MS Uganda Newsletter March 2009

Growing strong, together

Save the Children in Uganda has gone through a period of unification from 2004- 2008. Country Director, Helene Andersson Novela, advises openness and transparency during the processes of affiliation or unification. She recommends, as few secrets as possible and clear communication at all times.

By James Kimbowa

Save the Children has a long history. The organisation was first launched in May 1919, in London, and since then, it has grown into the world’s largest, independent global movement for children. Today, there are separate Save the Children organisations based in 27 countries, working together to improve children’s lives in over 120 countries. The organisations range in size from offices with only few staff members, to those employing thousands of people worldwide.

Save the Children network
In 1997 member organisations agreed to come together under The International Save the Children Alliance, which is a network of all Save the Children organisations, to focus on pooling resources, establishing common policies and carrying out joint projects. The Alliance, currently boasting 27 members, has a Secretariat in London, from which it supports and coordinates major joint initiatives of the member organisations.

According to Helene Andersson Novela, Country Director, Save the Children in Uganda, discussions about the unification of country programmes started at the International Save the Children Alliance level. “It started from the fact that in some countries Save the Children had a number of organisations operating under the same name. For example, in Uganda, there were four. It is complicated for the host government, the beneficiaries and for fundraising to have so many organisations operating with similar names in one country”, she says.

From a practical point of view, it was seen necessary to work together under one administration. So, a decision was taken in 2000, that every country should have one Save the Children representation, and that by 2012, all countries where Save the Children is operating, should have fulfilled this ambition.

Uganda was the pilot
In 2003, Uganda was selected to be part of the pilot project of this vision. “ Whatever process of transformation you are taking, it should be for the benefit of the people you are serving. For us, it was because we wanted to reach out to more vulnerable children and get better services to them. And to me, it is very important to reassure the beneficiaries, that the coming together with another organisation is meant to obtain better services or funding,” says Rose Atim Obita, Partnership Specialist, Save the Children in Uganda.

At that time, the term used to denote country programmes combining their efforts, was ‘Consolidation’. This was an attempt in the pilot countries - Uganda, Sri Lanka and Nepal - to have one representation for all the Save the Children Organisations operating in those countries. It was agreed that Uganda would be under the lead of Save the Children Norway.

Own decisions
The Alliance Secretariat in London does not make decisions on how the country programme is run. It is the managing member organisation (in Uganda it is Save the Children Norway) that makes the decisions, but has to collaborate with the board that has representation of the six organisations. These organisations have a board that sits twice a year to make strategic decisions. In Uganda, Save the Children has a senior management team that comprises of individuals agreed upon by all the member organisations.

Anxiety and fear

Commenting on how the staff perceived the process of unification, Rose Atim Obita observes: “Definitely there were fears and anxiety among the staff, because unification also involves restructuring and changing of jobs. This however was mainly overcome by constant communication, reassurance, involvement and participation of staff in the whole process”.

In Uganda, the members of the unification are now complementing each other, since each is uniquely strong in particular fields and the area of operation is widening, meaning that the services of Save the Children are reaching out to more children in Uganda.

According to Helene Andersson, so far no challenges have been encountered by the management or the beneficiaries of Save the Children in Uganda resulting from the unification.

Her advice to organisations intending to combine their efforts is clear: “What is key, is openness and transparency, so every body know what is happening step by step. As few secrets as possible and clear communication at all times.”