KWAHO - Kenya Water for Health Organisation

KWAHO Staff Development & Training Project

End of year report for 1997/8
Katy Newell Jones
Original location: http://www.eddev.org/Projects/report_kwaho_98.htm

In May 1997 EdDev was successful in receiving funding through the first round of international grants of the National Lottery Charities Board for a three year project to work with Kenya Water for Health Organisation (KWAHO) on staff development and training. KWAHO is a national NGO working in the field of water and sanitation. Projects include establishing ‘Maji-safi’ (maji-safi = safe water in KiSwahili) groups where KWAHO provides a water pump and trains local groups, mainly women, in the maintenance. The local groups collect money, from selling the water, and save time, through not having to walk for water. The KWAHO extension workers support the local groups in developing initiatives to utilise the money and time which benefit the local community.

KWAHO is a project-based organisation, with a small central staff, employing most staff on contracts related to specific donor-funded projects. The EdDev project is a capacity-building one aiming to strengthen the internal structures within KWAHO through the establishment of a staff development and training programme.

With two main projects in the North and South of Kenya and a central office in Nairobi, communication and travel difficult and a ‘floating’ workforce on full-time, part-time or a voluntary basis as the funding pattern changes, the models adopted have needed to be flexible. Initially three people were identified to form a core training team within KWAHO, to come to the UK for an intensive SD&T course and then, as part of their role in KWAHO, to take SD&T initiatives forward. Unfortunately, due to the financial situation within KWAHO, these three people were not able to be retained on the KWAHO payroll, so they have been acting in the capacity of training consultants to the project. The disadvantage of this approach is that there is a danger that SD&T is not viewed as an integral part of KWAHO’s work but as an ‘optional extra’.

The UK training course, in October/November 1997 gave the three participants the opportunity to develop their skills in assessing training needs, planning, delivering and evaluating a training programme. They also examined the Investors in People model and Learning Organisations in theory and in practice through a series of workshops and field visits to UK NGOs. One of the major developments during the UK course was the commitment of the participants to changing their own style of delivery from that of ‘lecturing’ to one of ‘facilitation’.

1998 has seen the development and piloting of a system for the assessment of training needs for KWAHO staff, together with the delivery of training workshops for staff on communications skills, monitoring and evaluation and fund-raising. These workshops have been delivered primarily by the KWAHO trainee trainers who came over to the UK, supported by EdDev consultants. KWAHO staff have valued the opportunity to be involved in determining their own training needs and have supported the training programme. The participants have been particularly positive about the style of training and have valued the opportunity to share knowledge and discuss ideas.

One of the key issues early in the project was how to make a significant impact with limited resources for SD&T. Traditionally, ‘training’ has been regarded as one or more members of staff going ‘away’ on a course. This project has concentrated on providing workshops ‘on-site’ focusing initially on topics which relate to a large number of employees. This has resulted in all staff in the target projects having access to ‘training’ rather than a selected few. There have been significant benefits in terms of ‘team-building’ and motivation, together with an increased sense of being valued as employees as a result of this approach.

The programme has tried to use the knowledge and expertise of the existing KWAHO staff as a resource. This is in the early stages at present but initial work confirms that there are a number of training needs being identified which could be met by using existing staff who have the knowledge and expertise. Once again emphasis is being placed on valuing and extending the role of ‘on-the-job’ staff development.

Workshops took place in Kenya in June to evaluate the first year of the project. A year ago KWAHO staff considered ‘training’ as something which they ‘did’ to local groups with occasional opportunities for individuals to go ‘away’ on a course to up-date their own skills. This attitude has changed to one where there is a recognition of staff development taking place ‘on the job’ and staff meetings being used to share knowledge and expertise. All staff have been involved in carrying out a training needs analysis to identify their own needs and have attended a number of workshops on topics identified by them. The impact on internal staff motivation and commitment is significant and KWAHO have three potential members of staff who have developed skills in facilitating training workshops.

There are plenty of challenges as the project proceeds; expectations have been raised and the resources to meet them are limited. The question remains how to ensure that SD&T is integral to the nature of the work of KWAHO and thus is sustainable in the longer term.

Katy Newell Jones