Interview with Mary Ann Mhina, AbleChildAfrica
Mary Ann Mhina is Executive Director at AbleChildAfrica
What inspired you to work in the sector?
I first lived and worked in Africa during a gap year as a teenager and I saw a lot of things that I thought were unfair even though they went by the name of “development”. I was inspired by the the idea of trying to make a difference and make development fairer. In that year, I also learnt that if you didn’t speak a local language it was really difficult to know what was really going on so when I came back I did a degree in Swahili and Anthropology. I thought that if I could understand what people were saying and communicate with them in their own language then I could understand their needs better.
What are you working on at the moment
In 2007, Ugandan Society for Disabled Children was relaunched as AbleChildAfrica, a move which enabled us to work across borders and with a larger number of partners. Our original partner in Uganda had become an independent local partner in 2000 and we wanted our new strategy to focus on supporting more independent African organisations who were doing something interesting or inspiring with disabled children and young people. At the moment we work in four countries with five fully-fledged partners.
I do a lot of one-to-one work with the directors of our partner organisations, fundraising, some strategic work, and have been working to build our capacity and reputation as specialists. The issue of childhood disability is often neglected even withon the sector. I found that quite a lot of organisations working with children and young people had not really thought about disability so I think one of our roles is to be an advocate within the sector about this. The 52 million disabled children in Africa should not be overlooked by larger agencies. Today I have been working on a Kilimanjaro climb event which includes both UK participants and also some disabled young people from our projects. The idea is to raise both money and awareness about the issues that effect disabled youth in Africa.
What is the most challenging part of your job?
Finding the right story to tell about our work that is honest and translatable to everybody is challenging. When we developed our new strategy we had a strong vision about honesty at all levels but developing a mechanism by which we can actually make that happen has been difficult. For instance, how do you talk to a public who have a certain idea about development about what we actually do and the ‘complexity’ of it? How do translate a clear message about what you do and at the same time be clear with your partners and the people they work with about what it is you are trying to achieve, where you add value and actually listen about where you don’t? How can we honestly account for what we do in all directions?
AbleChildAfrica recently appointed a new Chair. What impact will this have on the direction or work of the organisation?
Steve Broach, our new Chair, ran a UK campaign called Every Disabled Child Matters and he is now a Barister working on the rights of disabled children in the UK. Our first strategy as AbleChildAfrica has moved us on tremendously but we are looking at how we will relaunch the strategy next year when it comes to an end. We are looking at how we can maximise the impact of our advocacy work with someone who has that background, and I think he will bring new energy and ideas to the organisation. We have developed from being a one country, one issue charity that wants to “help” to one that works through independent local organisations, takes partners seriously and also recognises the impact that advocacy can have. We hope Steve will bring the knowledge and experience needed to take us to the next level.
AbleChildAfrica has been actively involved in the Bond Effectiveness Programme. Why is it important to your organisation and the wider sector?
My impetus for getting involved was that I wanted to make sure that we were doing a better job, I believe improvement is a process and as a small organisation I wanted to be involved in a conversation about this. I also believe that we have a responsibility as a sector to tell a more coherent story about what we do, and the Bond Effectiveness Programme and taking our effectiveness seriously is a chance to do this.
What is AbleChildAfrica’s most significant achievement?
Recreating ourselves has helped us to broaden our reach and to work with more partners. In doing this we have linked partners together and enabled them to learn from each other in a way that would not happen without us because there is no-one to facilitate it. So, one of our key achievements has been to transform the organisation from giving money to one project in Uganda, for instance, to something that I hope is facilitating learning, relationships and opportunities for all our partners that allows them to have a greater impact on the ground.
Where would you like the organisation to be in five years time?
We have struggled with the sustainability of an organisation that turns over between £300,000 and £600,000 a year and I would like to see some growth that allows our core function to be sustainable so that we can invest in the work that we know needs doing. I also hope that we will be working more closely with other organisations and increase our impact through advocacy and helping others to mainstream disability.
Do you have a mentor or someone who has inspired you?
My mentor in the Bond Mentoring Programme was the late Bernie Trude and his encouragement to think creatively and make a difference was inspiring. He had a lot of experience in the sector and his belief in thinking outside the box helped inform my approach to transforming this organisation and I believe his support made me more effective at what I do. I still often reflect on some of the anecdotes and ideas he shared with me.
What is the key challenge for the sector in the coming year?
Our key challenge as a sector is how to respond to the new Government in a way that doesn’t let down the people who need us most. There is also a challenge for small organisations to ask difficult questions about our own survival and whether we need to survive alone, and if so how do we do that in this climate.
