Galvanizing Africa Consult
Galvanizing Africa Consult (GAC) is a Kenya-based Organization Development and Executive Leadership Coaching firm. GAC was founded by Janet Mawiyoo after she stepped down from the Executive Directorship role at (Kenya Community Development Foundation (www.kcdf.or.ke) at the end of June 2021 to enable her to share her vast experience of over 30 years in the development space. In her assignments, Janet brings not only the contextual knowledge that is largely prevalent in most of the global majority (‘global south’), but also her lived-in experience as a grant maker, grant recipient, a development practitioner, very conversant on matters related to African philanthropy, a nonprofit governance expert, and a specialist in asset development for nonprofits.
GAC also believes in the transformational power that communities hold when correctly facilitated to drive their own development and has a passion to support the growth of appropriate grassroot or national organizations to tap into this energy. GAC also acknowledges that within the aid sector in what are commonly called developing countries, a lot depends on whether funders are willing to work in ways that allow communities to gain their voice and become active in determining their development priorities. Thus, whenever opportunities open, GAC tries to share as authentically as possible the experiences and knowledge gained over the years with funders seeking to operate more effectively and efficiently, but also more relevantly contextually.
Behind every assignment that GAC picks up, there is always the acknowledgement and reminder that lasting change is only possible when those at the center of the change desired, are willing and ready to change. A lot of energy therefore goes into understanding what change is needed, by whom, where, the rationale behind it, and what the desired future looks like. Therefore, for GAC and as much as possible, much effort goes into thinking through an owned process of change from the very beginning, which brings along all the key stakeholders, thus ensuring ownership and the full understanding of the rationale, and continued internalization of every stage, such that by the end of the process, the internal drivers of the change are all set and ready to move ahead and achieve their desired objectives.
GAC therefore brings a lot of coaching values and practice to every assignment, as much as is application.
The following are five top considerations, which characterize how GAC approaches its interventions:
- Co-creation in planning and executing work breeds higher chances of success.
- People are at the center of all processes, from the beginning to end.
- Building Trust is at the heart of everything GAC tries to do.
- Working with Integrity is never negotiable.
- Ownership of Process by those seeking to improve their ways of working is critical.
GAC takes on work either single handedly, but more often than not, joins teams of other like-minded individuals and firms to undertake the assignments it picks up. Below are some highlights of some of the transformative assignments that GAC has been part of:
i) GAC supported Comic Relief in 2023 to undertake a learning evaluation of their Organizational Strengthening (OS) work (Co-funded by FCDO), with the aim to understand if they had been successful in implementing their OS framework with their partners, which they developed two years earlier.
ii) GAC is part of what has come to be called RINGO (Re-imaging the International NGO), a systems change approach social lab, committed to supporting INGOs to reflect on their relevance and ways of working in a very changed AID sector around the world. Check out RINGO for more information.
iii) GAC is also part of a diverse team contracted through NIRAS (a Swedish consulting firm) that is supporting the Ford Foundation to undertake a longitudinal evaluation of its BUILD programme, which in short, is trying to explore as factually as possible, the value of flexible funding to their partners, which is hoped to also encourage other funders to consider this mode of funding going forward. Look at BUILD project for more information.
iv) GAC also offers coaching support to the leadership teams of several Africa-based NGO’s who are exploring a systems approach to their work. We support those leaders and team coaching to think through how they can achieve lasting change at scale, by applying the systems thinking approach in resolving the challenges and issues they are seeking to address, away from the common approach of solving a problem in one or a few successful projects, which is quite common among nonprofits.
v) Providing coaching to different leaders pursuing their passion in different areas, a process which helps them reflect on issues holding them back, supporting them to explore what moving forward would look like, and then providing them through sessions spread over an agreed period of time, to achieve the goals they have set for themselves.
GAC is thus open to support in diverse processes that bring about transformational changes, and enable leaders and the organizations they lead, to greater and impactful sustained change, which is firmly rooted in their context.
Janet in a workshop in Uganda with a group of organisations co-funded by Comic Relief and the FCDO, who were reflecting about their experiences in organization strengthening efforts. She was backed by Catherine Wanjohi (extreme right standing) and Catherine Mugambo from CivSource (second from left front row).