Initial client presentations done … now the hard work starts!

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Over the past day and a half our three sub-teams presented to their clients.  The purpose of these presentations is to agree scope, high level timelines of the work we’ll be doing, deliverables (both interim and final) and most importantly to get stakeholder support and commitment for our work over the next month.

The first sub-team presented to their KENET (University collaboration) clients mid Monday morning.  It went really well with a lot of client participation!  On the University of Nairobi campus they presented to maybe about 30 or so people in a large meeting room, with other universities around Kenya watching via live video link.  The presentation was attended by the Vice Chancellors, Principals and Heads of Information Communications and Technology.  The guest of Honor was Prof. Crispin Kiamba who is the Permanent Secretary in the ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology.  They were all very impressed by the sub-teams preparation and presentation!  There was a lot of good discussion as the sub-team explained what their approach and high level plans were for the remainder of the month.  At the end of the presentation, I was shown a new custom .. tea and coffee was served along with a light snack.  I could get used to tea, coffee, and snacks after every presentation!  There is even an announcement of the presentation out on the KENET website at http://www.kenet.or.ke/index.php/en/component/content/article/1-latest-news/242-invitation-to-the-launch-of-the-kenetibm-corporate-service-core-team-project-on-july-4-2011-1000-1100-at-kenet-training-room
We then went on mini tour of the University.  University life here is like university life anywhere else … you get that same sort of vibe here!  The campus is very big and stretches on for a number of blocks.

Later that afternoon, it was my sub-team’s turn to present our e-Vote work plan to our clients.  Our clients are the Permanent Secretary for Information Communications and Technology (ICT), the ICT Board, the Independent Electoral and Boundary Commission, and the Minister of Justice.  Heavy weights!  Unfortunately, we were only able to present to the ICT Board members, though they are important, we were hoping to present to all of our clients.  There were some complications that I can’t really blog about, but we’ll have a challenging month ahead of us.

It was then back to the hotel for a whole team debrief of the day.  It was nice to reflect on the day’s successes and challenges with everyone and give each other hints, tips and feedback.

It was then time to enjoy a few drinks in the hotel bar in the early evening!  We arranged an impromptu dinner at a nearby restaurant and the fun continued on 🙂  More drinks, singing, a lot of laughter and, oh yeah a little bit of food 🙂  One our Finnish ladies introduced us to a Finnish desert … vanilla sorbet and vodka … yes, desert was essentially ice and vodka 🙂

After our fin night last night, this morning the e-Government sub-team presented their approach, understanding of the domain space and their high level timeline.  It went really well and the client was quite impressed with the work the sub-team had done!  Of course, there was tea and coffee after the presentation!  I could get used to that custom!

The rest of the day was spent in individual client discussions with each of the sub-teams separately.

My e-Vote sub-team had a great discussion with the Independent Interim Election Commission today and talked through the electoral process with them.  Unfortunately, our afternoon meeting with an e-Vote consultant from the Office of the President was cancelled.  There are a number of interviews we still need to do as well as lots more research and analysis we still need to do.
We have an early morning (7:30AM!) meeting with the Permanent Secretary of ICT and hopefully we’ll gain more information from that meeting.

Busy days and weeks ahead!

Dave’s first shakedown experience

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Soo, on my first day here in Nairobi I had an interesting experience.  Not that I am a world traveler by any means but I’m used to walking about, minding my own business, always aware of my surroundings.  I hope I don’t walk around naively.  My first day here (Wed June 29th) was a bright, sunny, HOT beautiful day in Nairobi.  I typically just walk through streets that look interesting or have interesting buildings.

I was walking down this dusty, busy, fume soaked road (I hope you get the picture that I’m still getting used to Nairobi traffic 🙂 and came upon Uhuru Park.  Uhuru Park is like a little oasis in the Nairobi City Centre, similar in concept to High Park in Toronto, Central Park in NYC or Hyde Park in London.  Like those parks, Uhuru Park has it’s cast of characters, but was very lively and friendly.  Kids playing in paddle boats in a pond, sculptures, couples, people just enjoying the day.

Perfect place to walk through and take pictures, which of course, I did!  Pictures are on my Facebook page, and I may cross post here sometime soon.

I’d spent maybe a little over an hour just walking through taking pictures when three men in suits with no ties stopped me.  This was early afternoon, maybe around 1:00, 1:15pm.  One of the men pulled out a “warrant card”  with the words Powers of Arrest written on it.  That alone immediately freaked me out … first day in Nairobi and I get thrown in jail!

Another one of the three started saying they had followed me through the park watching as I was taking pictures.  He said I was breaking city council rules by photographing the buildings (the building happened to be in many of the backgrounds of the shots and I had taken some direct building shots as well) and that I needed to pay.  I explained I had just arrived in their beautiful city and that I wanted to enjoy their park.  They kept insisting I needed to pay.  I then played the innocent tourist and kept saying I just arrived, I didn’t know the rules, I was just walking about.  This went on back and forth for maybe 10 minutes.  As they kept insisting I needed to pay, I began to realize this was a shakedown.  They never once asked for ID, which I wouldn’t have shown them anyway.  They never directly used their so called “powers of arrest” except as a threat and intimidation.  As this wore on, I came close to saying call the police and have them arrest me.  I certainly would never allow them to take me anywhere.  In the end they said I could finish up and leave.  I never did give them any money and continually played the innocent tourist line.

I was 99% certain this was an extortion attempt but needed to confirm with my Kenyan hosts first before blogging about it.  Obviously, they said it was just 3 guys looking for money and if that ever happened again just to firmly but politely tell them to leave,

It’s unfortunate that this kinda soured the rest of my first day and gave me a negative first impression of Nairobi.  That’s obviously since changed as I’ve talked to people about it and reflected on it.  I’ve also used the experience to help frame my work here.

There is such a huge divide between what my clients want (e-Voting) and what some few Nairobians feel they need to do (hussle and scam people for money).  How can I and my team close that gap?  I think we need to.

What also struck me about this experience is that some (many?) people only look at the immediate transaction (pay me now) rather than longer term relationships.  If those three men in suits, no ties, approached me as warm, welcoming guides who asked where I was from, what I was interested in, or wanted to show me their beautiful city, I would have appreciated that and would have paid them for their time, their hospitality and would have called them and used their services many more times as well as recommending them to my other CSC friends.  They would have made much more money and the tone of this blog entry would have very different!

That’s also something they didn’t think about or care about … the power of social media … they didn’t know or care I would be writing about this.  In a sense this is also Maslow’s Hierachy of Needs at work here.  They needed (I suppose), thier immediate need of money for food, drink, whatever.

In a way, I’m glad I had this experience as it taught me a lot, gave me things to think about to help frame discussions with my clients here, as well as see first hand how scams work in Nairobi!  Not bad for my first day in Nairobi!

What is some of the key learning after 2.5 days?

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Over lunch today, Lynn asked now that I’m a local 🙂 what are some of the key things I’ve learned over the past 2.5 days.

I think from the very beginning I’ve felt that Kenyans were warm, welcoming, friendly and talkative. I’ve tried to speak the few phrases of Swahili I know and when they hear that I am at least trying they certainly appreciate the effort.

I’d have to say that Taxi drivers know the real story! I’ve taken 2 taxis while I’ve been here and both drivers were very willing to share their opinions on what’s important, who’s important (not whom you might think), and their less than 1 year old constitution. I’ve done some (what seems like minimal compared to what’s out there!) research on the politics, hierarchies, social structure and constitution, so I am able to engage in a reasonable and simple conversation with them. Though it quickly became very animated!

From the interactions I’ve had so far, it’s unfortunate that it still seems to be a male dominated society. I suspect this perception is because I’ve had interactions with only one tiny sliver of the population. I’ll be talking to our NGO hosts and others about this to hopefully dispute this perception. It’s an important one, because we’ll be interviewing many people as part of the local research we need to do here as we create our final reports for our clients.

Despite the Corruption Free Zone signs I’ve seen in a couple of places, “shakedowns” still exist. I’m still very much struggling with this perception because I’m not (and can’t be) naive or completely ignore this exists. However I do not want this perception to become a stereotype and to influence my writing about my experiences or to cause people to brush off Kenya as corrupt. I’ll blog more about my experience in this area (nothing bad, just an experience) soon.

Finally, I wonder what the Kenyans perception of me is. I’m walking around with a camera so am looking like a tourist but not the typical tourist. Do they see me as just another tourist or if they knew why I was here would that change their perception of me in any way? I guess I’m feeling a tad self-conscious with this camera in my hand 🙂

I’ll blog more as these key learning change and evolve over the next 5 weeks. It’ll be interesting (for me anyway!) to see the progression from today through the next 5 weeks.

Happy Canada Day from Kenya!

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July 1st is not only the formal start of my CSC in country experience it’s also Canada Day! Researching and understanding how Kenya has evolved from a Protectorate to Colony to Independence to having it’s own Constitution gives me a new found perspective and view on what I have in Canada. Canada is an amazing country and things I take for granted there are things the Kenyan people are only just starting to come to terms with.

On the taxi ride back to the hotel from the National Museum the driver was very animated about the Kenyan constitution and how the ordinary person now has some say and some power in how their country is run. No longer is it the exclusive domain of the rich, and according to the taxi driver the rich are extremely rich, but now the country is in the hands of it’s people. The powerful politician’s no longer wield all of the power … they now are accountable and the power is in the hands of the people.

As I look forward to my e-Voting assignment I also reflect on what I have in Canada and wish all Canadians all over the world a Happy Canada Day!