The Norwegian Nurses Organisation (NNO) has conducted a three day seminar in Kigali, Rwanda. The goal was to develop a more performance-based approach to NNO’s international development work. Three representatives each from sister organisations in Zambia, Uganda and Malawi attended the event which was hosted by the Rwanda Nurses and Midwives Union. Experiences were shared, new learning took place and decisions were reached for a more coordinated and comprehensive performance-based approach to our work.
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Norad has notified its Norwegian partner organisations – NNO being one of then – that funding applications for 2016 must be more result orientated. Norad is interested in knowing the result of Norwegian development funding. That means not only what has been done (activities), but also the effect, result or impact of activities. A stronger focus by Norad on this topic fits in nicely with NNO’s ongoing work on performance-based work and reporting for international development.
During the seminar participants were able to share experiences and discuss issues, especially how we can improve our reporting procedures. As an example, a major annual activity for both NNO and its African counterparts is training of Shop Stewards. In future it will not be sufficient to only report on the number of people trained. Now, Norad will want to know the effect of such training. Ways and means to determine this must be set in place. This is just one of many examples discussed during the seminar.
Participants at the seminar were NNO’s Director of Administration Paul Rønnevik, Special Advisor Michael Paul Vitols, and external consultant Marianne Hope from Sprint Consulting, the company NNO is using to help facilitate this work. Three representatives each from our partner organisations in Zambia, Malawi, Uganda and Rwanda participated, all with special responsibility for finance and reporting.
Seminar participants from Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi and NNO.
Three fully-packed days with country presentations, discussion and decision-making led to a greater awareness of the need for more focus on performance-based reporting. New reporting forms were presented and discussed, and approved for use during the course of 2015. Discussions were also held regarding a common over-arching development goal for all NNO partners. The seminar participants agreed on the following common goal:
Rwanda Nurses and Midwives Union [note: all partners will use the same wording] shall become a vibrant, sustainable professional organisation and trade union protecting and assisting in meeting the professional and socio-economic needs of its members, hence motivating the nursing/midwifery workforce to improve health care services in their country.
There was also time for visits to the National Ethnographic Museum and the National Genocide Memorial Centre. Both visits provided us with a deeper understanding of the history and culture of Rwanda, this being especially important for NNO in order to better understand and work with our Rwandan colleagues.
Presents and hugs exchanged during the final dinner – in this case between Rwanda and Uganda!
Text: Michael Paul Vitols
Pictures: Rwanda Nurses and Midwives Union
01.12.2014