Greetings:
As a contribution to the on going discussion on the possibility of
establishing a global gambian association and the prodding of some members
of the list, I am posting for dialogue some of the work the Gambia
Leadership Conference has been doing towards the realization of this goal.
As the paper suggests it is a working document hence does invite onto itself
criticism, additions, deletions, and general comments. Further, at the time
this paper was drafted (following the proceedings at one of the GLC events),
the political question was not amply dealt with and perhaps members of the
list can elaborate further on this. Finally, I am not certain how the
formating will look upos posting to the list, so if it is hard to read
please go to www.gambian.com/synthesis.htm for a better read.
Latjor
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A Global Gambian Association
Strategic Framework
(Working Paper)
1. Vision and Purpose
What does the association want to achieve and for
what purpose?
How to Achieve The Stated Purpose
2. Objectives, Strategies, Actions
What are its objectives and key strategies and actions?
3. Guiding Principles
What are its guiding principles and expected norms
of behavior?
4. Financing
What are its resource bases (financial, human, and
information resources)?
5. Structure
What is the distinction between a global and an
umbrella association?
What is its comparative advantage or distinctive
capability (relative to other existing
organizations in the USA and the world)
What are the synergies or complimentarities relative
to other Gambian associations,
community groups, the Gambian Embassies all
over the world?
What forms of partnerships would be optimal?
How should it be organized for governance, policy,
planning, and management?
6. Operations and Performance Management (monitoring and
evaluation)
What are the program priorities?
How would the implementation of these programs be
managed?
What kind of performance measurement and management
system should be established to
measure success and progress and to enhance improvement.
1. Vision and Purpose - The Global Gambian Association
What do we want to achieve and for what purpose?
The vision expressed is for a dynamic organization with
membership drawn from all
Gambians in the Diaspora and with the inspiration and
ability to enhance its value and
capacity to produce outstanding performance and
productivity while empowering each
member to realize his/her potential. In short, the
purpose is to establish a learning and
leadership community that would engage in reflection,
take necessary action, and make
necessary adjustments and improvements as it seeks to:
(a) meet the challenges of living in the Diaspora
(economic, financial, social and
cultural challenges);
(b) meet the challenge of the 21st Century
(globalization, technology, fast pace of change);
(c) support the social and economic development of
Gambians in the Diaspora; and
(d) support the social and economic development of the
Gambia .
The associations would carry out these goals with a high
level of commitment, with clear
standards of performance and accountability to engender
trust and participation, with
excellence, flexibility and integrity, and other ways
that safeguard the organizations
effectiveness and long-term survival or sustainability.
2. Objectives, Strategies, and Actions
Six objectives were identified, views expressed, and
some strategies and actions formulated:
· 1. Economic and Financial Empowerment and Growth
· 2. Human Resource Management - the Use of Existing
Capacity
· 3. Human Development - Development of Capacity
· 4. Social Welfare, Protection and Human Rights
· 5. Cultural Heritage and Sustainable development
· 6. Building the Learning and Leadership Community in
the 21st Century
In all these six areas, the role of technology and
knowledge management is significant.
2.1 Economic and Financial Empowerment and Growth
Objective: To promote the economic and financial
Empowerment and productivity of Gambians
Strategy:
Revenue generation and job creation
To generate financial resources for operations and for
investment purposes
To become a more productive community that can create
jobs or direct members to opportunities
To establish networks and information systems for jobs
and other economic and financial opportunities
Private sector development
To promote private sector development among Gambians and
to promote integration with global markets
Technology
To leverage technology for trade and investment of
Gambian products and services
Consultancies
To establish a team/network of consultants to provide
technical and management services
2.2 Human Resource Management - Using existing Gambian
Capacity to Optimize Performance and Productivity
Objective: To use existing capacity (professional,
technical, management,social skills, and
information technology) in the community for the
betterment and advancement of the larger community:
Strategy:
Leadership
To highlight the expectations of and define the role of
leadership in the Gambian community.
To enhance the visibility of the "intelligentia" and
experts as leaders in the community
Human Capital
To define the scope of human and intellectual capital
and assess how it could be used in an integrated
fashion.
