ERuDeF staff hone skills to improve productivity

The staff of the Environment and Rural Development Foundation (ERuDeF) recently underwent intensive in-house training to hone their skills in various fields with the aim of improving their efficiency and increasing productivity at work.

The training took place at ERuDeF's headquarters in Buea, South West Region recently.

The main aim of the professional course was to lay the groundwork for the 2015 to 2020 strategic and operational plans for ERuDeF.

During the four-week course, the about 30-strong team was trained on how to draw road maps, sketch conceptual models, and come up with operational, strategic, budget, business, fundraising and time budget plans.

ERuDeF President/CEO, Louis Nkembi, said the training was important because it was evident that over the years, staff have been working without any clear-cut goal; they don't know what they want to achieve and how they can contribute to the overall mission of the organisation.

Thus, the idea of the roadmap and conceptual model where each staff is aware of where he/she is going and how the project they are working fits in the overall organisation's mission and vision.

"We want to improve on the holistic productivity of the staff vis-a-vis achieving their respective goals and meeting the mission of ERuDeF," Nkembi said." It is another approach in developing a concrete succession plan through a systematic and methodological screening of the most competent staff".

The process would be completed through an additional 12-month long course on program development and fundraising.

At the end of the 12-month course, those who make it through will receive post-graduate diplomas issued by both the ERuDeF Institute and St. Monica University.

A Canadian volunteer, Kelly Dudas, gave an elaborate discussion on ownership where every staff was urged to be focused, accountable and ensure meeting the targets given for the different projects concerned in the organisation.

The Director of Administration and Human Resources at ERuDeF, Hilary Cham, lectured on leadership and the roles of line managers; who a supervisor is and should be.

According to him, a supervisor is an authority who is a reflection of the organisation and must determine the ways the goals of her department should be achieved.

ERuDeF Project Coordinator of the Mount Cameroon Threatened Trees, Blessing Limbi, said the training was very helpful as she now knows her direction and all the milestones; what should be achieved and in what time frame.

"Even though under much pressure, the training was a necessity for a positive and speedy movement of the organisation," Limbi said.