July 09, 2010 09:44 Age: 58 days
African Perspective - Renewed partnership for the African Renaissance
By: Rev. Jacob Maforo, Acting General Secretary, Zimbabwe YMCA
The Partnership Summit was a rare opportunity for introspection. Such was long overdue, following many years of cooperation in bilateral relationships, and also more recently in the GOP process(1). The Summit was set to assess different levels of cooperation, and to identify new ways to evaluate these relationships. This was particularly important for the Zimbabwe YMCA in re-establishing lost ties, connections and trust.
The Bible reaffirms the values of partnership by suggesting that no two people can walk together if they are not in agreement. A partnership relationship is an agreement which is built upon trust, respect and mutuality. It takes effort, commitment and time to build a partnership. The efforts to revive the Zimbabwe YMCA are happening in the context of the revival of the nation of Zimbabwe. In recent years the country has gone through turmoil in every sector. It is a sad part of history that in the last decade in particular, the country has attracted international attention for the wrong reasons, including human rights abuses, youth militia, bad governance, highest inflation in the world, empty supermarket shelves and the closure of NGOs.
The YMCA was also caught up in the problems of bad governance. As if issues of governance were contagious, leadership crises developed one after another resulting in a high turnover of staff and volunteers. The political crisis in the country was also a factor – migration of many skilled personnel to other countries in search of greener pastures added to the problems of high turnover of key leaders in the Zimbabwe YMCA.
Most partners followed the trend in the country, where international donors, partners, and investors withdrew their services from Zimbabwe. Major airliners, multinational companies and the international media organisations left Zimbabwe.
However, Zimbabwe YMCA’s traditional partners were not forced to leave because of the said circumstances but because of governance issues in the YMCA. The Zimbabwe YMCA’s international partners suspended relationships after problems emerged in managing the relationship. The partnership values had been breached. Terms of agreement had been broken. The departure of partners in most cases was abrupt.
The gap that was left was not easy to manage. In some cases, community projects were left midway. This impacted negatively on local relationships with the communities. Local communities, who are usually the beneficiaries, bear the brunt when partnership relationships end that way. The same principle of trust applies exists when dealing with programme beneficiaries and local stakeholders as does in international partnership relationships.
It is however not a hopeless situation as the Zimbabwe YMCA did not close shop, thanks to the Africa Alliance of YMCAs (AAYMCA). In 2007 the AAYMCA took a radical decision that led to the dissolution of the then Board. This was only the first step towards restoring sanity and saving the movement from imminent collapse. In 2008 a process to re-dynamise the Zimbabwe YMCA was instituted, which led to the present efforts and the implementation of the Future Search Process. The AAYMCA should be commended for its continued faith in the Zimbabwe YMCA’s potential. Also special mention goes to the Baden YMCA and Y Care International for supporting the Future Search Process. It is heartening to report that during the same period of the Future Search, Zimbabwe YMCA secured funding from Y-Global through AAYMCA to implement the Subject to Citizen (S2C) and Transformative Masculinity programmes.
While it is an enormous task to restore trust in communities, it is possible. The Partnership Summit was also proof that it is possible to restore lost trust with partnerships as many opportunities for dialogue and future cooperation began.
An important feature that was applied in the Summit was that of recognising success stories, where African YMCAs were given the opportunity to share best practices. This was carried through to the Ordinary General Meeting (OGM), held after the Summit. Successful YMCAs were given the opportunity to tell their own stories. Much of the success was attributed to the GOP process that has seen some YMCAs strengthen their movements at various levels, through the support of the multilateral approach.
Sierra Leone Y, Liberia Y Tanzania Y, South Africa Y and Kenya Y shared success stories, both in work groups and in panel discussions. Ghana YMCA also shared their plan for using property development as a vehicle for turning around their financial sustainability. Tanzania and Kenya YMCA shared their success stories in the area of resource mobilisation. Tanzania YMCA was applauded for being a movement in Africa that is not dependent on donor support, managing an USD 8 million budget annually from locally raised funds. Sierra Leone YMCA’s success story was also commended, on a holistic level, from programme development to financial and leadership development.
It is encouraging to note the impact of bilateral partnerships and the GOP process. It is also encouraging that the discussion on partnership was taken beyond the ‘donor’ concept. YMCAs were motivated to add value to their partnership relationships. A key development discussed during the Summit is the establishment of a Leadership Academy for Africa. There is great hope that this will address several critical issues to ensure African YMCAs flourish to make maximum impact for youth empowerment in our continent.
The Zimbabwe YMCA left Ghana with much hope for the future. Just as the nation of Zimbabwe is fighting to win back lost friends, the Zimbabwe YMCA is also doing the same. Issues of governance and democracy in the Zimbabwe YMCA have been amicably resolved. The organisation is now stable. The new challenge is to ensure sustainability. And this shall be done through renewed partnerships with a focus on our shared vision.
Note
1. As part of the YMCA’s Global Operating Plan (GOP) for movement strengthening, several Africa Alliance movements are engaged in Country Focus Strategies with partners. These strategies and Road Map plans are aimed at strengthening the YMCA from the bottom up, enabling sustainability and self-determination in the areas of Mission Clarity, Programme Relevance and Institutional Viability.
