YALI RLC WEST AFRICA NIGERIA ALUMNI FEBRUARY 2019 MASTERCLASS REPORT
Topic: Planning, Project Management And Documentation
Venue: Telegram
Time: 7:30pm - 9:15pm
Date: February 28th, 2019
Speaker: Rotimi Olawale
Moderator: Alero Thompson
The masterclass session commenced at 7:30pm with the moderator Alero Thompson introducing the facilitator for the day.
Rotimi Olawales profile;
Rotimi Olawole is the co-founder of Youthhub Africa, a front line youth development platform to engage young Nigerians in Social change. He is a youth development expert and girl's education champion with over ten years of experience. Rotimi is currently involved in shaping local, national and global policies to benefit the youth population. He previously worked as a consultant to the world bank, African Union and GIZ on youth programming in Nigeria. In April 2014, Rotimi joined the #BringBackOurGirls campaign; a campaign that demands government action over the abduction of over 200 girls in northern Nigeria. He currently serves on 5 nonprofit boards across the continent and has previously chaired the Youth for Results Network of African Development Bank, as well as chair of the African Youth Panel.
Summary of discussion held;
The discussion commenced with Rotimi Olawole requesting participants to mention their names and professional field.
Case Study One;
Rotimi shared a story of his friend called Peter (Fictitious name). Rotimi was on Peters wedding train in Lagos a few years ago. He flew into Lagos on a Friday from Abuja to attend the wedding. On arrival, he enquired on plans for the next day which was the wedding day, and if he could be of help with any task. Peter responded that everything was under wraps.
Next day after Peter had been joined to his wife and they all exited the church. Peter received a phone call from the caterer, that she was at the reception venue and could not see the drums for ice mentioned and the chairs in the hall had not been covered. Peter, his friend, then called the vendor who was meant to provide and cover the chairs and was screaming at him while they were trying to take group pictures just after church service. At the end, Rotimi had to take Peters phone from him and follow up with all the vendors. Rotimi left Peter with a message, _"many people will not remember what they ate at your wedding, but you will always see the pictures of you not smiling, if you do not behave and smile right now"._
Question: What should Peter have done better?
Aisha Bubah responded that she could imagine him freaking out. Maybe he should have come up with something to keep them longer in the church as he sends someone to the venue to handle things. Or delegated someone to check on affairs at the venue early morning.
Alero Thompson responded that he should have Planned to Plan. Peter Owolabi stated that he should have had someone handle that for him. Funmilola Awosanya stated that he should have planed from the beginning and not assume. Do thorough follow up.
Rotimi responded that a big part of planning and project management is to break down what you want to do into small bits and delegate. Delegation may seem very simple, but should be done in such a way that the person delegated to, understands the task, and is given enough room to innovate and take decisions. He said that in a developing country like ours, one thousand things can go wrong, even when you have planned very well, so we have to constantly have plan B and plan C.
Secondly, a big mistake often made is late planning. Individuals seldom wait till the last minute before planning anything and this makes planning and project management cumbersome, expensive and confusing. To plan a conference for instance, the most ideal timeframe would be to have six months to one year to plan depending on the size of the conference.
Case Study Two;
You have just been appointed as the chair of the committee to plan for a presidential dinner on May 29 in the evening after the president has been sworn in. What would be the first five things you would plan for as well as take into consideration?
Aisha Bubah responded; 1) Who will be members of the team? 2) Map out guest list 3) Map out programmes of event and list of speakers and performers 4) Start contacting vendors like event planners, performers, etc. 5) Ensure the party jollof is on the menu list.
Peter Owolabi stated; 1) The number of the attendees. 2) The variety of meals to be served. 3) The settings of the space. 4) Welcome of the guests. 5) Departure.
Ife mentioned; 1) Number of attendees. 2) Location. 3) Grade of event: Guest profiles as in cultural, professional background.
Alero Thompson stated that; 1) Number of employees. 2) The demographics of the guests. 3) The social class. 4) Security. 5) Contingency plans should plans fail.
Rotimi responded that we should look at the brief and pay attention to keywords; _Presidential dinner, evening of the president’s inauguration_ . The keywords informs us on the kind of audience expected.
Presidential dinner states high profile, VVVIPs, diplomatic community and possibly a few visiting heads of state will attend. That informs us that security would be very important. It also meant that the number of attendees could become very tricky if not managed well.
