Lance Robinson
Some of my work:
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Perhaps the best way for you to get to know what
I do is for me to relate a few stories about some
of the work that I have done in the past:
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Northern Ghana Network for Development
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Jayuir Foundation
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The Olinga Foundation for Human Development
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CARE Bangladesh
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Community Assets
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Lumsden Beach Camp
From January 2002 to August 2004, I assisted the Northern
Ghana Network for Development, an umbrella organization of Ghanaian
NGOs, to develop the capacity of both its Secretariat and its member
organizations, and to carry out advocacy and information-sharing
programs. This included a number of projects aimed at
helping civil society, grassroots communities, and local government
structures to work together for bottom-up development. Some of
the projects that I helped to design and manage include:
- Support for civic engagement and women's participation in
local government
- Civil society participation in local government election
observation
- Information flow and public and social accountability at the
District and local level (using participatory community
scorecard and citizen report card approaches)
- Strengthening Unit Committee (local government) capacity
through support to local government accountability initiatives
- Participatory action research for the creation for a holistic
and effective anti-HIV-AIDS program for northern Ghana
In this six-month contract I was responsible, as Assistant
Director, for organizational development within Jayuir
Foundation and for fundraising. I helped the organization
to administer its program of supporting eighty community-run
tutorial primary schools.
From March 2000 to May 2001, I was helping to create and launch a new Ghanaian
NGO, the Olinga Foundation for Human
Development, the focus of which is on
capacity building, particularly at the village level. As well as helping to
conceptualize and initiate the organization's first projects, I was
engaged in conducting participatory research in our project villages and in
creating and training a network of community development facilitators. This
latter activity included my developing and delivering training programmes
in participatory research, group facilitation, and Participatory Rural Appraisal.
CARE's INTERFISH Project, which trained farmers in rice-fish
cultivation and Integrated Pest Management (IPM), used an
extension approach that was participatory and very innovative.
In each training session, farmers would perform an experiment or
practical exercise that demonstrated a concept related to
rice-fish cultivation or IPM. The trainers acted as
facilitators, not technical experts.
My role was to review the Participatory Action Learning
modules (the individual "lessons" that the field
trainers facilitate with the participants), to make changes
and improvements as necessary, and to document the modules in
the form of a training manual. My experience as a facilitator
was extremely useful for this work. I had ample opportunity
for in-depth discussions with some of CARE's highly
experienced facilitators and I feel that it was an excellent
learning experience on both sides.
Community Assets is a
community group based in Guelph, Ontario that provides
assistance to organizations that work for the betterment of
the community, and that helps in the creation and development
of both tangible and intangible assets that improve the
ability of people to engage in sustainable livelihoods.
When Community Assets wanted to establish a ReUse Market
that would not only divert potential waste from the city's
landfill site, but also create employment, they asked me to
help in the development of a funding proposal and business
plan. Working with Community Assets volunteers I helped
create the proposal and business plan and they subsequently
received a grant of over $220,000.
Lumsden Beach Camp is a summer camp in southern
Saskatchewan operated by the United Church of Canada since
1905. In 1995 a number of activities were held to commemorate
ninety years of accomplishment by the Camp, but lately, tough
economic times and a decline in the number of children
attending some of the Camp's programs have raised concerns
about the future of the Camp. My task was to facilitate a
visioning session with the Board of Directors so that they
could begin to chart a course for the future and set some
tangible goals.
The session was very productive. For example, in response
to changing demographics, the Board decided to give more
attention to its Seniors' Camp and to give serious
consideration to starting a weekend-long camp/retreat for
young adults. But to ensure that there is always a strong
base of people becoming involved with the Camp, they will
also direct more effort to filling their Primary Camp (the
youngest age group). In addition, a number of concrete tasks
were identified that would ensure that spirituality continues
to be the Camp's main focus.
Research
Projects
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