A Zimbabwean farmer.
Lynn, from the UK, was a Progressio Development Worker in Zimbabwe with the Zimbabwean Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE), from 1991 to 1996, and the Farm Community Trust of Zimbabwe (FCTZ), from 1997 to 2000.
What have you done since leaving Progressio and what do you do currently?
After finishing work with FCTZ, I joined the Farm Orphan Support Trust (FOST) as a Provincial Coordinator. I was made Executive Director of FOST in 2001 and stayed with the organisation until December 2005. In 2006, I became Programmes Director for Save the Children UK in Zimbabwe, and then Country Director in 2010. Then, after a year of working as an independent consultant, I took on my current role as Zimbabwe Country Director for the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Please describe your role and the partner organisation that you worked with as a Progressio Development Worker
At MoHE, I was a lecturer at Mutare Teachers’ College, where I lectured in Geography and Teaching and Learning Skills. As well as training students to teach in rural secondary schools across the province, I also worked with colleagues to develop a HIV and AIDS awareness and prevention programme aimed at the staff and students, and later a course to prepare students to teach HIV and AIDS awareness and life skills in their schools. I was also part of a project within the college to promote and build skills in participatory teaching methodologies and was Chair of the college’s Staff Development Committee.
When I joined, FCTZ was a new national organisation working to promote the rights of farm workers on commercial farms. I was their first Provincial Coordinator and was based in Mashonaland East province. I was part of the Senior Management Team, which developed the programme response and the advocacy strategy. I mentored two Coordinators from other provinces and built the capacity of the provincial team’s Training Team. I also specifically led the education programme and worked closely with the Ministry of Education and farmers to implement a national education programme on farms. I developed the training materials that were used with farm schools to support quality early childhood and basic education for children of farm workers.
What inspired you to become a Development Worker?
Firstly, my dad. My mother is South African and met my British father when he was stationed there on his national service. Dad hated the apartheid regime and as a result got into some trouble whilst based in Cape Town. He refused to live there and became a strong opponent of social injustice. South Africa was not an option when I first applied for a Development Worker position, so I got as close as I could, and it was fantastic to live in the region during a time of dramatic changes in South Africa.
Secondly, my background as a geographer gave me the desire to travel and understand other cultures. I was also ready for a change of environment as a teacher.
Thirdly, both myself and my partner agreed that if Margaret Thatcher was elected for a third time – we’d have to leave the UK!
What struck you most about Progressio’s Development Worker model/approach?
At the time that I joined Progressio, there were many agencies recruiting Development Workers. I felt that Progressio struck the right balance in recruiting skilled and experienced Development Workers with demonstrated expertise and that mentoring and capacity building were important aspects of the model. We were not gap filling, but building local capacity, learning from our national colleagues and adding value.
What did you enjoy most about your role, and of your experience as a Development Worker?
Both projects were interesting and exciting. Whilst at MoHE, HIV and AIDS became a major health and development issue. It was good to be part of a process of responding positively and putting in place a model that was later adopted nationally and implemented across all teachers’ colleges.
FCTZ was an exciting and innovative project. We all felt that we were breaking new ground, reaching a group of people that had been marginalised for decades and making a real difference in their lives. I learnt a huge amount from my national colleagues in how to use a positive approach to advocacy and win people over through positive engagement and dialogue. The FCTZ team were dynamic, committed and really creative. I learnt so much during that time that prepared me for the subsequent positions I have had in development organisations.
And what were some of the key challenges and lessons learnt?
Whilst at MoHE, I found it challenging to accept and respond to attitudes to women and gender and how some people abused their position with female students. However, I learnt that my female Zimbabwean colleagues, and a small number of male colleagues, also wanted to do something about the issue and we were able to work together to try to change attitudes and practices. In addition, the use of physical and humiliating punishment in Zimbabwean schools is something I found difficult to accept. I was able to challenge this in a limited way amongst the students I taught and it was an issue I continued to challenge when I joined other child rights organisations.
I learnt so much from my two Development Worker placements, it is hard to identify one thing. Perhaps, the biggest lesson for me was the impact of accepting people as they are and finding common ground, even when we appear to have little in common. This is a very Zimbabwean approach, and ultimately gives respect to everyone, no matter who they are. At FCTZ, I was really amazed at how apparently ‘red neck’ farmers would respond so positively when we took the time to understand their problems and challenges and tried to find positive ways to move forward together.
Did this experience change you as a person in any way? If so, in what ways?
When I first became a Development Worker, many issues were very ‘cut and dried’. I knew what I believed and was often uncompromising. Since being a Development Worker in Zimbabwe, in some ways my principles and beliefs are stronger than ever, but I have a greater sense of perspective and am better able to see the bigger picture; what the battles worth fighting are and where it is OK to compromise.
I am also more receptive to alternative points of view and more able to understand other positions. I have developed the ability to relate to most people, regardless of their background, ‘politics’ or opinions, and also have a greater ‘armory’ of strategies to persuade others. I feel that I am now a much more inclusive person, that I have learnt a lot about how to work with people that I may not necessarily have anything in common with and who may even have conflicting opinions. I have learnt how to reach such people, listen to them and find common ground, whilst remaining true to my principles and to the rights of others.
Did your experience as a Development Worker influence your career/future direction, and help you to get to where you are today? If so, how?
Completely. Prior to working in Zimbabwe, I had thought of myself as a teacher and fully expected to return to teaching in the UK after the two year placement. I never saw myself working outside of the governmental sector, or in a management position.
Being a Development Worker in Zimbabwe, meeting other Development Workers and learning about their projects lead to me becoming much broader in my interests and made me look at what I would like to do in the future. I learnt so much about myself, appreciated the skills and qualities I did not know I had and, as well as my strengths, I learnt a lot about my weaknesses. I learnt an enormous amount from my colleagues and peers. If someone had told me in 1991 when I came to Zimbabwe that I would end up in a Country Director role with an international NGO, I would have thought they were mad!
What advice would you give to someone who is thinking of becoming a Development Worker?
Do it!
