What do Wotton-under-Edge and Taninahun have in common? The first is a small and pretty town in the glorious southern Cotswolds; the latter is a huddle of mud and brick huts with palm leaf or corrugated iron roofs in the Barri Chiefdom of Sierra Leone. So not much in common other than that they are both home to Rory’s Well (RW), a remarkable charity that turns modest funding and much goodwill into clean water, improved agriculture, low-cost loans and fantastic honey.
Last year theHRDirector published features by Dr Kath Curtis-Hayward about the work of Rory’s Well. In November I visited Taninahun and some of the other villages in the Barri Chiefdom to gather an outsider’s view of progress, problems and possibilities from an HR point of view. Top of my query list was one big question: how on earth does partnership work across the gulfs of custom and culture that divide places such as Wotton-under-Edge and Taninahun? In fact, what does ‘partnership’ actually mean in such situations where differences seem to dominate?
This is not an abstract question. I have lost count of the number of times I have seen the word partnership used and abused: customers as ‘partners’; suppliers as ‘partners’; sub-contractors as ‘partners’; even employees as ‘partners’. These sort of feel-good public relations exercises seek to disguise the economic and political realities of who calls the shots. So what happens when the differences are too great to be disguised?
This is a question we have been wrestling with for over 20 years. They have set out the key attributes of effective partnering; I reminded myself of them as we drove along the fine highway from Freetown, Sierra Leone’s chaotic capital, to the far east of the country and then onto the almost impassable track that leads to Taninahun.
The first element of successful partnership is to define exactly what the word means, and what it entails, for everybody involved – and then meld the differences. This sounds obvious but ask many people what they actually mean by partnership and you often receive a blank look and some banal wittering.
No such problem with Rory’s Well as I was relieved to find. There is a clear Memorandum of Understanding between Rory’s Well and its partner NGO on the ground, the People’s Agenda for Development Sierra Leone (PAD-SL), which sets out exactly what they both understand by partnership – the essential first step – and then what they will do together and individually to keep the partnership on track. Rory’s Well may raise and control much of the funding in cash terms, but this would be useless without the organisational skills of PAD-SL and the enthusiasm and dedication of its teams.
Included in this is their shared mission – that five years from now everyone in the area of operation should have safe clean water all year round and that the communities will have achieved food security through sustainable farming methods and a basic level of economic self-sufficiency. No weasel words there. Secondly it includes their shared values, most importantly the aim to build relationships based on trust between the two organisations and the people and communities they work with, and to do this work collaboratively.
What evidence did I see of real collaboration, real partnership? Was it during the many hours talking with farmers while they cut rice in swamp farms? Or listening to women’s groups discussing agroforestry and microfinance? Or bouncing along rutted jungle tracks on motorbikes clinging on for dear life to the wonderful well maintenance engineers? (This was not exactly a vacation.)
It was in all of these and in their willingness to think laterally and creatively, such as using the solar panels which power water well pumps also to charge mobile phones. It was in the dedication apparent among the beekeepers whom I joined for a foray into the rainforest to gather honeycombs. (You haven’t been hot until you have struggled through thick tropical undergrowth in a sort of duvet suit with sting-proof overalls and a hood and veil on top.) And in the commitment to new crops and methods challenging the tradition of ‘slash and burn’ agriculture which contributes to climate change and ecological degeneration.
One thing that always convinces me of real partnership is the importance of allowing for different as well as shared ambitions. The fact that partners may, in addition to their collaboration, accommodate and even embrace different interests and priorities. Many successful marriages, after all, do not rely on the tyranny of absolute togetherness. Providing there is clear and transparent communication, based on common values and principles, differences of approach to common tasks and the pursuit of parallel objectives matter less than the intention and willingness to listen and learn from each other in the process of working together.
Most of all the evidence of true partnership came, for me, in the nature of the relationships between RW and PAD-SL staff and volunteers. It was apparent in the laughter and teasing that indicates genuine affection and secure attachments. You can tell a lot from the willingness of people to laugh together. Maybe it was a vacation after all.
If this story interests you and, like me, you want to take some positive action to help the world, there are a couple of things you can do immediately.
First, you can help Rory’s Well dig more wells:
- £3,000 digs a new well and clean water for 750+ people;
- £150 enables the training of two-person well maintenance teams from four villages;
- £40 mends a broken pump.
(If it stays broken people have to get their water from streams and swamps, risking diarrhoea, hepatitis and cholera.)
Go to www.roryswell.org/donate.html
Next, if you are interested in partnerships and you think your organisation could aid this work in some way please get in touch via the website, www.roryswell.org or just forward this article to someone who might be interested.
