Syria Software Training

I know people think my job is so interesting and exciting- and sometimes it really is. This time I was literally helping a training about software. It’s necessary, it’s required, and everyone has to use it. We did our best to make the training fun, and for sure everyone agrees that the software is useful and is helping them to improve their programs. In order for them to get their programs on the software, they have to have the programs well organized and the project management and measurement systems well in order.  Which makes for better programming, no question. And we are long overdue to digitize all of our program metrics and data into an online system. But otherwise I’m not going to lie, to me parts of it are a bit like watching paint dry- “first you click here and do this, then you click here and do that….”  Forgive me if my own team reads this! The crazy thing is, no one complained a bit. In fact, they really got into it! IN FACT, the ones who were the most skeptical told us afterwards how excited they were about it, and admitted how much they were dreading the training.

We were in the kitchen of the guest house the evening of the 4th day of the training, after we’d wrapped the last session. Separately, over the course of the evening, two different team leaders came into the kitchen while Hanna and I, and a couple others, were sitting at the kitchen table eating and chatting.  We asked both Simon and Zahid what they thought of the training. Unprompted, both of them (a separate moments, mind you) gave us testimonials straight from a TV commercial about how great the software is, how great the training was, and how much they’d dreaded going and hadn’t wanted to be there, but had changed their minds completely during the training. I secretly slipped my cell phone out of my bag to record them, but botched it and they saw it, and so I asked them to repeat what they’d said so I could send their testimonial back to the team at HQ.  What I ended up with is one 6+ minute video of a guy named Simon, 3 beers in, hilariously rambling on about this software and the training, cracking himself up knowing he’s being filmed, and yet still giving us some good sound bites. Then later I got a 2 minute video of Zahid, the first minute of which was him being super embarassed and not being able to get his composure and Hanna trying to coax him into repeating his comments, all while I was rolling, and then the second minute of an almost perfect sound bit, albeit at a super wierd angle while trying to hide the camera so he’d forget about it. Ah the things we do to inspire agency change. I’m not sure yet what I’ll do with the videos beyond share them with our software developers and support team at home- I’m debating whether using them to convince the executive team to give us more funds would be effective….or backfire? :)

Zahid with a super serious look on his face, trying to stop laughing right before I started rolling the camera

Screen shot of Simon's video testimonial, where we ambushed him for his feedback when he popped into the kichen to get a beer from the fridge (while working in the evening, of course! These guys pretty much work around the clock)

The training venue itself was one of the worst I’ve ever worked in- and I’ve run meetings, workshops and trainings on pretty much every corner of the earth. This place was like a banquet hall kind of place and it was so dark and dingy and dirty I could barely get over it. The tables were greasy and dirty, there was no natural light in the faux wood paneled dimly lit room, the projector didn’t even work (we sent the driver back to the office to get one from the office the first day), and to give you an idea of the extend of grossness, they were using ashtrays (which frankly did not look clean) as the spoon rest for the coffee stirring spoon during breaks. Don’t ask me about the bathrooms. But the flip charts stuck on the walls, and there was enough space to move around in small groups, and for the most part, the internet held long enough for them to each get online and practice using the system.  The food was actually really good-  salads, kabobs and hummus every day- but they would serve all of us at one long table, family style, off to the side of where the meeting tables were, and then just leave all the uneaten food and dirty plates for the rest of the afternoon, and clear it after we finished the meeting for the day.  And you know what the most remarkable thing was? Not a soul in the group complained. In fact it was a couple days before even Hanna and I noted it to each other, not wanting to admit we had something to complain about (complaining is bad form in our line of work, until you get to a point that it’s something you can laugh about).  But whatever, we got the job done and even had a good time.

Hanna leading the training