......Title................................Short.............................Project Description

A small diaspora organisation has adopted ToP and its principles to make it more representative of its members and to play a more facilitative role in enabling and supporting members to take their own initiatives forward. Networking Organization AFFORD, the African Foundation For Development, is a UK based diaspora organization that works with other diaspora organizations in the UK, linking them to development efforts in Africa. In 2002 they found themselves trying to focus among many conflicting priorities, uncertain about which possibilities to follow in their development of coalitions and partnerships in the UK. The subsequent strategic planning event facilitated by ICA:UK and attended by the entire board, staff and stakeholders was pivotal in that it enabled the participants to see how a participatory approach works, demonstrated how all ideas could be included and be drawn upon to produce a coherent product both agreed and owned by the participants. The AFFORD staff recognized that the particular processes used in this event were the practices they wanted to use in their day to day work and in their day to day relationship building. One board member said If not for that planning process, I believe I might have given up volunteering for AFFORD some time ago. I gave up all the other organisations I used to serve because their processes were not sufficiently participatory and inclusive for me. The event has also had a bearing on who they are attracting as an organization, who they work with, and it has changed the relationship they have with their partners. AFFORD is more confident in its promotion of participation, training African facilitators to manage workshops at conferences - 60 young Africans were trained for the annual African Diaspora and Development Days. They have been taught to listen, not to fear disagreement and to build consensus. It has also changed the criteria by which they choose their partners: If they don t see any commitment toward participation, they won t engage with them. Onyekachi Wambu, Information Officer said, ICA techniques and ideas have had, I would say, a big impact on AFFORD. From my own perspective it has shaped the way I approach meetings and seek to build consensus for actions. - UK. Jonathan Dudding, UK, 2010 (antiD)

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