The first professional association of its kind in Zambia, the institute organized the first conference on Organization Development (OD) in Zambia, called “Building High Performing Organizations through OD,” from May 15-17 in Lusaka.

The conference was picked up by broadcast and print media, including Lusaka Voice and Zed Chronicles, and generated a high degree of local interest.  The conference identified best practices for organizations to become more effective and sustainable as Zambian people embrace leadership opportunities in a growing middle-income country.

The conference attracted 150 participants from civil society, government and the private sector. Guest speakers included the Permanent Secretary of the Management Division of the Cabinet Office, Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation Director General and Tanzania-Zambia Railways Managing Director. MSI Technical Director in Organizational Capacity Building, Dr. Darcy Ashman, gave a presentation on Organization Development for partnerships and networks.  MSI Deputy Chief of Party Francis Johnston presented the LPCB Capacity Building Model, based on MSI’s signature toolkit, the Institutional Development Framework (IDF).

The IODF also organizes regular evening professional discussion forums in Lusaka and publishes a regular newsletter for practitioners, called the OD Facilitator. They plan to extend their reach to include all of Zambia through a network of provincial and district level chapters.

The LPCB project has strengthened the organizational capacities of more than 100 Zambian NGOs engaged in providing HIV prevention, care and treatment services throughout the country.

Youth union leader presents at a workshop.

While migrating during the dry season in Jonglei, South Sudan, the Lou Nuer tribe came under attack. The violence was attributed to the Murle tribe. Rumors surfaced that Lou Nuer were mobilizing for a violent retaliation against the perpetrators.

The newly formed Jonglei State Youth Union quickly sent a youth team to intervene before the conflict escalated. The dialogue was intense between the youth team and Lou Nuer. However, the youth delegation convinced the Lou Nuer to delay an attack and try to appeal to the government, responding without bloodshed.

Following the recommendations from the youth union, the Lou Nuer organized a peaceful demonstration in Bor to petition the state government for more vigorous disarmament initiatives. The governor listened to the demonstrators and pledged to ramp up disarmament. Lou Nuer tribe members were pleased with the response, and tensions subsided.

The Conflict Mitigation & Stablization Initiative (CMSI) project has played a large role in establishing and empowering these youth unions in various states across South Sudan. In partnership with PAE, MSI implements CMSI’s technical approach. The CMSI team helps youth to recognize that working with the government can help prevent further violence and advance their cause.

The project supported several of the state Ministries for Youth and Sports to develop strategic plans that better engage youth in peacebuilding activities. The project team created a receptive environment for the plan, bringing youth leaders, state government agencies and potential donors together in consultative planning conferences. The youth unions originated partly from a successful youth conference that CMSI sponsored.

The project also assisted the Jonglei State Youth Union in developing its constitution. The project continues to support the Jonglei State Youth Union expand their reach to all counties in the state.

Youth leaders that have participated in CMSI peacebuilding events have played active roles in convincing more militant youths from retaliating, including another almost violent incident in Western Equatoria over teak harvesting.

Over the past decade, MSI has developed and applied innovative tools and approaches for scaling up development change in a variety of countries and sectors. With support from the MacArthur and Packard Foundations, MSI produced a Scaling-Up Management Framework, which has been reprinted more than 10,000 times, and an accompanying Scaling Up Toolkit.

MSI President Larry Cooley discusses the underlying set of processes that take successful small-scale projects and move them to a national or global scale. Cooley notes several significant applications of the approach, the most prominent being the high-scale adoption by the government of India in their latest development plan.

Click here to learn more about the scaling up approach.