Pauline Odunga (WVSA Interim National Director)
Pauline Odunga (WVSA Interim National Director)
The year has begun in earnest with many demands and great expectations. It will take trust in the Lord, teamwork and effective planning if we are to achieve our child well-being outcomes on time and with excellence. A big Thank You and well done to the Crisis management standby teams who worked over the Christmas holidays, keeping watch of the operations during the holidays amid the staffing challenges. I am grateful to God for each one of you. I feel blessed and privileged to work in an environment where Christ is preached and where people daily desire to please the Lord. In World Vision, God has provided us a safe environment to grow in our faith. Take advantage of the weekly and daily opportunities provided to pray, study the Word of God and grow stronger together in the journey of faith. We need each other. Our Statement of Faith, stresses the importance of unity. No matter what denomination we come from, we are one in God. There is room for varied expressions of faith. Integration is essential if we are to realise transformational development. Integration is our mode of operation. It is how we deliver our services. Whenever we plan or write proposals we need to emphasise that our programs are managed and executed under one management. If we are not intentional in our efforts to integrate, we can easily drift towards a silo mentality and overlook the contribution of other sectors and programs. Interventions that we propose to improve child well-being should demonstrate integration at all stages of the project. Integration also applies at the National Office. WVSA is an integrated national office. We are one entity and deliver one message not competing messages and programs. In our plans let us remember that our goal is to empower others. We are facilitators. In World Vision we dont encourage hand-outs which may create dependency. Were committed to empower people. If
people can work, encourage them to invest in their future. Our development approach stresses the importance of working effectively to engage children, communities and local partners to bring long term sustainable change. As you are aware, in the past year it was observed with disappointment that we under-achieved in effective execution of our annual plans and utilisation of budgets (burn rate). Measures have been put in place to look into the following key areas: Performance Management, Planning and Monitoring influencing effective execution of our plans and budget targets. Remember to use the tools that have been developed like the (4DMatrix) to monitor your work every month. Develop your monitoring skills and ensure you check the work of staff to confirm that quality work is being done and any issue or delay is identified early. Lets remember that at the end of the day it is not only about utilising the money well but achieving impact on child wellbeing targets. It is only when we are able to achieve impact on child well-being that we can be proud of what we do. Monitoring of budget performance against the detailed implementation plan should be done in a way that brings glory to God. We are accountable to the children and communities that God has called us to serve. Procurement processes and internal control systems need to be adhered to at all times. We should not only aim at being compliance to the standards but ensure we are also minimising risks and aim to reach more children in fulfilling the WV vision and mission in South Africa. The organization will not hesitate to take a stand against any of us if we deliberately abuse this responsibility. Let me take this opportunity to welcome the new ND, Paula A Barnard, and thank you for the support you gave me in the two months I was here. When striving for excellence in this New Year, remember that the tone is always set at the top! Let us lead by example. God bless you Pauline Odunga (WVSA Interim National Director )
PnC Update
This past year has indeed been turbulent, and I acknowledge that WVSA has indeed experienced a lot of change as a result of the restructuring and the transition in National Director leadership. I'm pleased to note that a new National Director has been appointed and will commence duty on 01 February 2013. More details regarding the appointee will follow. On a sad note, I wish to advise that Ma Marion Kauta's contract ends at the end of February 2013. I wish to thank her for her dedication and commitment to World Vision and the contribution she has made to the organisation during her role as Interim Integrated Programmes Director. Her faithfulness and loyalty will be greatly missed. We know that God has great plans for her life and we wish her well. I also wish to thank you for your patience as we are about to finalise the HAY Grading process. We are at the stage now, where information has been flowing between GC and ourselves and we hope to finalise the process soon. We again remind staff, due to financial constraints that we will not be able to remunerate staff according to the new grades, but hope to do so as budget becomes available in the future. I also want to thank you for continuing to submit your LDR's on time as this process is critical to the allocation of costs processNicola van Turha (PnC Director)
The full list of those who received the certificates: Building Committee : Robin Gengan, Bill McCormick, Ronald Bourque, Marg Banke, Staale Johansen, Nguquko Maso, Faith Pasi, Bradley Arthur, Wayne Hunter, Lebogang Mokoena, Gilbert Nkanyane Steering Committee : Christine Larson-Luhila, Lehlohonolo Chabeli, Solly Machaba, Walter Middleton, Thabani Maphosa, Martyn Foot, Monica van Wyk