Ripple Effect's leadership team reconnect and re-energise in Nairobi
As part of our Partnership Fund grant from the innocent foundation, in June 2022 we were able to bring 18 Ripple Effect (formerly Send a Cow) staff together to Nairobi. The purpose of the meeting was to build the leadership competency of country directors and Africa hub staff, which include the thematic leads supporting the country programmes, to effectively deliver on the organisation’s vision, mission and impact objectives.
14 staff from our country programmes were joined by four others from our UK team and it was the first opportunity for them to meet in over two years. The leaders of the country programmes have also been closely involved in the development of our bold new 2030 strategy and our renaming to Ripple Effect. So, this event offered a timely break away from their virtual bimonthly meetings plus the opportunity to interact face to face since the pandemic hit.
Their work during the training included two intensive sessions. First, they explored how to be a more influential, inspiring, and impactful leader and covered topics such as developing leadership mindsets and self-leadership, and leading individuals, teams and organisations. This work was based on the Mckinsey 7-S framework – a tool for measuring organisational effectiveness and implementing change by considering how the seven key elements interact and are aligned – strategy, structure, systems, shared values, skills, style, and staff.
In the second session, they delved into the key work needed for Ripple Effect’s fundraising, thematic support, internal and external engagement, monitoring and evaluation and other areas critical to our mission delivery.
The country leaders afterwards, committed to Ripple Effect’s new vision and goals and to developing ambitious, long-term, multi-country project ideas for our fundraising teams to explore with potential funders and partners. Also, they developed an expansion plan to meet the 2030 strategic ambition whilst continuing to build leadership support for their own country programmes staff. They concluded with a draft leadership charter which they aim to complete by the end of September 2022.
What did our team think of this event?
Besides having valuable time bonding with colleagues during teambuilding activities, the teams acknowledged that they came away from the meeting with a strong commitment to our shared vision, clear leadership tools and lessons to apply immediately in their roles.
Fred Ochieng, Africa Director
Paul Stuart, CEO
We thank the innocent foundation for enabling Ripple Effect to deliver this important meeting through our Partnership Fund grant. It has empowered and strengthened the cohesion of our Africa leadership team and enhanced collaboration with the UK team. It is further progressing our Africa Forward journey to enable our programme work to be led from Africa, placing Ripple Effect in a strong position to achieve its 2030 strategy.
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