Scenario;
• If the President of Ghana is on your guest list for instance, you need to know ahead that he will not come alone, how do you plan to include as well as limit his delegation to a specific number?
• On food, because you have international audience, you need to prepare for such, not just jollof rice alone, Nigerian pepper as you know can almost cause some foreigners heart attack.
• Nigeria is virtually surrounded by French speaking countries, would you plan for translation?
• In Nigeria how do you deal with uninvited VVIPs that cannot be turned down? Such exigencies have to be planned.
• Sitting Arrangement: Sitting arrangement should be pre planed as you do not want to isolate the president of Senegal who probably cannot speak English, on a table with only Nigerians. A siting arrangement with the president of Benin should be pre planned so that they can chat and feel comfortable.
Rotimi gave an instance of an event in a particular state wherein he was involved in the planning. The hotel placed on the high table a bottled water produced by the company of the governor's main rival. Someone pointed his attention to it and said the governor cannot seat in front of that bottle placed on the table. Rotimi agreed, while others said it did not matter. He removed it and immediately purchased another bottle water to replace it. A little thing can suddenly turn political. In essence, when planning for an event, do not assume you are an expert. Consult people that have planned similar events in the past.
Question 1: Samirah Bello asked; What should one do if you are to plan an event for a limited very small budget maybe for an NGO and you want to do the best, so you can be recommended for higher jobs?
Response: Rotimi stated that he needed more specifics for this. But, off the top of his head, from personal experiences, first clarify expectations. Be sure that the client knows what can be delivered with the budget available. For NGOs always find creative ways to reduce your budget expenses. You might get a free hall for instance. Focus however on quality, how can people come to the event and be wowed. Many times, he could not afford to give facilitators honorariums (cash), but he would always give them customised gifts.
Question 2: Chigozie Ofor asked; How does one successfully plan a project that is constrained by factors such as middlemen, trying to make gains from you, and diverting knowledge/materials from intended beneficiaries. For instance, an outreach to an IDP camp to train on breast cancer and personal hygiene, the camp coordinators sieve the list of beneficiaries to invite and those to receive the outreach materials provided.
Response: Rotimi said that he would require more information to make a targeted comment. However, he always endeavours to avoid middle men. He added that when he pays participants at his programmes maybe for transport reimbursement, no matter how young they are, he ensures they all collect their money by themselves and sign for it. He does not indulge middle men.
If he needs 10 beneficiaries, he would askfor a list of 30 and he would make the final selection by myself.
Question 3: Aisha Bubah asked; As an NGO, how do you plan an event with little to no funds? What attracts sponsors and partners to funding your event?
Response: Rotimi stated that on attracting donors and sponsors, it is a whole class on its own. However, his top tip would be to identify the top 10 donors for your sector, look at their requirements for funding, then ask yourself, do I meet this criteria. If you do not start working toward that, then target events and conferences where these donors will attend so you can make personal contacts.
Question 4: Sira Lewis asked; How do I handle someone in my team who thinks he/she knows to much more than others? Previously, I’ve had challenges dealing with these set of people, one funny thing is they end up ruining a lot things.
Response: Rotimi stated that it depends on her role. If she was the head of the team, she has to be firm and decisive, her first job is to deliver results, not to be known as nice. He has some colleagues that when given tasks, they need to report back every step of the way. Rotimi has others who are self driven, and need very few follow ups. He has someone on his team who is too optimistic, he will always say yes he can deliver, but he is unable to effectively estimate how long it will take him to deliver on tasks. Once you know your team, relate with them accordingly and push and inspire them to do more.
Question 5: Alero Thompson asked; I want to ask if you any extra readings or worksheets you would like to share with us?
Response: Rotimi responded that on extra readings, for those interested in business planning and project management, he recommends _Blue ocean strategy by Renee Mauborgone; it talks more about a marketing theory, but it also helps you to plan your business and look at it from a different perspective. For non profits,he recommended Leading Change by John P Kotter. The book outlines 8 steps to leading change and it has helped him in planning around change projects that I have implemented.
In conclusion, Rotimi mentioned that the best way he has personally learnt was by volunteering for other peoples projects. He can be reached on _Twitter, facebook and Instagram as @rotexonline, and by email on rotimi@youthhubafrica.org._
Report written by;
Tinuola Aina
Assistant National Secretary
YALI RLC Alumni Nigeria Chapter
