–Raquel Kasham Daniel | Clarity Coach For Nonprofits
A few people asked if the items I dropped at the IDP camp will be distributed and I said YES, emphatically. It’s difficult to believe they will, because those who have had any engagement with the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) or in any low income community will tell you, they NEVER distribute all the items, I hear they sell them.
Which is why I teach nonprofits to IMMERSE AND INTEGRATE: become a part of the communities they work in. If you haven’t signed up for my class, I don’t know what you’re waiting for.
I advice nonprofits, stop running “touch and go” projects because you want to have numbers for your donors. Immerse yourself in a community and integrate.
For instance, when I picked this current IDP camp, I had a meeting with the officials for over three hours listening to their challenges, taking notes and giggling in between. I wanted them to know that I’m one of them, for them, that I genuinely cared and I’m not there to take just pictures for internet and never return.
I make monthly visits to the camp and I call them weekly to ask for update and feedback. When other nonprofits visits the camp, they call me immediately. That’s the power of integration.
Right before the lock-down in Abuja, I dropped food items worth over N600,000 with and asked daily update as they shared the items and up till the point of distribution. Which they did. They didn’t need my supervision to do that. They’re now responsible for each other and look out for one another. I told them, you’re all you’ve got. They understood. About 8 campers called to say they received their food items.
I said all that to say, if you’re a nonprofit, stop running touch and go projects and focus on working with the communities and make real impact.
I hope this helps someone.