My work in Mbizana

I tried to post last night but had a bit of trouble getting internet...

Yesterday was another good day, still transitioning on the work front, and quite honestly, I can't believe today is Friday and first week done. Colleen has been great getting me acclimated to work, and sadly she leaves on Saturday and heads back to the States after a trip to Mozambique. We'll be going out for her departure tonight, then Saturday the rest of the team is headed to Port St. Johns for Sat/Sun - supposed to be a beach and backpackers/hiking town. Oh, and we're meeting the other Accenture UNDP team as well - there is another group of 4 Accenture colleagues doing the same work in Umtata, about 4 hrs from here.

As for my work, I promised a little insight. (I will try to keep these shorter in the future, but in the first week there is a lot to tell.)

The people of Mbizana are wonderful, gracious, friendly, and extremely passionate. They've made sure to welcome me immediately by teaching me Xhosa words so I can greet everyone appropriately in the morning. My work is really two fold - one is to help the Development and Planning department on basic project management, really just capability building. They certainly don't lack for ideas for projects to stimulate economic development. But some of the basic management skills to see those ideas through need to be improved - planning work, tracking status, learning Word/Excel/Power Point, things that are inherent to a lot of us sometime. A lot of my work is going to be helping them break down their ideas to come up with plans, to focus in on them a bit more and understand the importance of priority (because they all are great ideas!) - so that they can deliver on those ideas in the short and long term.

The other half is really helping to drive home what us consultants like to call "quick wins" (KJT - stop laughing), shorter projects that can be successful and help gain momentum. I'm working with the Tourism Officer and the Environmental Officer to help them manage initiatives that we can certainly achieve during my time here, stimulating some economic growth - which would prove to them and the community that the capability is there. That little oomph and confidence can go a long way. Mbizana has a great deal to offer and they need to promote that.

Lastly, I talked about the neverending land here. In a few short days I've learned quite a bit about agriculture, irrigation schemes, and the crops that grow well here. As I said in my last post, many people only farm for their subsistence here. One of the visions is to really build out ways that people can become a bit more entrepreneurial, profit on their farming, and have the means to sell their crops to places in need (markets, restauarants, etc).

It's been a whirlwind of information, but I am learning quickly. Completely different than anything I've ever done before.

OK, that's all for now, I'm off to work in a few. Next post I will have a few photos.