DUES Greatness Summit 2011

After the great success of the Greatness Summit last year, DUES is back in full force again! On Saturday the 26th of March, the DUES team will be taking over the Ghana National Cultural Centre in Kumasi. The theme this time around is "Leading Change - Making a Difference in our Generation". Before I jump into that, here's a little about DUES itself:

DUES stands for Databank Universal Economic School. The brainchild of two national service personnel, it started in 2006 at Central University College as a network to build wealth for young people. Four years later, DUES Clubs can be found in 50 tertiary institutions across Ghana spreading the message of investment, excellence and leadership.

Their goals are to:

• Emphasize individual responsibility in the choice to invest and succeed
• Recognise and develop great leadership and personal integrity
• Encourage and practice teamwork among members
• Provide opportunities for gaining increased knowledge and understanding on issues of finance as well as community, national and world affairs
• Open avenues for personal and group action leafing to the spread of investment knowledge among a broad spectrum of students and young people
• Attract outstanding young and motivated individuals in the country who have demonstrated a commitment to development, professional achievement and will want to make strides in their career, investment knowledge and potential for leadership

Headlining this year's Summit is none other than Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, managing director of the World Bank. Any of that strike a chord with you? If so, I definitely advise you to make room in your schedule! Tickets are GH¢20 for students and GH¢25 for professionals. This covers food, all conference materials and transport to and from the venue (buses will be available from all DUES affiliated tertiary institutions).

Everyone who attends will receive a certificate of participation (great for your CV!) and a wealth of information that I have no doubt will make a positive impact. So what are you waiting for? Head on over to Databank (Accra, Tema, Takoradi or Kumasi) or any DUES Club campus (all major tertiary institutions across Ghana) for your ticket!

For more information including a detailed list of speakers, see the poster above (click to enlarge), call 024 622 2691, 026 874 7278, or 024 356 9255, or visit the DUES website.

Transactional Leadership - Value vs Respect

This is the second installment of a five-part series on Transactional vs Relational Leadership we're following on the Lead Change Group blog. To read part one, click here.

The role of ‘value’ in transactional leadership is based on the idea that people follow the leader because the leader somehow adds value to their lives. The benefits could be social, political, economic or even spiritual. Followers follow because of the value the leader adds to them. The leader benefits from the value brought by those who follow him. It’s reciprocal and the leadership equation continues successfully unhindered as long as everyone can clearly see the benefit of the relationship. The problem with value based leadership is that it’s focused on one single idea, “What’s in it for me?” Don’t get me wrong. That’s not an inherently bad question to ask. People are in business to make a profit. The reason we want to improve our leadership skill is because we have this vision of a future that’s better for us and the people we lead. But, ‘What’s in it for me?’ can’t be the foundation of our leadership relationships. What’s in it for me is transient. What makes me happy from one moment to the next is dynamic. Therefore the value I’m looking for out of any given relationship is constantly changing. It’s why married couples can fall in and out of love. It’s why coaches can be heroes one day and villains the next. You didn’t win the game. The value of this relationship has just been diminished. You don’t make me feel like you once did. It must be time to find a new partner in marriage.

‘Respect’ approaches relationships differently than ‘value’. Instead of leaders looking for what they can gain from others they recognize that every individual has intrinsic value apart from what they give to an organization. Out of respect for the individual the leader looks for ways to unleash the unrealized and untapped potential of those they lead. Instead of using people as a resource they challenge and inspire people to become more than they ever imagined possible on their own. Respect becomes the foundation on which a new kind of leadership is built. When respect drives the leader’s responsibility to lead and the follower’s willingness to follow the paradigm changes for how we relate to one another. Because of my respect for you I won’t treat you as a commodity or as a means to an end. Out of respect for you I have a responsibility as a leader to attempt to understand your hopes and dreams, to use my resources and experience to equip, encourage and empower you to fulfill your maximum potential. The follower has a responsibility here as well. Out of respect for those who lead the follower commits to serve the organization well. This service isn’t simply about a paycheck or promotion but about giving my best, being fully engaged with the responsibilities entrusted to me, and doing what’s right for the organization as a whole. Respect defines the way we relate in times of success, failure, conflict and cooperation.

