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Context Training in Kenya: "There has been a lot of positive change"

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Lucy Kiama is Executive Director of the Refugee Council of Kenya (RCK). "There has been a lot of positive change at the RCK since I and several other managers attended the Management and Leadership course," she says.

On a personal level, the Management and Leadership course was beneficial to me both as an individual and as a Senior Manager. I have noted improved remote management, better coordination, and more effective project monitoring. Across the organisation, there is increased support for staff management, a better feedback mechanism, and wider awareness and application of the Sphere standards. Communication and accountability have improved. We have more RCK staff with sounder knowledge of core skills, management and leadership in humanitarian response. Above all, I feel we work better as a team.

I encouraged staff to follow up on the course by taking the online training in the Sphere standards. All of them now have a Sphere certificate in their personnel files. We have also adopted the Sphere online course as part of the induction for all new staff, including interns.

We have developed and administered a leadership staff assessment questionnaire to be used routinely to gauge our capacity and learning needs. Unlike before, we now carry out weekly planning and information-sharing of project progress to ensure our activities are efficient and effective. Any unforeseen events are addressed on time. As part of the Context programme, staff receive on-the-job coaching from the CHS Alliance in key areas.

Concrete change

We have also seen some concrete examples of the impact of the course. For example, we developed and submitted a funding proposal incorporating the Sphere standards to the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (BPRM), the US Government bureau that funds support for refugees and displaced persons. I am glad to report the proposal was successful and I can attribute this in part to the inclusion of the Sphere standards in our proposed activities.

The course was also an opportunity to meet with other humanitarian agencies and share our experiences. Indeed, through networking with other course participants, RCK has trained World Vision staff in Dadaab on refugee protection to increase knowledge of the legal framework that protects refugees in Kenya.

Concrete change

Our Partners

Context, led globally by Oxfam GB, is part of the Start Network's Talent Development project. The latter is one of fourteen projects in a portfolio funded by UK Aid (DFID)