To use existing human resource base to support for
example smaller organizations and the
community at large (provide training, give technical
advise and suggestions)
Networking
To establish human resource base for networking and for
information exchange
Dialogue and Education for change and development
To establish the human resource base for addressing
emerging issues in the community
and for establishing recommendations for action
To promote use of professional resources to influence
the direction of change and
development in the Gambia in institutional development
and capacity building
Technology and Knowledge Management
To establish and use the existing capacity in the
community for the use of information technology.
To facilitate access to information technology by all
members of the association
2.3 Human Development - Capacity Development
Objective: To invest in people, enhance their potential
and capacity, and re-direct use of this capacity by
the community
Strategy:
Access
To increase access to higher education and skills
training
Graduation
To increase efficiency and effectiveness in graduating
from US colleges.
Continuous education:
To increase access to information for continuous
learning.
Actions: Provide support for financing of post-secondary
and college education
(scholarships, affiliations with colleges, database of
grants and scholarships for Gambians or Africans)
To provide training programs or information of sources
for training.
To provide an advisory service for education and
training
2.4 Social Welfare and Protection and Human Rights
Objective: To enhance the social and psychological
adjustment and well being of the community
Strategy:
To assess synergies with existing social-based
association in the community
To assess and define the comparative value of the global
association in social welfare and protection.
To establish a Human Rights monitoring system
To establish a social fund to address emergencies.
2.5 Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Development
Objective: To enhance the value of our cultural heritage
and the promotion of cultural and social norms
and activities for sustainable development.
Strategy:
Advancement: Education for dynamic cultural growth
To promote understanding of culture not as a static or
fixed force but as a dynamic entity
which builds on the intellectual ability to define one's
situation and to act on it. Thus, the
need to move ahead with "cosaan" and to breed dynamism
into it.
To encourage and support artists engaged in the use of
traditional art forms.
To encourage and support the generation of young and new
artists engaged in using traditional culture in new
forms of expression.
To review our cultural norms and mores and re-assess
their application and practice and
give culture a direction (review, discuss, debate
aspects of culture to retain or relinquish).
To acknowledge and value the different cultural
configurations we all bring with us and to
learn to respect and accommodate these differences.
Maintenance: Sustaining Traditional Culture and
Preservation of history
To develop, as a starting point, a better understanding
of our cultural roots.
To enhance the foundation education and acculturation of
our children (story telling sessions, classes, etc.)
To raise funds to preserve the historic sites in The
Gambia
To enhance and promote Gambian musicians to perform and
record
To enhance the visibility of Gambian artists through the
use of diverse media forms
Enrichment
To engage in cultural partnerships, exchanges, with
other communities (African Americans, other Africans,
etc.)
Knowledge Management (Knowledge generation and
Information dissemination)
To compile, synthesize and publish cultural materials
To leverage science and technology in cultural
documentation and advancement
Economic Activities: To get involved in the promotion
and development of
culture-based economic activities promoting tourism,
trade, and investment.
To connect with the organizers of the Roots Festival and
seek to be involved in promoting the festival.
To identify trade and investment issues and seek to take
an active role to support development.
To organize Festivals abroad for economic and cultural
enrichment
2.6 Building the Learning and Leadership Community for
the 21st Century
To promote a learning and leadership community among
Gambians - one that is in tuned
with world and technological changes, and inspires,
legitimizes, and empowers itself for
reflection, action, and flexible adaptation as one basis
for making a sustainable contribution to development.
Strategy:
Core Values and Guiding Principles
To promote the development of the 21st Century Gambian
who is:
(a) Engaged in continuous learning, reflection, and
action for adaptation to constant change;
(b) Is in tuned with and participates in the emerging
trends of development (the global economy, knowledge
management, technological advancement, mobile capital,
governance issues;
(c) Makes shifts in mental paradigms to focus on:
finding value in all involved and empowering the
participation of all in a collaborative and
non-hierarchical manner; the development influencing and
learning facilitation skills as
opposed to command and control pre-disposition; the
development of non-linear and
systems dynamics forms of thinking and action-taking;
the development of tolerance for
calculated and responsible risk taking; the
establishment of clear performance standards
and quality criteria in all undertakings as an important
factor in building trust and measuring
progress; the ability to identify opportunities and
exploiting them with vigor, perseverance
and integrity.
