18. If I Were A Rice Man / Part 4

we're approaching the final stages of our project, and it's nice to feel the work come together. we joined a program wide planning session in tamale up north two weeks ago, and then presented the first draft of our final report to key stakeholders in accra this past week.

the planning session was a unique experience. not only as a chance to observe over 90 people come together as part of the larger program, but to witness the behavioral differences in ghana from other places i have worked. many of the team and regional leads presented their review of the past 12 months and plans / targets for the coming 12 months. typically, i have seen these sort of sessions pass through as a slide fest with a couple of questions here and there, but mostly people try to move through their presentations pretty quickly. not in ghana. presentations are a chance to perform, and a chance for audiences to judge. it feels like ghana's next top presenter where we are on the judging table. presenters stroll back and forth across the stage enjoying their 15 mins (or sometimes 45 mins) of fame. most presenters read word for word off fairly text heavy pages, and ensure they use their allotted time. oddly, this does not deter the crowd. as soon as a presentation ended, someone would stand up and begin the q&a.

sometimes it was death by a thousand cuts

facilitator: do we have any questions
crowd: a summary (often 3-4 mins) to paraphrase the entire presentation followed by "your bullet points were very small on the presentation and i found it difficult to follow what you were saying"
facilitator: ok thank you, that sounds like a comment do we have any questions
crowd: yes, i would like to know why your objectives and activities seem to be mixed up, do you know what you want to achieve
presenter: repeat all of the slides again
facilitator: ok ok, do we have anything specific or a point of clarification
crowd: have you communicated with your team while creating this plan
presenter: which part
facilitator: ok, let's take this off-line... who is the next presenter

whereas other times people went straight for the jugular

crowd: your goals seem very generic, i do not agree with this plan at all
facilitator: ok, let's take this off-line... who is the next presenter

despite all of the above, after 2 days we made it through the plans and everyone was on-board with the next 12 months of activity. this was the perfect time to start circulating early drafts of our assessment, work completed and recommendations. despite a few nervous moments completing our work prior to the session, the work was well received and we are on the right track to complete our project by the end of the month. it is nice to know some of the frameworks and assessment criteria we have designed will be re-used in future work and will have contributed to the overall goal of the program (someone has to pat us on the back!).

nice photo, naughty panda