Mercy Corps Indonesia Pause & Reflect: Adapting the Process, Addressing Unique Needs
By: Piva Bell, Regional Program Standards Advisor — Asia, Mercy Corps
As mentioned in the first blog of IDEAL’s deep dive into Pause & Reflect (P&R), “Pause and Reflect allows programs to stop, think, reevaluate, learn, change, and integrate learning in ongoing processes. Program teams take time for thoughtful, collective review of progress and reflection on performance and to identify, document, and apply lessons learned.” Although the goal of P&R may always be to reflect, learn, and adapt, the approach to leading a P&R and the specific focus of reflection will vary depending on where a program is in the program cycle and the specific opportunities or challenges facing that program at the time of the P&R. A tool, such as the Food for Thought (FFT) Pause & Reflect Toolkit developed by Mercy Corps (MC) through a grant from the IDEAL Small Grants Program, can help those new to P&R plan for and conduct their first session. With time and experience, users may find that adaptation to the tool’s suggested processes or facilitation techniques may be needed to fit the unique objectives of different programs.
MC Indonesia was one of the first teams to pilot the FFT Pause & Reflect Toolkit. The success of their first P&R session in February 2022 with the Managing Risk through Economic Development (MRED) program in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia prompted them to conduct a follow-up P&R session the following year in June 2023. The first MRED P&R brought together MC leadership and staff to reflect on management, operations, finance, and partnership. During the P&R, leadership, and staff reviewed data and evidence as teams and shared reflections transparently using the SOAR (Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, and Results) framework. The SOAR reflection helped MRED to improve their community early warning systems by providing batteries for backup power in case the warnings needed to be transmitted during blackouts and to fill an information gap by working with the government to more easily access meteorological data. To learn more about the process and results of MRED’s first P&R, please check out an interview with Piva Bell, the P&R facilitator, in this webinar introducing the FFT Pause & Reflect Toolkit.
Improving Partnership with Pause & Reflect
The scope of MRED’s second P&R was different, and in some ways, more sensitive than the first. While implementation of MRED activities is led by MC, the program partners with a local NGO, Solidaritas Korban Pelanggaran Hak Asasi Manusia (SKP HAM), and local government and community structures, who at the time of the second P&R were increasingly working in silos. Outside of basic reporting, MC staff and partner staff were not sharing information, such as dynamics of team members or opportunities for improvement arising from the field. In addition, they were not trying to understand each other’s perspectives, contrary or complementary. Unfortunately, this lack of transparent communication created grudges and a general sense of unhappiness across MRED implementing staff and partners. To address this growing rift, the second P&R workshop was expanded to include partners and was facilitated again by Ms. Piva Bell, with several co-facilitators representing MC staff and partners.
The second MRED P&R took place over the course of two days and began with an agreement that all participants would be open and discuss topics objectively. Given the disintegrating trust between the lead implementers and partner staff, grounding the workshop in this way was especially crucial. The first day focused on partner staff, with lead implementors providing them with positive and supportive feedback, and then during the second day, partners did the same for lead implementors. To encourage creativity and a relaxing environment for participants, everyone took part in an icebreaker (also featured in this blog with MC Uzbekistan) to visualize aspirations for the MRED project. MC and partner staff were in mixed groups and needed to work together to cut out and arrange magazine pictures on flipchart paper to communicate their shared aspirations. It can be challenging to find consensus when bringing together people in different roles from different organizations, but this light and stimulating icebreaker allowed everyone to contribute, have fun, and relax in the process.
The workshop came at a time when MRED leadership was considering the possibility of ending some of the partnerships. However, the workshop opened communication enough to establish a common understanding among MC and its partners. The P&R process established more trust and improved relationships in a way that created opportunities for smoother collaboration. The decision to focus on partnership and choose facilitation techniques that forced positive interaction between these two groups was crucial in creating these results. Although funding challenges ultimately did end the partnerships, the relationships between MC and its partners were maintained so that future partnerships are more likely to be mutually beneficial.
Expanding and Adapting P&R in MC Indonesia Programs
The success of MRED’s two P&R workshops inspired the project to invest more time and resources into the approach. The MRED MEL team is now responsible for ensuring regular P&Rs occur and is considering ways to adapt the process outlined in the FFT P&R Toolkit to fit their evolving needs.
Further, other MC Indonesia projects, such as the Improved Workforce and Employment Readiness Through Technological Digital Literacy and Post Sales Services Skills (WEDARI) activity in Batam, are requesting support from Ms. Piva Bell to incorporate P&R workshops into their program review meeting. She worked with WEDARI staff to plan out and implement shorter, more focused P&R sessions. For example, a thirty-minute P&R incorporated into a regular meeting may explore only one question of concern using current data and observations. The group was able to use their reflection results from these meetings to advocate with the program director for activity adaptations that would expand outreach and recruit more female participants.
Ultimately, Pause and Reflect is a flexible, collaborative adaptive management tool that can and should be tailored to a project’s needs. If your organization or team is looking for a starting place to plan and implement their first P&R workshop, check out the Food for Thought (FFT) Pause & Reflect Toolkit or explore IDEAL’s Adaptive Management Collection for more information and ideas about how to conduct and adapt P&R sessions.
Check out additional blogs about Pause & Reflect:
