The Christmas Pony Gifter app we created for Three has come in third place in November's IAB Creative Showcase Award. Lovely news!
If you haven't tried it yet, you can send your own Christmas Pony here: www.ponygifter.com
As part of our ongoing relationship with leadership development programme The International Exchange, W+K Account Director Hanne Haugen has spent a month in Uganda, working with an NGO.
Hanne writes:
At the end of October I moved to Uganda for a month to work with The Kasiisi Project – using what I know from advertising in a completely different context.
I lived in a small village in the western part of the country, near the Kibale National Forest. Most of the people in this area are subsistence farmers, with many mouths to feed and little income. Education is the best hope of breaking the cycle of poverty, but as many as 70% of children don’t complete primary school. Although primary education to an extent is funded by the Ugandan government, costs associated with sending kids to school can put great pressure on a family's economy. The focus of the Kasiisi Project is to improve the educational opportunities available to children in the community surrounding the forest, helping them to stay in school and paving the way for a more secure future.
The month went by so quickly, but coming back it feels like I’ve been away for a long time. Seasons have changed, the agency biscuit cupboard has been turned into a meeting room, and I did a lot more than I thought I would be able to. My biggest concern before I went was not having enough time to help affect real change, but, as I discovered, you can do a lot in a month.
I’ve been back for nearly two weeks now, and have had time to digest it all and reflect on what I learnt. My assignment was to create a business & communication strategy for the project, to help them on the way to self-sustainability as a long-term ambition. That was in and of itself quite an intense learning experience, but beyond that there are so many other things I take from my time in Uganda, both personally and professionally:
You know a lot more than you think you do. Trust that the years of working in an agency has taught you a thing or two.
Sometimes you know absolutely nothing. Accept and embrace it. It’s good to learn new things.
It is possible to get work done without the internet. There is just a bit more legwork involved.
Don’t sweat the small stuff. You'll get a lot more done if you keep your eye on the bigger issues.
Be practical. A small organisation doesn't have a lot of man-power or resources – so need practical tools, not just abstract thinking.
The community is powerful. The support of the community is vital for the success of any project, and in the rural Uganda, it’s also your most important communication channel.
Our skills are useful. And they can be used to do good. Many organisations could benefit from the knowledge, talent and work-ethic of our industry. We should be proud of what we do.
Never get a motorcycle taxi in Kampala on a Friday afternoon. Just trust me on this.
The Kasiisi Project staff and volunteers. Welcome to optimism.