The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) on Thursday, 2nd September 2010 ended a two-day consultative workshop on the organization’s operating plan referred to as the YMCA-Sierra Leone Operating Plan (SLOP).
The consultation brought together representatives from 25 local branches countrywide to review and adopt a draft report of the branch assessment, diagnosis and public perception survey of the local YMCA branches in the Northern, Eastern, Southern and Western regions of Sierra Leone. The essence of the two-day workshop was to share draft copies and consult with executive and members on the findings of the SLOP report, arrive at a consensus on the draft report and to come up with a Road Map on developing the branches to sustain the YMCA.
The SLOP was borne out of the November 2009 YMCA Triennial conference, during which it was observed, that the YMCA National Council is growing and that in order to sustain this growth being that the organization is a membership organization, it should have strong local branches as its pillars. The SLOP therefore is a first step of the capacity building process of the organization. The assessment, diagnosis and public perception survey process involved senior YMCA staff, volunteers and a consultant.
The objectives of the survey include; to determine the extent of the contributions of local YMCA branches to the goals of YMCA-Sierra Leone; determine whether institutional resources of YMCA and acquired branch resources are used by the branches to obtain desired result; assess whether YMCA-SL is meeting or adapting to some relevant needs of the operational communities in line with the YMCA mission and vision; and to generate adequate information on public understanding and awareness of YMCA’s operation through public perception survey.
The participants were divided into three focus groups to come up with solutions to problems highlighted by the SLOP survey on the following pillars; Programme Focus, Membership Focus and Financial Focus. The workshop ended with participants during plenary, develop a Road Map for the YMCA for January-December 2011 operational year.
The various focuses were all aimed at developing the YMCA from the standpoints of activities as initiated by the various branches, membership which is looking at winning over more active youth to undertake the programme of activities and of course the resources with which these programmes can be implemented and sustained.
By Sayoh Kamara