Knowledge Development and Management
To enhance knowledge generation and dissemination of
information among Gambians
(publications, seminars, work-sessions)
To re-activate the journals as one basis for
enlightenment and the sharing of knowledge among Gambians
To leverage the use of technology for learning and
communication
Networking
To enhance professional networking
To establish virtual networking systems
To hold conferences and seminars as a forum for
networking, sharing of knowledge and lessons of experience.
3. Guiding Principles
What are guiding principles, the value system, the
expected norms of behavior or business
ethics to enhance focus and effectiveness of the
association?
Selectivity for Realism and Effectiveness - Leverage its
Advantage
Given its newness and the scale and scope of the agenda,
the Global association must
focus on key strategic directions and priority actions
that cut-across members while
catalyzing the maximum potential of other associations.
It should encourage a more
realistic division of labor with other organizations..
Partnership: that builds on a shared or common vision.
commitment and action.
Collaboration and coordination with other organizations
with a shared vision and
commitment should be promoted. Partnership could extend
to other non-Gambian organizations for certain joint
efforts. The identification of key stakeholders and
support groups of the association should be defined.
Responsiveness
The association should be responsive to members, clients
for services to be provided, and
key stakeholders and demonstrates real and negotiated
value to these groups.
Results-Orientation
It should defines clear outcomes and impact, and
concentrate on maximizing impact, high
quality service, increased efficiency in operation, and
accountability for performance
Cost-effectiveness
It must have a clear notion of the costs of various
actions and assess the effectiveness of
alternative strategies as well as their long-term
effects and sustainability.
Adaptability
The associations must establish structures, charters and
operational procedures that would
give it the capacity to adjust quickly, to change and
move on
Financial integrity
For the generated financial resources, the association
must establish clear accountability
systems and governance of such funds.
Cultural integrity
The Gambian valises of integrity and generativity should
be paramount in the ethos of the association.
4. Financing
What are its resource bases
a) Human resource bases - knowledge skills, aptitudes,
attitudes, reputation, image of the community
b) Financial resources (generation, mobilization,
management, allocation)
c) Friends of The Gambia and other sources of financing
or in-kind contributions.
Issues pertaining to the financial and human resources
for the management of the
association were raised and it was agreed that these
will defined in follow-up meetings.
5. Structure and Organization for Policy, Planning, and
Management
The meeting highlighted the need for an organization
that is non-partisan, efficient, flexible,
that can serve its members and help achieve its
objectives in a sustainable basis. It raised
questions and made recommendations related to the
following:
Membership
What does a global membership mean? What consideration
would be given to what is
do-able and manageable? What is the role of technology
in the establishment of a virtual system?
Comparative Value
What is its comparative advantage or distinctive
capability (relative to other existing
organizations in the USA and the world, the Gambia
Embassy)
What are the synergies or complementarities relative to
other Gambian associations,
community groups, the Embassies all over the world?
How would existing organizations in the Diaspora be
aligned with the global organizations?
Could it provide a "clearing house of information" for
all other Gambian organizations?
Could it serve as a nodal point for providing technical
and professional services to Gambian small associations
(on organizational development, management, resource
leveraging, etc.)
Partisan politics
As a non-partisan body focused on development for all,
does this negate the discussion and dialogue on political
issues?
Structure for Governance, Policy, Planning. Management
and Accountability
What type of policy and management structure best suits
the association and what are the
criteria for the various official positions (Board,
President, Management team, operations,performance
evaluation)
6. Operational Functions:
The meeting highlighted the difference between what the
participants want and the need to
be realistic in what can be done and being able to carry
this our. This calls for a good
basis for establishing the priorities for action, for
defining management plans:
(implementation plans with clearly defined tasks,
schedules, responsibilities, costs) and for
establishing a performance measurement and management
system.
The need for the establishment of a secretariat for work
to be done and to begin the initial
steps of launching the association.
Participants expressed the need for the establishment of
a "Gambia House" to house the
secretariat of the association and to provide space for
meetings, conferences, seminars,
training, social gatherings etc.
Report Prepared by the Synthesis Team, Working Group on Strategic Planning
Sukai Prom-Jackson, Lamin Jeng, Latjor Ndow, Mohammed Kah, Mbye Cham.
Gambia Leadership Conference
www.gambian.com/glc.htm
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