Sustainability meeting in the Province of Southern Africa
Around 20 school leaders from Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Angola, and Mozambique (Province of Southern Africa) participated in a meeting on “Sustainability of the Marist mission”, held in Lilongwe, Malawi, from April 8 to 12. The meeting was led by the Sustainability Technical Team (Khalil Gibran Martins and Vinicius Alves (Brasil Centro-Sur), Br. John Bwanalli (Southern Africa) and Br. Goyo Linacero, from the Econome General.
On the first day, Br. John delivered an opening statement on the importance of the sustainability project and shared a report on the Marist presence in South Africa, the progress made, and the interesting change in attitude in the country’s schools. Afterwards, Br. Francis Jumbe, from Malawi, formally inaugurated the seminary.
As a first activity, the participants understood and shared the different realities and situations of each country of the province, and highlighted some indications and solutions, such as the expectation of privatization of schools, especially in Zimbabwe. Divided into 2 groups, the participants analysed the concept of management and governance in the schools of the province and listed the important actions that should be carried out.
On the second day, Br. Goyo spoke about the progress of sustainability projects. And he gave as an example the solutions found in some countries and also highlighted the challenges present in other countries. He also underscored the importance of changing attitudes in favour of sustainability in the province’s schools. Subsequently, Brother Innocent gave a very complete and inspiring presentation on the experience lived in Nigeria.
The change of position in this Province, in favour of sustainability, began in 2013, considering that it is a long-term process and that the results sometimes take time to appear. Given this consideration, he highlighted the importance of starting the process as soon as possible and doing it in the best way.
The third day began with the presentation, by the provincial bursars of the Strategic Planning of the Province. After that, participants began an activity that consists of 5 steps, and aims to find paths towards financial sustainability. The steps are the following:
- Facing reality: analysis of the most emerging demands and opportunities found in different realities.
- Good people = better solution: find 2 solutions for each mapped situation.
- Solution for the Mission: classify the solutions found within a balanced framework of objectives.
- Creativity – Viability: distribution of actions in a time frame and, subsequently, analysis of the viability of each activity.
- First things first: presentation of the action plan to a council composed of the Econome General, Brother Councillor Link and Br. Goyo.
On the fourth day, activities were carried out by country, with the objective of establishing an action plan for each one, indicating the actions for each school. During this stage there was much discussion, and as a result, each country presented a complete document with short, medium, and long-term actions. Likewise, based on the demands for governance, the participants also built an action plan for the province.
On the last day, each country, and even the province itself, presented their action plans. It was highlighted the importance of using this method as a support tool to understand the priorities of each reality and monitor progress.