18/01: Small is Beautiful
Ron had a long talk in Juba with a Sudanese official who asked that his name not be used on the Internet, but who is in a position to assess the work that Village Help for South Sudan has done. We're a small group, with no big names attached to our organization, and we look for honest feedback on our effectiveness. It was a gratifying conversation, Ron reports. "He made comment after comment about how we have succeeded where others have failed, and he had very specific examples of our effectiveness."
A major reason for our success could be seen as a lacking on our part: we don't have the money to hire a big staff and move into an area with a big operation. But that has turned out to be a virtue. "Providing support from a distance to a local staff has gotten vital work done much faster and more sustainably than others, including large organizations with highly visible and highly credentialed outsiders."
Because we have empowered the local leadership, they have a sense of ownership not found in other projects. And they have come up with cost-effective and creative solutions we couldn't have thought of.
When Ron sets up our field office, it will not be so that we can bring in a lot of people to run our projects. It will be to enable the leadership we have to better document and report to us stateside. Ron will be training our local leaders in photography, uploading photos, and sending e-mail. We'll continue to work together to provide education and opportunity to remote villages in South Sudan.
A major reason for our success could be seen as a lacking on our part: we don't have the money to hire a big staff and move into an area with a big operation. But that has turned out to be a virtue. "Providing support from a distance to a local staff has gotten vital work done much faster and more sustainably than others, including large organizations with highly visible and highly credentialed outsiders."
Because we have empowered the local leadership, they have a sense of ownership not found in other projects. And they have come up with cost-effective and creative solutions we couldn't have thought of.
When Ron sets up our field office, it will not be so that we can bring in a lot of people to run our projects. It will be to enable the leadership we have to better document and report to us stateside. Ron will be training our local leaders in photography, uploading photos, and sending e-mail. We'll continue to work together to provide education and opportunity to remote villages in South Sudan.
