DK begins collaboration in its new project areas, the focus is on climate change, climate resilience, and the impact of climate change on WASH in particular. “As we begin to introduce new technology, our partners may have different notions about what their requirements are, since everything we do must be based on their needs, not our wants,” he adds.
He added that they are extending almost all of their projects based on the performance of their partners, stating that “we are expanding the project in other locations, adding new technology, or launching new initiatives.”
They’ve also had discussions with World Hope International about a bio gas project that could be used for cooking. He claims that the energy is derived through the construction of toilets and showers in villages where there are insufficient sanitary and WASH facilities.
He further mentioned that EWB-DK is involved in capacity-building programmes.
“We have other projects that are not WASH projects, like our project with the Opportunity Training Centre in Kenema, which has been going on for a number of years, that is actually more building the capacity and sustainability of that vocational school for disabled, and we also have cooperation with Sierra Leone Engineering Association SLEA, which is again not directly WASH but more strengthening the organisation through involving students from universities to be involved.” All of these initiatives, it should be noted, are in line with the UN Development Goals, or the Sustainable Development Goals.
Daniela Dasic, an EWB-DK volunteer intern, has been working with OTC in Sierra Leone’s Eastern district headquarters town of Kenema for four months stated that this is the first time EWB has held such a session like with it partners. “it is a huge success. I believe that everyone had a wonderful experience and that everyone got something out of being here. We learn as individuals and as organisations and partners working together at a high level.”
Daniela said the workshop was a really beneficial experience as many issues were highlighted. Issues dealing with trust, open communication, transparency, and honesty were emphasised, she said.
“Through various graphic exercises,” Daniela explained, “we were able to bring forth what excellent teamwork meant.” “The exercises showed us that we have different ways of looking at things,” she said, “but we should be clear as to what form our perspective and communicate that with partners, team, and the people that we worked with, and that is the only way we can be in coherent partnership, and develop and succeed in our overall goal.”
Maria Gonzales, World Hope International’s Water and Energy Director, indicated that her group will be collaborating with SEND and EWB on the 15O climate resilience projects.
She stated that two days before the workshop, all of the partners met and agreed on a strategy for the project’s growth, as well as the development of a monitoring and evaluation instrument, which was critical.
This workshop, on the other hand, becomes extremely significant because, having developed those tools, it was now time for us to get to know ourselves as partners better, how we work, our methodology, our involvement with the communities in which we operate, and our aims. These tools will help us understand how the project is progressing and will allow us to communicate more effectively with our donors.
Eku Scotland, a representative of the OTC Kenema, remarked the workshop assisted them in getting to know and network with partners funded by EWB because “as you know, we are suckling from the same mother, therefore it is better for us to know one other.” Adding, especially as we are all working in separate areas of specialisation, this would allow us to complement each other’s projects.
Green Scenery’s Ibrahim Guy, the plastic waste project manager of the clean up Freetown lagoon project funded by EWB, said they have completed the first phase of the project and are presently working on the second phase. ” It’s also worth mentioning that the session has taught me how to move forward with phase two of the project.” He also emphasised the collaboration in the past two days has been tremendous.
Water Forever, Community Relations Manager Hassan Mansaray said the meeting has helped him to interact with other partners and understand their operations and how to collaborate in a healthy way.
Conversely, the expectation is that a joint partner workshop would take in a year’s time, in order to evaluate what has worked and what they have achieved.
