Stakeholders, Acronyms and Blue Cheese
Year two validation just came to an end for Hinga Weze. In the spirit of aggressive partnership, Hinga Weze invited many of our stakeholders to a year-end meeting at the Marriott hotel in Kigali. Those invited included government of Rwanda officials from MINAGRI and RAB, USAID representatives, CHAIN partners and D.C. representatives from CNFA and Plan USA. The takeaway from all of those acronyms is simply that Hinga Weze was thorough in inviting stakeholders from as many levels and sectors as possible. That was even more so illustrated when the list of invitees grew from 30 to 60 people in a matter of days. In the end, district vice-mayors and similar lower level government officials were added to the invitation list in order to elicit their valuable input as well as the chance for Hinga Weze to solidify their support on year two projects happening within their districts.
The lead up to this event included many late nights, internal meetings and MEL data consolidation. Oh, the data! This is the time of year when numbers truly count as they are linked to our contractual targets and ultimately, our funding. In all of this preparation, I was given many learning opportunities, including the responsibility to create and finalize the proposals for a small livestock program and kitchen garden upgrade. Go ahead, test my knowledge of chicken and rabbit life cycles. I dare you.
During the day of the validation session, we presented our year one progress including targets met, challenges that arose and our strategy to tackle those challenges moving forward in year two. Lively discussion ensued throughout the day and ultimately we gained valuable input from our stakeholders. I was proud of my team's presentation, and particularly proud of myself when the project budgets and timelines I created were presented to everyone in attendance.
Overall, our validation session was a huge success as a majority of stakeholders voted to approve the year two plan. And for me personally, it didn't hurt that lunch at the Marriott included blue cheese and chocolate. My American belly is quite happy and I am ready to take on a few more weeks of Rwandan meals of beans and potatoes.
The lead up to this event included many late nights, internal meetings and MEL data consolidation. Oh, the data! This is the time of year when numbers truly count as they are linked to our contractual targets and ultimately, our funding. In all of this preparation, I was given many learning opportunities, including the responsibility to create and finalize the proposals for a small livestock program and kitchen garden upgrade. Go ahead, test my knowledge of chicken and rabbit life cycles. I dare you.
During the day of the validation session, we presented our year one progress including targets met, challenges that arose and our strategy to tackle those challenges moving forward in year two. Lively discussion ensued throughout the day and ultimately we gained valuable input from our stakeholders. I was proud of my team's presentation, and particularly proud of myself when the project budgets and timelines I created were presented to everyone in attendance.
Overall, our validation session was a huge success as a majority of stakeholders voted to approve the year two plan. And for me personally, it didn't hurt that lunch at the Marriott included blue cheese and chocolate. My American belly is quite happy and I am ready to take on a few more weeks of Rwandan meals of beans and potatoes.
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