Put simply, value looks for what’s in this relationship for me. Respect dreams of what’s possible for you as we serve together.

Next time we’ll look at two more words to disrupt our leadership foundation. In the meantime consider the following:

• Are your leadership relationships based on value or respect?
• What are the inherent challenges or apparent weaknesses in leading from respect rather than value?

God bless,
Chad

10 ways to make your mentees great

I'd like to share part of a post from a blog called 'Leadership Freak'. It was originally posted under 'Great leaders make others great'. Besides the leadership aspect, it provides some pretty sound advice for mentors. Have a read and make your mentees great!

Your greatest challenge isn’t leading, it’s making others great. Settle for nothing less than growing leaders that become greater than you.

10 ways to make others great

1. Think less about what you want and more about what they want. Tap into who they want to be. Ask - how can I help you get where you want to go?
2. Provide opportunities for failure. Nothing succeeds like a good failure. Our failures, more than successes, make us. Organizations that learn from failure go farther than ones that punish them.
3. Accept average performance as long as there’s passion to learn and grow.
4. Throw wood on their fire. Anyone can quench someone. Try igniting them. Passion, passion, passion …
5. Learn from them by honoring what they know. They learn by teaching you. Additionally, Honor opens the door to influence.
6. Listen to your selfishness. Give to others what you want from them. Not so you’ll get it back but so they’ll be built up.
7. Step back so they can step forward. Prepare them. Provide resources. Set deadlines. Remember, leaders learn by leading.
8. Be a safety net. Young leaders need a place of refuge where they can recover, renew, and refocus.
9. Be direct with correction. Don’t play around. Describe wrong behaviors and explain the path to success.
10. Leverage ownership over accountability. The power of accountability fades in light of ownership. Say, “This is your project.”

Execution of some of these points may be a little different in your role as a mentor because we aren't (directly) trying to create leaders for the workplace (i.e. we encourage you to be good leaders for your mentees rather than good managers). I hope it can still be a useful resource for you.

To see the original post, click here.

WFP: Ghanaian Women Go Into Business To Tackle Goitre

World Food Programme reports:

Fatima Fuseini and her business partners sit around a table filling plastic bags with rock salt and sealing them with a packing machine. It’s tedious work, but Fatimah says it’s some of the best work she's ever done.

She and the other women around the table are their own bosses and the salt they're putting in packets belongs to them.

“We’re in business,” says Fuseini. “We sell our salt at the local market and we use the money to buy the things we need—like food.”

Fuseini and her partners weren’t always entrepreneurs. Like most businesses, theirs required know-how and capital to get off the ground. They received both through a WFP nutrition programme, which first gave them training in business management and then provided the seed capital they needed to get started.

The investment came in the form of [iodised] salt, a vital commodity in places like the Gbumgbum region of northeastern Ghana where iodine deficiency has reached endemic proportions.

78 per cent of children in Ghana are anemic, and the proportion of women isn't far behind. To help combat malnutrition, WFP has launched a project to teach mothers the importance of micronutrients and train women to produce products like [iodized] salt. Find out how you can help.

Some 56 per cent of adults in Gbumgbum suffer from goitre—an inflamed thyroid gland—which is caused by a lack of iodine.

Iodine deficiency is also the leading cause of preventable brain damage in children worldwide. It’s estimated that iodizing salt protects over 91 million children per year from severe mental impairment.

Fuseini and her group resold the salt WFP gave them and used the returns to go into the salt business for themselves. In the process of marketing their wares, they’ve also become activists raising awareness about the importance of consuming enough iodine.

“Cooking with [iodised] salt will prevent you from getting goitre and will help your children to grow up strong and healthy,” says Fuseini.

