I have a plan

I got my work plan approved which means I now ‘technically’ have some structure around what I‘m doing here, something documented and official that I’m working towards so I can start to ’make a difference’. Sigh. It’s going to be a challenge and over the last few days, I’m really starting to realize that. Even though I have projects to work on like the pneumonia campaign, my ‘big‘ project for the year is that, I need to give my whole organization a complete overhaul from a strategic and vision standpoint, that will transcend into branding and advertising, followed by an internal review of all the project management practices etc. etc. etc. etc… oh God. I’m feeling slightly under qualified for all of this(?!) but I’m trying to think positively. I have a year, right?


To start off this process I have been interviewing all of the partner organizations to get a sense of the strengths and weaknesses of my organization, from their perspective, helping me navigate my route on how I'm going to tackle this ‘plan’. In particular, I met with a fantastic organization called Action Aid last week and felt really inspired and motivated. Good start.
Action aid operates through a rights-based approach to mobilize and support the efforts of the poor and marginalized people with the ultimate aim of eradicating poverty and the injustices that cause poverty. Since its inception in 1983, AA has been working in some of the most remote areas in Bangladesh with some of the countries most vulnerable people. A particular focus for AAB is women vulnerability in Bangladesh and the organization has aimed to initiate programs to contribute to improvements in their position and condition in society. AA’s work on women’s rights is particularly interesting to me, and has been concentrating on promoting effective participation in the social, political and economical sphere, enable equal gender relations and active citizenship of adolescents, and also zero tolerance against violence such as domestic violence, rape and sexual harassment. Acid attacks are also another act of violence against women that has prevailed in the last decade. It’s such a horrific crime that’s on the rise here and I had no idea how severe the attacks were until I met some of the actual victims at the Action Aid office. Truly devastating. To ensure this issue gets recognition it deserves, in order to be stopped, I found out last week that my organization helped publicize it and actually taught acid burn victims how to use audio visual equipment themselves, so they could create their own documentary about what had happened to them. Then, they used the documentary as a tool to influence policy makers to see acid violence as a real issue. Change IS starting to happen.

As for the other partner organizations, there are so many NGOs in Bangladesh, fighting for something. Health rights, education, HIV & AIDS, you name it. The benefit of my organization is that I’ll get exposure to all areas so I’m really looking forward to finding out more about stories like what happened to the acid burn victims, and seeing if I can play a role in actually doing something. When you see so much poverty around you on a day to day basis, it’s hard not to be doubtful that you can change any of it. I know I need to be realistic in my goals here but God, if I can do one thing, just ONE thing, at least that’s something, right?

Let the 'plan' begin…