Promoting Organizational Sustainability through tailored resource building courses
shared, the thirty-nine-year-old, Anwar Ul Haq, who has been engaged in the humanitarian sector since the last fifteen years. He is currently employed with LASOONAⁱ as Manager Program Development.The learnings acquired through the Organizational Management (OM) training, followed by constant mentoring and coaching helped us in improving our organizational practices and processes. We can confidently share our learnings and improved policies and practices with other progressing national or local organizations,
The key themes of the training, such as Organizational Sustainability and Strategic Planning particularly interested Anwar as he was applying for this training.
In addition, the training cost was minimal as compared to the quality of training contents and trainer’s profile. For local organizations having meagre financial resources, this was an excellent opportunity. My colleagues have attended other trainings organized by Community World Service Asia (CWSA) as well and they were quite pleased with the learning. They encouraged me to apply for this training.
Anwar recalls that the training not only enhanced his understanding of the key concepts and best practices related to organizational management but also provided him and other participants an opportunity to interact with similar professional belonging to diversified cultural and geographic backgrounds. This was enriching for them in terms of cross-cultural learning and exposure.
According to Anwar, one of the training’s unique aspects was the pre-training exercise conducted with all participants, seeking their reflection and feedback on the training content being designed for them.Most of the participants were holding senior management positions in civil society organizations and their contribution during group works helped us understand the complex issues pertaining to organizational management and how it links to our work.”
Our feedback on the agenda was incorporated. This way the content of the training became very relevant to our day-to-day work and processes.
The four-day training not only enhanced Anwar’s capacity in the art of planning and increased his organizational communication skills but also strengthened his human resource management skills, which is considered crucial for an organization’s sustainability.
Soon after the training, its learnings were applied at the organizational level at LASOONA to improve its systems and processes. One of the key implementations was the development of LASOONA’s first ever Capacity Development Plan (CDP) for all its staff.
quoted Anwar positively.The CDP is under implementation through existing resources and shared with like-minded donors for additional technical and financial support. After six months of the first training, CWSA team organized a two-day refresher session for all its participants. In the session, support was extended to identify targets set in CDP. Realizing the importance of a strategic communication and media management, our senior management has also developed a media and communication strategy as well as a knowledge management strategy for the organization. This has also been prioritized in our annual plan for 2019,
quoted Anwar positively.The CDP is under implementation through existing resources and shared with like-minded donors for additional technical and financial support. After six months of the first training, CWSA team organized a two-day refresher session for all its participants. In the session, support was extended to identify targets set in CDP. Realizing the importance of a strategic communication and media management, our senior management has also developed a media and communication strategy as well as a knowledge management strategy for the organization. This has also been prioritized in our annual plan for 2019,
LASOONA’s Human Resource department has also revamped its performance appraisal system by shifting to the competency-based appraisal under which performance indicators in job descriptions are applied to measure performance.
The staff is pleased with the progress as it has helped to understand the criteria of job promotion and at the same time, it is promoting transparency in information sharing amongst employees.
Anwar works closely with the Human Resource, Finance and Organizational development departments at his organization. Based on Anwar’s insight from the training, LASOONA is planning to conduct an Analysis to assess its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) for its program evaluation. This evaluation will aid in strengthening the organization’s strategic plan.
With the increasing operational restrictions, civil society organizations in the country are currently facing survival issues. These trainings support us in ensuring our sustainability of organizations and effectively utilizing our existing resources and capacities efficiently.
ⁱ(LASOONA) Society for Human & Natural Resource Development is a national, multi-disciplinary, development focused, non-profit organization.
