The Association’s(YMWA) social responsibility of empowering marginalized members both socially and economically, by creating platforms through which members are able to engage in economic and social activities to improve their standards of living, will only be effective if there is a holistic engagement of all parties involved in terms of having the concerted support of all stakeholders reading from the same page. For us to be able to realize and sustain good performance of our branches, getting on board the right cadre of leadership for all tiers is a fundamental requirement.
It is upon the above backdrop that YMWA led by the Executive Administration Officer(EAO) with the support of the Branch Manager Tiribe ,Mr.Peter Muchiri, undertook the identification and planning for an induction session of the sub branch officials of Tiribe Branch which was set for Friday the 17th July 2020 at Kwale Catholic Church premises. The necessary logistics were taken care of and all the interim sub branch officials were invited by the Branch Manager. The EAO invited the Executive Chairlady and her Assistant (who had been holding brief as Tiribe Branch Chair for the Branch for entire period they have been without a Branch Chairperson.)
We started on the session at 11.30 a.m. with a word of Prayer from Mama Roseline the Assistant Executive Chairlady then the Executive Chairlady Mama Rachael officially opened the session with a short preamble. The Branch Manager gave his brief of the reason for the session which he went to tell the attendees that they had been invited to officially undertake their elections and further, so that they can all be appraised of their duties and responsibilities as leaders in their respective centers and sub branches and to also be taken through the current performance status of their respective jurisdictions and what is expected of them in terms of making a turnaround of the weak performance.
The Executive Administration Officer took the officials through the following lined up sessions:-
- Leadership overview – which was an interactive session with the members themselves taking active part in defining what leadership was all about.
- Sub Branch performance tracking tool – the Secretariat Team had prepared a tool in Kiswahili to aid the sub branch officials as they do center management so the EAO took the officials through the tool and they agreed it was straight forward and would act as a good guide as they roll out their activities as leaders.
The EAO, the Branch Manager and the Executive Chairlady challenged the officials with regards to the rich diversity of the jurisdiction of the Branch operations and the weak performance shown, they urged officials to use the available resources within their areas and come up with viable IGAs so as to stimulate their economy.
The next session was on election and commissioning of the newly elected sub branch and branch officials. Elections were thus done overseen by the Branch Manager, the Executive Chairlady, the Assistant Chairlady and the EAO. After the elections the new branch Chairlady and her team were called upon to say a few words, the Executive Chairlady and her assistant then stressed on the importance of the newly elected leaders to take up their positions seriously and leave a legacy in the Branch. Mama Roseline who had been holding brief in the branch as acting Branch Chair officially handed the leadership reigns to Mama Mlongo the newly elected Branch Chairlady.
In conclusion the EAO urged the newly elected officials to work closely with the branch officers, the secretariat and the Executive Chairlady in order to keep improving the current status of the Branch performance. The Branch Manager then gave a vote of thanks and due to a fares oversight he apologized to the members and arranged with the EAO to follow same up for refunds. The Executive Chairlady officially closed the session with a few words of wisdom and asked one of the newly elected officials to close with a word of Prayer