Better viewing from your mobile

I'm glad to inform you that there is now a mobile version of the blog for your mobiles. Blogger is still working on perfecting the process; it's at the Beta stage of testing at the moment but it should work fine. I hope this will greatly increase the quality of browsing on the go (and save you some money too)! If you have any trouble/suggestions, just let me know.

Note: Your mobile browser should direct you to the mobile site automatically, but just in case it doesn't you can access the mobile site at http://ylmp.blogspot.com/?m=1.

We've been reading...

A fresh chapter is opening in Africa's history
Guardian -- It is 60 years since Africa began to emerge from the shadow of colonialism. For much of the intervening time, this paper has charted the continent's battles with poverty, famine, pestilence, corruption, drought, Aids and war. It was only right that the developed world focused on some of its poorest inhabitants. And it was right that richer countries came to the aid of those less fortunate. But the story of Africa's despond took root and crowded out other news. At times, and over the years, it seemed as though there was no other news from Africa. We framed post-colonial Africa with the same narrative for decades – this was a continent that was, to European eyes, gamely but mostly failing to come to terms with its new-found independence...

Social media emancipates journalists in Libya
allAfrica -- As international media struggle to cover a story to which they don't have access, Libyans both inside and outside the country are using social media to plead for more visibility. No independent media is tolerated in Libya, and international journalists are being denied entry to the country. Over the weekend, while television networks in the United States featured experts opining on why the Libyan government would be able to quickly quell the protests, activists were circulating rough videos of assaults on heavily fortified military establishments in eastern Libya. By late Sunday, thousands of tweets were claiming that large areas of Benghazi and several smaller cities had been "freed" by democracy activists, who were busy organizing a new administration...

Gadhafi says he's 'still in control'
CNN -- As Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi announced Tuesday that he was still in charge of the country, the U.N. Security Council readied to meet later in the day to discuss the spreading unrest there - the first time the council has held consultations over any of the revolts that have swept the Arab world since January. Gadhafi made a brief television appearance early Tuesday to announce that he was in Libya, denying reports that he had fled the country in the face of a spreading revolt. Speaking to a state television reporter in front of his Tripoli home, Gadhafi said he wanted to show people "that I am in Tripoli, not in Venezuela. Don't believe those dogs in the media. But as Gadhafi asserts his power, he continues to gain the ire of Libyans worldwide...

West African nations to boost universities with online library
UN News -- The West African monetary union and the United Nations agency tasked with promoting education have signed an agreement to launch a $12 million project to boost the information and communications technology (ICT) capacity of universities by creating a regional virtual library network. Irina Bokova, the Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and Soumaïla Cissé, the President of the Commission of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), which is providing the funds, signed the agreement in Paris. The project is part of a wide-ranging cooperation plan initiated in 2006 by the two bodies, aiming to develop the use of ICTs to support an ongoing reform of higher education in the member countries of the UEMOA – Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Niger, Mali, Senegal and Togo...

African sun could light the world's cities

Africa: The Good News reports:

Africa's greatest resources may no longer be diamonds and gold, but instead, its big sun-drenched skies. In coming years, the continent, known for the innovation and determination of its people, could provide enough solar energy to light up some of the world's biggest cities.

A group of students from a girls' college in Mauritius is showing the way. The pupils have recently developed a way of producing 14KW of clean electricity daily, and their project is touted to be a model which other nations in Africa could adopt.

The use of solar power reportedly doubled in 2010, and is expected to grow in 2011 by at least 25%. However, the developing world has been slower off the mark than Western countries to use this technology, although it would derive the most advantage from solar energy - remote regions especially.

Following the Mauritian government's December 2010 call for the population to find alternative means of producing electricity, the students from the Hindu Girls' College in Curepipe, Southern Mauritius, set up a three-kilowatt solar power system on the institute's roof. This simple system provides the campus with at least 20% of the power it needs.

Andrea Gungadin, the rector of the non-profit private college, said that the project is one way of avoiding the high rates that accompany the regular use of fossil fuels.

