Ten months. Three countries. And the experience of a lifetime.
By: Julia Carvalho, Impact Manager, Research & Development
Ten months ago, I boarded a plane and headed for the adventure of a lifetime: a trip to spend time working with Pencils of Promise’s in-country teams for the honorable task of bringing quality education to children in rural Ghana, Guatemala and Laos.
During my four months in Guatemala, three in Ghana and two in Laos as the Global Transparency Manager, I got to experience a little bit of everything. From the cold air of the mountains to the humid heat of the coast, from incredible flavors to a few foods I would rather not try again, from booming capital cities to tiny villages, from major highways to rally style dirt roads. Through all of this, the best part of my experience was getting to know our in-country teams and getting to see, firsthand, the incredible work they’re doing, the challenges they face to deliver, monitor and improve our programs and, most importantly, the passion with which they do their daily jobs.
During my time in the field, I learned a lot about our work on the ground, and worked closely with our teams to improve PoP’s data processes, i.e. data collection, management, analysis, etc., and to ensure that our teams, beneficiaries and donors have access to the most accurate information possible. Working in such different contexts, cultures and languages was an amazing learning experience. Here are a few overarching lessons that I believe are worth highlighting:
Communication is key.
The most important lesson I learned during this role is the need for clear processes and strategies for internal communication. With over 120 staff members across four countries, communication between departments, offices and countries can get tricky. And no department can work alone, we’re all interconnected and the success of our programs depends on the synergy between each department’s implementation. Ensuring that teams have a direct line of communication with each other helps to keep everyone on the same page, allows us to cohesively work toward the same goals and makes possible timely cross-departmental action when needed.
Our in-country teams know best.
Working thousands of miles away from most of our team, and our interventions, is challenging at the very least. Between the distance, various time zones and hectic schedules, it’s often easy to be unaware of how some processes, tools and even decisions would play out in each local context. Leaning on local teams to provide feedback is key to the success of anything we do. For instance, the local teams will be the ones who know which communities don’t have electricity, and that an intervention that requires the use of an electrically-powered device will likely not work. They’ll also know when a children’s book, pre-loaded on our reading devices, is not culturally appropriate, how to successfully conduct a meeting with government officials and when the rain will prevent access to certain communities. They’re our frontline, and their knowledge should always be the first step of any decision made.
There’s nothing a group of well-intentioned, committed individuals can’t accomplish.
Our in-country teams are PoP’s heroes. They spend countless hours traveling hundreds of miles every day to deliver quality education to those in remote areas of their own countries. They’re incredibly hardworking, love what they do and overcome enormous challenges and barriers on a daily basis. Our teams work hard to build relationships with government counterparts, spend days at a time away from their homes and commit themselves fully to PoP’s mission. Together, this incredible PoP team has built over 450 schools, trained over 1,000 teachers, delivered over 3,000 e-readers and is currently impacting the lives of over 86,000 students on three different continents. I can’t wait to see what the future holds.
