A TOTAL of 28 delegates from 11 NPOs in the Eastern Cape were invited to attend an organisational development and project management training course at The Willows Conference Centre in Port Elizabeth from February 18 to 21.
Ikhala Trust, under the directorship of Bernie Dolley, funded the training, and Ninette Eliasov from Elamanzi facilitated the training.
Three of the four delegates who travelled from Hofmeyr to attend the course, came from Hofmeyr Hugs of Hope, an NPO that deals with poverty relief and training.
The other Hofmeyr candidate was from the Steynsburg’s Women Arise Movement, which deals with poverty and alcoholism, as well as the effect of alcohol on the small child in households where alcoholism exists.
The course gave insight into defining a project, a programme and an organisation. A project is the one that runs over a short period of time; a programme is a slow running, but ongoing plan of action, while an organisation has a specific structure and needs leaders, managers and a board of directors.
Eliasov also gave insight into determining whether the organisation was healthy and she discussed strategic planning outlining the difference between the vision, the mission and the objectives to reach the vision.
Financial planning as well as practical ways of determining the effectiveness of the organisation’s governance were discussed.
The difference between leaders and managers were also highlighted. A leader needs to make the paradigm shift and make the decisions for change while the manager(s) should see to it that these tools are used in managing the different projects and programmes, to meet the mission of the organisation.
Partnerships with other organisations were also discussed as a valuable tool to broaden an organisation’s network and effectiveness.
The administration of an organisation was also highlighted as one of the most important managing tools.
Without administration there would be no records to measure the effectiveness of an organisation.