"We have so much sunshine here. Why allow it to go to waste when we can use it to produce electricity at a time when fossil fuel is becoming scarcer and more expensive?"

The college's system consists of 17 panels and costs around US$4 600. However, project engineer Pavitra Maulloo said in an IPS Africa report that not all institutions could expect to invest that amount.

"Costs will vary depending on factors like the location of the site, the number of panels desired, the structure itself and access to the site," he said.

Mauritius to become sustainable
Mauritian Minister of Energy and Public Utilities Rashid Beebeejaun said the government plans to transform Mauritius into a sustainable island by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing energy resilience.

"Investments in such a project can be covered within a five year period for an office or institution and in seven to eight years for a home. Afterwards, you just produce, use and sell your electricity for 20 years," he said.

The idea is catching on, and the education ministry recently opened a tender for installation of solar panels at 10 public schools around the island. The ministry hopes to produce a total of 55 000KW of energy with this project, and during the holidays when the schools are empty, surplus electricity will be sold to the Central Energy Board.

Appraisal Form hand in date

Today is the second to last mentor-mentee session before the Appraisal Forms are due (see here for the schedule for this term). The hand in date for the Appraisal forms is the 23rd of March; the Wednesday after the last mentor-mentee session for the term.

Please ensure that you have filled out a Form for each of your mentees before this date. Remember that the Mentor Awards take into account whether the forms are handed in on time or not!

You only need to fill in sections one and two at this point; don't complete the interim performance tracking section or anything after that just yet. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me - leave a comment, send me an email, call me, text me, tweet me... whatever.

What next for Sudan?

Former UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Sir John Holmes tells ONE what he expects in South Sudan over the next few months.

The results of the referendum in South Sudan confirm that 2011 will see the birth of a new state in Africa. Rejoicing in the south has been unconfined, as people see the goal they have long dreamed of coming to reality after so many years of suffering and war. The Government in Khartoum have said they will accept the result. They should be taken at their word and held to it, whatever our doubts about their long-term intentions. Elsewhere in Africa, there is concern about the breaking of the convention against changing colonial boundaries, but a warm welcome for the new state nevertheless.

I have been to Juba several times over the last four years, and talked to many southern leaders and ordinary people. I share their sense of achievement. The question now is whether fears of South Sudan as a failing or even already failed state at birth are likely to be realized or whether the enthusiasm and commitment we see now can be turned into a new drive for progress and development. So, what are the opportunities and the challenges?

The opportunities lie in a renewed sense of purpose and unity among the southern leadership; the commitment to make a success of this adventure from their people; the new influx of talent and ideas from those returning to their homeland from the north and elsewhere; and what I hope will prove to be a lasting determination of the international community to accompany the south on this final leg of their journey, even if it takes 10 years of hard struggle. They also lie in the size of the new country, its ample fertile land and water, and the possibility of undiscovered resources beneath that land. Juba has boomed in the last few years, even if much of the growth is not so soundly based for now.

The challenges are clear and multiple. This is a country starting from a very long way back, even after more than five years of effort since the historic Comprehensive Peace Agreement. Government capacity remains very low. Basic services like health and education are poor to non-existent, and those that do exist too often provided by international NGOs, not the government. Infrastructure is also virtually non-existent, with still less than 100 miles of paved road in a country the size of France. Travel around many of the states is difficult at the best of times and more or less impossible during the rainy season. Rates of child and maternal mortality are among the highest in the world. Agriculture remains rudimentary in many areas, with for example much of the food for Juba coming from neighboring Kenya and Uganda – a scandal in such a fertile country. Even the ubiquitous cattle are regarded for the most part as a way of amassing and demonstrating wealth, not an active source of income.

The unresolved issues with the north need to be tackled decisively before they fester –- Abyei, debt, borders, oil, citizenship, etc. The list is long and many of the items on it are highly sensitive. There are also tricky questions about those left in the north, in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, who are also supposed to be consulted about their destiny. Some risk feeling abandoned in a potentially hostile environment without international help.