A word about Leadership and Project Management Training
Every June, a leadership and project management course is organized by Hekima Institute of Peaces Studies and International Relations (HIPSIR). For this year, classes started on June 11 and ended on July 4. The training was remote on Zoom. During these two weeks, the training was focused on preparing the presentation of the projects for the end of the training. For this, the courses focused on project management, financial management, project writing and accounting for NGO funding agencies, leadership and government, and operational management.
Course Progress
In general, the courses were a success. The students were engaged from start to finish. As a student who took part, the course was very useful to me for my future career. Since I want a career in the design and organization of social projects, the important points to know to acquire skills in this area were largely developed during the training. If I may say so, my favorite class was the one with Mrs. Stellamariss. She was able to present with clarity to make it easy for us to understand what donors want to see or hear in relation to an NGO’s social project. Among my appreciations of this training is the distinction between different types of managers and levels of leadership. This will be very useful to me for the organization of my team in the future when setting up my social project. As a bonus, thanks to the leadership and government course, I was able to try to assess what power I possess.
Some courses are missing from this training. I think it is necessary to add social marketing and communication as courses. Social marketing will support the strategy of implementing a social project. We must also add communication as an essential course to this training because the communication strategy strengthens a project’s chances of success.
Presentation of the projects
The end of this training was marked by the 10-minute presentation of a project with a supporting document. Each student, therefore, designed a social or entrepreneurial project to earn the training certificate. For my part, the presentation went well. I presented a project that I had planned since the beginning of the year, which is to set up a social enterprise linking the Corporate Social Responsibility policies of vanilla companies with the empowerment of women vanilla providers in Antalaha, . The weak point of my presentation was the financial part. I had difficulty preparing this because I had difficulty following the course on financial management in relation to drawing up the financial table.
The training on leadership and management is more than interesting. This training helps prepare future change agents because it is with a project that a person’s actions and commitment to their community and country come to fruition. For the promotion of this training, it is suggested to strengthen event communication by organizing a certificate award ceremony by establishing prize categories to be won such as the favorite project or even best project pitch.
Olympe Aimerance