ASC Organisational Development Process

	ASC Organisational Development Process
Background At the ACTION members review and global retreat in Cambodia in November 2007, the ACTION Global Steering Committee confirmed and further committed itself to the building of regional centres as a central part of the ACTION strategy. This expanded and helped to focus discussions that had taken place between Steering Committee members in the Philippines in 2006 and during the initial Transition Phase from May to September 2007. It was agreed that the ACTION Support Centre (ASC) in Johannesburg, originally envisaged as a global hub for ACTION, should redefine itself as a regional centre and take steps to explore the strategic and organisational implications of this decision, and then implement a new strategic direction accordingly. A Global Steering Committee member was deployed to work part-time on coordinating the change process with the support of the Integrating Development and Conflict Transformation project run by ACTION in partnership with Skillshare International, Responding to Conflict and the Coalition for Peace in Africa. In line with this process the ASC engaged the services of an organisational development agency, "The x factor in change" with local expertise and the skills required to facilitate the process. ASC staff and ACTION members in Southern Africa have committed themselves to this process, integrating the proposed directional shift with other processes that address a broader set of concerns. The organisational change process initiated a dynamic way of doing things differently. By linking the organisational changes to programmatic processes the ASC has been able to redefine its strategic direction and political purpose. These processes have been driven by staff and partners there is now a clear understanding of ACTION’s role as the Africa Regional Hub of a network movement committed to community based linking and learning. The aim is to transform the ASC into a regional base that is more sustainable, more easily able to respond effectively to local needs, without losing the global context or contacts, and to be less project-bound and accordingly less donor dependent in its direction. The ASC also aim to more clearly link our projects to the expected impact they will have and thus be able to demonstrate the changes the ASC believe our programmes are already contributing to. The strategic changes at the ASC need to be seen as connected to how the rest of the network movement is also developing. The global strategy intends to enable the regions to lead the growth of the global movement. ACTION will grow in accordance with the conditions it faces and the local strategies it uses. Part of this will also include linking to and helping to develop globally informed opportunities for sharing and learning and for amplifying the needs and concerns of people. This will be done in a way that provides additional strategic opportunities for transforming local conflicts. Learnings that arise during this process will feed into deeper research initiated by the Support Centre into effective organisational models for network movements like ACTION, that link development and conflict transformation initiatives at community level with advocacy and lobbying interventions that influence policy makers and structures at national, regional and global levels. The ongoing learning processes will be communicated with the rest of the network and a shared body of knowledge will develop that strengthens other contexts in which ACTION is building movements and organisations that close the gap between vulnerable communities and powerful external interests. Click here to download the ACTION Support Centre - OD Process Report

Background

At the ACTION members review and global retreat in Cambodia in November 2007, the ACTION Global Steering Committee confirmed and further committed itself to the building of regional centres as a central part of the ACTION strategy. This expanded and helped to focus discussions that had taken place between Steering Committee members in the Philippines in 2006 and during the initial Transition Phase from May to September 2007.

It was agreed that the ACTION Support Centre (ASC) in Johannesburg, originally envisaged as a global hub for ACTION, should redefine itself as a regional centre and take steps to explore the strategic and organisational implications of this decision, and then implement a new strategic direction accordingly.

A Global Steering Committee member was deployed to work part-time on coordinating the change process with the support of the Integrating Development and Conflict Transformation project run by ACTION in partnership with Skillshare International, Responding to Conflict and the Coalition for Peace in Africa.

In line with this process the ASC engaged the services of an organisational development agency, "The x factor in change" with local expertise and the skills required to facilitate the process. ASC staff and ACTION members in Southern Africa have committed themselves to this process, integrating the proposed directional shift with other processes that address a broader set of concerns.

The organisational change process initiated a dynamic way of doing things differently. By linking the organisational changes to programmatic processes the ASC has been able to redefine its strategic direction and political purpose. These processes have been driven by staff and partners there is now a clear understanding of ACTION’s role as the Africa Regional Hub of a network movement committed to community based linking and learning.

The aim is to transform the ASC into a regional base that is more sustainable, more easily able to respond effectively to local needs, without losing the global context or contacts, and to be less project-bound and accordingly less donor dependent in its direction. The ASC also aim to more clearly link our projects to the expected impact they will have and thus be able to demonstrate the changes the ASC believe our programmes are already contributing to.

The strategic changes at the ASC need to be seen as connected to how the rest of the network movement is also developing. The global strategy intends to enable the regions to lead the growth of the global movement. ACTION will grow in accordance with the conditions it faces and the local strategies it uses. Part of this will also include linking to and helping to develop globally informed opportunities for sharing and learning and for amplifying the needs and concerns of people. This will be done in a way that provides additional strategic opportunities for transforming local conflicts.

Learnings that arise during this process will feed into deeper research initiated by the Support Centre into effective organisational models for network movements like ACTION, that link development and conflict transformation initiatives at community level with advocacy and lobbying interventions that influence policy makers and structures at national, regional and global levels.

The ongoing learning processes will be communicated with the rest of the network and a shared body of knowledge will develop that strengthens other contexts in which ACTION is building movements and organisations that close the gap between vulnerable communities and powerful external interests.

Click here to download the ACTION Support Centre - OD Process Report