Mkombozi Centre for Street Children

Letter from Kate McAlpine

Mkombozi currently lies at an important juncture - we are looking to the future and planning how we can build on our past achievements to create more opportunities for transformation...

In late 2006, Mkombozi came together as an organization to reflect on our core purpose and where we want to be in five years time. We have set ourselves a goal - a "change vision" - to move ahead in a determined and proactive way as a leading NGO in the field of child rights. This vision defines our intentions to be an innovative, grassroots NGO that others choose to follow and it inspires our work to change the public perception of vulnerable and street children.

Recently, I have been studying for a Masters in Organisational Development and my thinking about leadership and transformation has been greatly influenced by what I have been reading. In East Africa, much of the development sector focuses on the "outer", i.e., the visible results of activities such as services in local communities and small-scale economic initiatives. Much effort has gone into designing planning and measurement frameworks to improve the management of resources, activities and people. However, this paradigm of development is very much one of inputs and outputs and neglects the fundamental premise that development stems from the relationships that people have with their "inner" selves and with others.

Mkombozi is a profoundly value-based organisation. Our bottom line is the extent to which we practice our values in our day-to-day lives. I believe one reason that we have emerged as the leading child-focused agency in northern Tanzania is because of this emphasis on a value-based practice rather than just delivering services / advocacy. During the past 2-3 years, we have been undergoing a process of change whereby we are trying to remove any misalignment between the organisation's values and day-to-day practices, policies and systems. This has been the genesis of the new change vision - where we consciously now strive to live both our values and the core purpose of Mkombozi in our every decision. We believe that when we do this we will become the change we are seeking to make in the world.

Bohm once said that: "You've got to give a lot of attention to consciousness. This is one of the things of which our society is ignorant. It assumes consciousness requires no attention. But consciousness is what gives attention." (Bohm, quoted in Jaworski, 1998, p. 82) At Mkombozi, we are highly aware that if our staff are stressed, it impacts upon the quality of services and relationships with the children with whom we work. When we are balanced, our children learn balance, when we are compassionate, our children learn compassion, and when we bring our multiple selves to work (including our frailties and vulnerabilities) our children learn that they too can bring their full selves to relationships.

People can ask us why we focus on all of this "fluff and stuff" rather than on the hard-nosed results that can be quantified and measured. We don't see this as a choice between one or the other. If we fail to build a safe and empowering environment, we are not able to achieve the results that we have set out to achieve.

For example� At Mkombozi our "constituency" is made up of a huge range of people: the most vulnerable adults and children; those who have been failed by their families and the state; Mkombozi staff (who are as young as 19 and as old as 68); women and men; black and white, and many in-between. Thus, Mkombozi identifies itself as a "community" of children and youth, their families and communities of orgin, staff, Board and supporters. Within this community, we all bring different expectations, world views, skills, and experiences. Given this diversity, we need to be constantly mindful of the tendency to reduce complexity and ignore multiplicity. We need to be constantly mindful of the sheer ambiguity that each individual brings to the collective group, and then just how large and diverse that group is.

I think that as a staff body we are good at seeing the ambiguity in the children and young people with whom we work, but less so with the communities in which we work and with policymakers and Government officials. Unlike many Tanzanian organisations who work with street children, we see them neither as angels who have been let down, nor as social deviants who should be stigmatised. Rather, we are comfortable with the paradox in every youth between their "allegiance to a light and a dark potential". Our value for capturing each street child's potential is founded upon the "connection between apparent opposites" where a vulnerable child is not just in need of protection and care from adults, but that they too have determined the direction of their lives when they made the decision to run away to the street.

So, while we are becoming increasingly confident as an organisation in living with ambiguity and paradox, how does our leadership help staff to bring their "multiplicity of selves" to work? Whilst we practice compassionate leadership, I ask myself to what extent our managers lead from "quiet internal strength and integrity"? We are conscious of the risk of staff burning out and not taking up the opportunities we have in place for staff renewal, but the systems are not adequately in place to ensure that we are attracting, communicating, educating and supporting individuals who could maintain the culture of reflection, inquiry and personal transformation.

The focus that Mkombozi has for 2007 on staff support - on strengthening the recruitment, orientation, reward and celebration of what we do - is grounded in the belief that when our staff are in a good "space", efforts naturally flow into a zone of effectiveness. I believe that as a leader it is my role to harness the collective wisdom of all the constituents at Mkombozi to enable them to achieve their potential and to transform themselves so that we can transform society. As Bohm states, "everything starts with you and me".

If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to send me an email at: katemcalpine@mkombozi.org

Thank you, and keep in touch!